S.S. Van Dine was the crime-novel pseudonym of Willard Huntington Wright (1888–1939), an American journalist, critic and novelist. He wrote scathing book reviews as literary editor for the Los Angeles Times, and would later publish unconventional and avant-garde work by the likes of D.H. Lawrence, Joseph Conrad and Ezra Pound for the magazine The Smart Set. Yet it was as a writer of detective fiction that he found financial success. His series of novels featuring amateur sleuth and art lover Philo Vance, the first of which was The Benson Murder Case (1926), were so popular that they also lead to movies and radio, and prevented Wright from ever returning to the less lucrative writing of which he would have been more proud. Judith John (glossary) is a writer and editor specializing in literature and history. A former secondary school English Language and Literature teacher, she has subsequently worked as an editor on major educational projects, including English A: Literature for the Pearson International Baccalaureate series. Judith’s major research interests include Romantic and Gothic literature, and Renaissance drama. Chris Semtner (biography) is an internationally exhibited artist, author, and curator living in Virginia. The curator of the Edgar Allan Poe Museum in Richmond, Virginia, he has served as author, co-author or editor of several books including the History Press title "Edgar Allan Poe's Richmond: The Raven in the River City." He has created museum exhibits on Poe in the Comics, Poe's Mysterious Death and Poe in the Movies. The New York Times called the exhibit he curated for the Library of Virginia, Poe: Man, Myth, or Monster, "provocative" and "a playful, robust exhibit."
