This book is actually written by an American art critic named Willard Huntington Wright. Interestingly enough, he wasn't a fan of the detective genre at first and wrote under a pseudonym because he didn't want anyone to know that he was writing mass market fiction. Van Dine is supposedly the "John Watson" to Philo Vance (the Sherlock in this scenario).
Vance has asked his friend at the district attorney's office to let him come along on a murder. Once there, he immediately becomes involved in "helping" solve the case. I put that word in quotes because his method of helping is extremely questionable. He just pipes in occasionally to tell his friend that he's wrong, but doesn't steer him in the right direction. Later, he tells him basically that "he couldn't handle the truth" or some such nonsense.
Okay, so the first Sherlock story was in 1892. This book was published in 1926. It is so similar that it's a wonder I didn't like it more. You've got a district attorney in the place of Lestrade, and you've got a man who irritates most of the people around him because of his superior attitude. Vance also gloats over those around him because he knows what's going on and others don't. It's basic Sherlock stuff, but I was so annoyed.
So I asked myself what was different about Vance that bothered me so much. Was it because I couldn't imagine Basil Rathbone or Benedict Cumberbatch playing the role? No...Was it maybe because the man was constantly saying, "eh, what?" It's possible that contributed to it. I think another reason is because the man was purposely throwing red herrings at his friend on purpose.
My copy of the book was taken off Google, so it didn't have an interesting cover. I found the attached picture on the internet and just had to use it. It's so weird and disturbing. Imagine picking this paperback up every night and it's the last thing you see before you go to sleep. Nightmare fuel for sure!
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