A review by davidabrams
The Dragon Murder Case by Willard Huntington Wright, S.S. Van Dine

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This was my third Philo Vance mystery and it will be far from my last. The murder is mysterious (including the missing body itself) and the setting is murky (a poorly-lit pool on an estate), but the detection and unraveling of the crime is fabulous. Yes, the action is stilted, clumsily moving from the estate to Philo Vance's apartment, like the characters are actors walking across the stage to a different set; and most of the "detecting" is psychological. But that worked for Nero Wolfe, and that works just as well here with man-about-town Philo Vance, who must use all his brainmatter to solve: a) where the party guest who dived into the pool vanished to, and b) was he eaten by a dragon or a large fish? The answer is clever--and cleverly spooled out in a surprising denouement. Dashin' good, as Philo might say.