Louis Joseph Vance

(1879-1933)

   Louis Joseph Vance was born in New York City, and studied at the Art Students League before turning to fiction.  His first tale was rejected, but his second sold for $25.  In 1907, his novel The Brass Bowl became one of the top bestsellers of the year.  Other successful novels soon followed.  During his career he turned out hundreds of short stories.  Most of these have never been collected.  He is best known today for his fictional character "The Lone Wolf."  Vance wrote mostly at night, using a typewriter, never a pen.  He used often to cruise a sailboat on Long Island Sound.  A plainspoken individual, he resigned from the Knickerbocker Whist Club, calling it a "bridge racket."  Unfortunately, the mystery surrounding his death has never been solved.  On a December day in 1933, smoke was seen pouring out of New York City apartment.  He had apparently fallen asleep in his armchair with a lit cigar, and was pronounced dead at the hospital.  Various theories of the cause of accident have been put forth, and some have claimed it a case of "spontaneous human combustion." 

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Bibliography:

           The Romance of Terence O'Rourke [f] [1905]
The Private War [f] [1906]
8741The Brass Bowl [f] [1907]
9779The Black Bag [f] [1908]
9927The Bronze Bell [f] [1909]
The Pool of Flame [f] [1909]
No Man's Land [f] [1910]
Cynthia-of-the-Minute [f] [1911]
The Bandbox [f] [1912]
The Destroying Angel [f] [1912]
15873The Day of Days [f] [1913]
Joan Thursday [f] [1913]
The Lone Wolf [f] [1914]
Nobody [f] [1915]
Sheep's Clothing [f] [1915]
10327Alias The Lone Wolf [f] [1921]
Linda Lee, Incorporated [f] [1922]
The Lone Wolf Returns [f] [1923]
Mrs. Paramour [f] [1924]
The Road to En-dor [f] [1925]
White Fire [f] [1926]
Woman in the Shadow [f] [1930]
Lone Wolf's Son [f] [1931]
Encore the Lone Wolf [f] [1933]
Lone Wolf's Last Prowl [f] [1934]

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Web Resources:

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