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S. S. Van Dine

S. S. Van Dine Biography

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“It has long been a source of wonder to me why the leading criminological writers--men like Edmund Lester Pearson, H. B. Irving, Filson Young, Canon Brookes, William Bolitho, and Harold Eaton--have not devoted more space to the Greene tragedy; for here, surely, is one of the outstanding murder mysteries of modern times--a case practically unique in the annals of latter-day crime.”

MenLongBookYoungSpaceWonderCasesMysteryModernCrimeSourceUniqueTragedyMurderLatterDevotedOutstandingModern TimesCanonLatter DaysMurder Mysteries
Book:The Greene Murder Case
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“A detective novel should contain no long descriptive passages, no literary dallying with side-issues, no subtly worked-out character analyses, no 'atmospheric' preoccupations. Such matters have no vital place in a record of crime and deduction. They hold up the action and introduce issues irrelevant to the main purpose, which is to state a problem, analyze it, and bring it to a successful conclusion. To be sure, there must be a sufficient descriptiveness and character delineation to give the novel verisimilitude.”

GivingShouldLongMatterStatesCharacterProblemActionPurposeSidesNovelIssuesSuccessfulRecordsCrimeConclusionAnalysisSufficientPassagesIntroducingIrrelevantDetectivesPreoccupationDeductionsDetective Fiction
Book:Twenty Rules For Writing Detective Stories
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