A Ty and Zane ficlet. Takes place between Armed & Dangerous and Stars & Stripes.

In the 1920s, the world went Egypt-crazy, and even Philo Vance, that eminent scholar-sleuth, has some sympathy for the fad—though of course he knows lots more about the topic than anyone else. When a wealthy Egyptologist is murdered, with mysterious inscriptions and artifacts dotted round, it's only natural that John FS Markham calls Philo for help. After all, Markham is merely the New York District Attorney, whereas Philo Vance is...well, Philo Vance.

Never underestimate a librarian. Comfortably padded and in her middle years, Shona McMonagle may look bookish and harmless, but her education at the Marcia Blaine School for Girls has left her with a deadly expertise in everything from martial arts to quantum physics. It has also left her with a bone-deep loathing for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, that scurrilous novel that spread scandalous untruths about the finest educational institution in Edinburgh. Her skills, her deceptively mild appearance, and her passionate loyalty make Shona the perfect recruit for a new and interesting project: Time-travel to Tzarist Russia, prevent a gross miscarriage of romance, and – in any spare time – see to it that only the right people get murdered. It's a big job, but no task is too daunting for a Head Girl from Miss Blaine's.

Psychology at the Movies explores the insights to be gained by applying various psychological lenses to popular films including cinematic depictions of human behavior, the psychology of filmmakers, and the impact of viewing movies.Uses the widest range of psychological approaches to explore movies, the people who make them, and the people who watch them Written in an accessible style with vivid examples from a diverse group of popular films, such as The Silence of the Lambs, The Wizard of Oz, Star Wars, Taxi Driver, Good Will Hunting, and A Beautiful MindBrings together psychology, film studies, mass communication, and cultural studies to provide an interdisciplinary perspectiveFeatures an extensive bibliography for further exploration of various research fields

The "tremendous popularity" (New York Times) of the Philo Vance series stems in part from author S.S. Van Dine's preference for ripping his plots from the headlines of the day. By the early '30s, when Casino came around, those headlines included some creepy chemical discoveries and scandalous doings at secret Manhattan gambling dens, where rich folks knocked back cocktails and played roulette, snickering at both the Depression and the Volsted Act. Philo, of course, is no stranger to cocktails or to snickering, and he knows more about creepy chemicals than the management at Dow. This comes in handy when the owners of a secret Manhattan gambling den are poisoned, perhaps by some new and creepy chemical. As deliciously, irritatingly erudite as ever, Philo is in his element here, solving what one reviewer called an "uncommonly subtle" crime.

Gracie Allen breaks the Philo Phormula in a number of ways. First is its title: this is the only book in the series to modify "Murder Case" with more than one word, much less with the name of a character. And then there's that character: Gracie Allen was a very real, much-loved comedienne in the 1930s, famous for her double act with George Burns, and in fact the plot revolves around her. Gracie's centrality is no accident: Van Dine wrote the story as a vehicle for Allen, and actually created the novel only after the film had come out. So do all these departures pay off? We'd be lying if we said that Gracie hits every single mark, but Van Dine does a surprisingly entertaining job of translating Ms. Allen's delicious Ditzy Blonde persona to the page, and she makes a charming foil for Philo's evergreen erudition.

No question, The Dragon Murder Case showcases Our Philo at his most supremely irritating. The book is set at a Manhattan mansion complete with picturesque pool. Into that pool dives Sanford Montague, never to be seen again. Fools rush to blame the supernatural, noting that the "Dragon Pool," is supposedly home to a monster known to the Lenape Indians. Philo's not so sure: He is (of course) an expert on both dragons and the Lenape Indians, with a sort of sideline expertise in pools. It is tempting to agree with Ogden Nash that "Philo Vance needs a kick in the pance": and by the time you reach the end of Dragon, you will almost certainly want to point your boot at his posterior. But you will have had a swell time getting there, and we've got a crisp greenback that says you'll be chuckling too hard to aim.

Some Christmas surprises don't come from Santa. At a gathering atop the tallest building in Phoenix, Arizona, to celebrate Monica Baker's newest listing, the body of a mysterious young woman is found floating in the pool. But why do fingers point to Monica? Is it the victim's missing clothing that links Monica to the crime? As if being alone during the holidays and in love with someone else's husband wasn't depressing enough, Monica now needs to convince the cops, her real estate broker, and her friends, that she really, really isn't a Christmas killer. And she better be quick if she wants to make midnight mass instead of prison roll call.

Members of the Greene family keep dying while the pool of possible perpetrators keeps shrinking. Philo Vance—the independently wealthy, staggeringly brilliant, not remotely modest (and did we mention handsome?) amateur sleuth—uses his detective skills to unravel the murders, though sadly not before most of the Greene family has been bumped off. But that's Our Philo: The Sleuth You Love to Hate.

Given all the rich people getting bumped off in Philo Vance's Manhattan, it's amazing there are enough left to support the symphony. Latest up: Arthur Coe, found dead in his own locked bedroom. Suicide? The ever-perceptive Philo doesn't buy that theory for a second. The presence in Coe's house of a strange, prize-winning terrier only adds to the mystery, although Philo's fabulously in-depth knowledge of dogs does not in fact solve the crime; his fabulously in-depth knowledge of the murder of the Empress Elizabeth of Austria in 1898 proves much more useful.

Like The Gracie Allen Murder Case before it, Winter was first written as a screenplay, in this case a vehicle for the figure skater Sonja Henie. However, while Allen's scatterbrained persona made a charming foil for Philo's stuffed-shirt pretensions, Ms. Henie provided no such inspiration. Van Dine did not live long enough to see her outed as a Nazi supporter, but her ice-princess act offered less for Philo to play against. It should be noted that Winter was published posthumously to close out the series, and though it went to press without Van Dine's usual repeated revisions, it is true vintage Philo—utterly distinctive in style and its own very genuine kind of pleasure.

According to one review, Garden runs on "passion, avarice, ambition and horse-racing." It also runs on pure 1930s octane, because this is a classic house-party murder mystery, that staple of the Golden Age. As befitting a Philo yarn, of course, it's a very Manhattan house-party, with an actress and a socialite on hand, and a bookie on the telephone. There's also a losing bet on the ponies, and an ensuing suicide...but Philo, natch, is not sure just who pulled the trigger. A joy, as always, for readers who delight in Philo's spectacular brand of awfulness—is there anyone snootier' Snobbier' More taken with himself'—but also for fans of the Impossible Crime.

"Philo Vance: Man of Action," said nobody never. And yet Kidnap shows real signs of Van Dine's responding both to the changing times—friends, it's not the Jazz Age any more—and to the public's changing tastes, as Philo does much less sitting around pontificating and much more running around chasing bad guys. To accommodate this new, Action Philo, the plot is somewhat simplistic, featuring not only a purloined playboy but also a demand that the ransom be left at midnight in a hollow tree. However, Philo's newfound skills with a pistol are additions to his bag of tricks, rather than replacements for the tricks we know and love; rest assured that he retains every ounce of his customary implausible charm.

Erotica/Romance. 11622 words long. First published in www.torquerepress.com, 2008

Philo Vance finds his old chum District Attorney Anthony Markham up against a bizarre series of murders inspired by children's nursery rhymes. The first murder was apparently based on "Who Killed Cock Robin?"; it is followed by more hideous deaths referencing "Mother Goose." Philo Vance suspects a connection to a rather more sophisticated writer.

For readers of Sean Carroll, Brian Greene, Katie Mack, and anyone who wants to know what theoretical physicists actually do.This Way to the Universe is a celebration of the astounding, ongoing scientific investigations that have revealed the nature of reality at its smallest, at its largest, and at the scale of our daily lives. The enigmas that Professor Michael Dine discusses are like landmarks on a fantastic journey to the edge of the universe. Asked where to find out about the Big Bang, Dark Matter, the Higgs boson particle—the long cutting edge of physics right now—Dine had no single book he could recommend. This is his accessible, authoritative, and up-to-date answer. Comprehensible to anyone with a high-school level education, with almost no equations, there is no better author to take you on this amazing odyssey.Dine is widely recognized as having made profound contributions to our understanding of matter, time,...

S.S. Van Dine wrote 12 Philo Vance Detective Mystery Novels. This very popular collection includes all 12 books and includes all of the illustrations contained in the original novels. This bundle also includes S.S. Van Dine's essay "Twenty Rules For Writing Detective Stories". This bundle has been especially formatted to work well on the Amazon Kindle. S. S. Van Dine was the pseudonym of Willard Huntington Wright (October 15, 1888 - April 11, 1939). The 12 Complete novels are: The Benson Murder Case The Canary Murder Case The Greene Murder Case The Bishop Murder Case The Scarab Murder Case The Kennel Murder Case The Dragon Murder Case The Casino Murder Case The Garden Murder Case The Kidnap Murder Case The Gracie Allen Murder Case The Winter Murder Case 

Playboy stockbroker, Alvin Benson, is found in his brownstone mansion with a bullet through his head. First on the scene is Philo Vance, amateur detective, who is at once intrigued by the absence of Alvin's toupee and his false teeth. With a jigsaw of odd clues he sets off in pursuit of an elusive murderer, making obvious his disdain for the professional crime-solvers of the police and the DA’s office. To him, they seem to be hopelessly addicted to the pernicious practice of looking for physical clues and circumstantial evidence. His own theory is that psychology is the key. The first in the Philo Vance series, The Benson Murder Case, originally published in 1926, has all the hallmarks of a ripping, puzzle-solving crime.

Oliver and Celia Navel have suffered through a whole summer exploring with their father's nemesis Sir Edmund, and are ready to begin a new school year glued to the TV. But when their mother vanishes (again) in search of the Lost City of Gold: El Dorado, the twins must trek from the ruins of ancient temples through the shadowy forests of the Amazon. This time, they'll need all their reality TV survival skills to brave raging river rapids, furious fire ants, and a most unusual jungle feast. Worst of all, if they can't outsmart the bad guys, they're going to miss all their favorite television shows!

Philo Vance is a fictional character featured in 12 crime novels written by S. S. Van Dine (the pen name of Willard Huntington Wright), published in the 1920s and 1930s. During that time, Vance was immensely popular in books, movies, and on the radio. He was portrayed as a stylish, even foppish dandy, a New York bon vivant possessing a highly intellectual bent. The novels were chronicled by his friend Van Dine (who appears as a kind of Dr. Watson figure in the books as well as the author). Also included is the bonus essay, Twenty Rules for Writing Detective Stories.Novels included are:THE BENSON MURDER CASE (1926)THE "CANARY" MURDER CASE (1927)THE GREENE MURDER CASE (1928)THE BISHOP MURDER CASE (1928)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)...

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Recipes sizzle and intrigue simmers when the Gourmet Detective takes a ride on the twenty-fifth anniversary journey of the world-famous Danube Express. The stately railroad starts its route in the Alps and cuts through Austria, Hungary, and the former Yugoslavia before pulling up on the shores of the Black Sea in Romania. Along the way, its passengers—hailing from Europe’s business and social elite—sample the best and most enticing foods those countries’ cuisines have to offer, dishes as unfamiliar and exotic as they are delicious. . . . From Germany, braised lamb with rutabagas, or roast duck—its skin as crackly as phyllo and the meat juicy and flavorful, served with Savoy cabbage, leeks, carrots, onions, and celery . . . From Austria, stuffed breast of veal with buttered chestnuts, served with braised fennel, watercress, and tarragon . . . From Hungary, Libermaj, a goose liver pâté seasoned with paprika, pimentos, and scallions, blended with hard-boiled eggs and white wine . . .From the Balkans, escallopes of veal cooked Dubrovnik style—simmering in onions and mushrooms that have been sautéed in butter and seasoned with thyme and bay leaves . . . All complemented by some of the finest wines and brandies in the world!The Gourmet Detective is aboard to see how it’s done; he’s been hired by another luxury rail line to sit back, relax, fill his face, and take notes. But nothing is ever easy—or safe—where food, money, and celebrity meet, and this trip is no exception. When a celebrated Hungarian stage actress vanishes from the moving train, the Gourmet Detective finds himself enlisted in a desperate search for her abductor, or killer, and for answers in a bizarrely unfolding mystery that, as usual, centers on humanity’s most consuming passion: food!As the Danube Express chugs into the night, haute cuisine, fine wine, and murder become the main orders of business on this fun and fascinating foray through a world of mouth-watering delights.From Publishers WeeklyKing (Eat, Drink and Be Buried, etc.) delivers mixed results in the seventh outing for his Gourmet Detective, this time aboard a luxury train. The journey begins in Munich, winds its way through the Alps, with stops in Austria, Hungary and the former Yugoslavia, the final destination being the Black Sea coast of Romania. The passengers sample the best of each locale's cuisine, while the Gourmet Detective observes the workings of the high-class excursion. Before long his reputation as an amateur sleuth, albeit one who's worked with the pros of Scotland Yard, gets him involved in the disappearance of a glamorous Hungarian actress. Has she been abducted from the train? Has she been murdered? Or is it some bizarre publicity stunt? Then a body turns up and things get even stranger. As the Gourmet Detective and the head of security work to stop the killer from striking again, the train moves forward more smoothly than the plot. An engaging travelogue and the good food, evoked in the attractive jacket art, compensate only partly for stilted prose and an unconvincing mystery that feels grafted on. Comparisons to Agatha Christie's classic Murder on the Orient Express are inevitable, but King's novel limps along a distant second. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. From the Back CoverPraise for Peter King’s Gourmet Detective Murder Mysteries“Readers will find the menu descriptions mouthwatering and crave a sample of the shrimp remoulade.” ---Kirkus Reviews on Roux the Day"Fascinating tidbits of the cuisine of England in the Middle Ages." ---St. Petersburg Times on Eat, Drink, and be Buried “[King] introduces the reader to a delightful array of funny characters and mouthwatering recipes.” ---Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on A Healthy Place to Die“Read King because you like a nicely structured mystery. Read him because you love gourmet food. Either way, savor the feast he has prepared.” ---Sarasota Herald-Tribune on Death al Dente“Salivating scenes of Provence’s superb food, coupled with lore about truffles, wine, and aristocracy, add sustenance to Dying on the Vine.” ---Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel on Dying on the Vine“The Gourmet Detective is. . . a delight. [The series] provides terrific writing, characters that come to life on the page, and wonderful information on gourmet cooking and the food industry.” ---Stuart M. Kaminsky, author of A Fatal Glass of Beer and A Bullet for a Star, on Spiced to Death“This appealing detective serves up nuggets of culinary trivia and wry foodie humor. King. . . keeps the well-spiced plot bubbling along.” ---People magazine on The Gourmet Detective, a People Beach Book of the Week