Gracie Allen Murder Case, which was originally just "Gracie"). Although Van Dine was one of the most educated and cosmopolitan detective writers of his time, in his essays he dismissed the idea of the mystery story as serious literature. He insisted that a detective novel should be mainly an intellectual puzzle that follows strict rules and does not wander too far afield from its central theme. He followed his own prescriptions, and some critics feel that formulaic approach made the Vance novels stilted and caused them to become dated in a relatively few years. All of the cases, except The Winter Murder Case, are mostly set in the Manhattan borough of New York City. On a few occasions, Vance and Van Dine (usually accompanied by Markham and Heath) briefly travel to the Bronx, Westchester County, and New Jersey in the course of their investigations. In The Greene Murder Case Vance tells, after his arrival back in New York, that he traveled by train to New Orleans to gather information relevant to the case. Vance's last case, The Winter Murder Case, is markedly different from the previous 11 cases in that the locale is away from New York (the Berkshire Mountains of western Massachusetts), and Vance and Van Dine are surrounded by an almost completely different cast of characters (only Markham makes a brief appearance at the very beginning). Wright had just finished writing this case when he died suddenly in New York on April 11, 1939. Novels The Benson Murder Case (1926) The Canary Murder Case (1927) The Greene Murder Case (1928) The Bishop Murder Case (1929) The Scarab Murder Case (1930) The Kennel Murder Case (1933) The Dragon Murder Case (1933) The Casino Murder Case (1934) The Garden Murder Case (1935) The Kidnap Murder Case (1936) The Gracie Allen Murder Case (1938) The Winter Murder Case (1939) Cast of characters Most of the adventures have at their beginning a "Characters of the Book," much as in Shakespeare's plays. Vance, Van Dine, John F.-X Markham, Ernest Heath, Dr. Emanuel Doremus, and Currie all appear in 11 of the 12 stories; the last, The Winter Murder Case, includes only Vance, Van Dine, and a brief appearance of Markham at the very beginning. S.S. Van Dine: The fictional narrator S.S. Van Dine accompanies Vance during his investigations and later recounts them to readers. Van Dine, who reveals little about himself except that