Origin
Philo Vance was a New York socialite, dandy and snob who because of his inherited wealth had never had to work and instead spent his days studying various subjects and searching for ways to amuse himself. Striking up a friendship with one term New York County District Attorney John F.-X Markham, who shared membership with him in the exclusive club where Vance spent most of his time, Philo decided that investigating a murder would be diverting and convinced Markham to let him tag along on one. While an elitist that looked down on almost everyone he encountered, as he considered himself to be a Nietzschean superman among mostly dullards, he did manage to solve the first case he was invited along on, and eleven more after that. It’s to be assumed that who ever was District Attorney after that wanted nothing to do with Vance and that ended his crime solving career as apparently he was a hard man to get along with or as was expressed by Ogden Nash “Philo Vance needs a kick in the pance.” (sic)
Creators
Created by S.S. Van Dine Philo Vance appeared in 12 novels in the 20’s and 30’s that were so popular that Van Dine was the first American mystery writer to earn a million dollars from his writing. Eventually Philo Vance also appeared in films, on the radio and a short run in comics in Dell Comic’s The Funnies.