Frederick Van Rensselaer Dey

Frederick van Rensselaer Dey (February 10, 1861 – April 25, 1922) was an American dime novelist and pulp fiction writer.

Written by "Varick Vanardy", Dey's novel Odds and the Man was serialized in The Argosy in 1918

Lobby card for Alias the Night Wind (1923), based on Dey's 1913 novel serialized in Cavalier

Early life and marriages

He was born on February 10, 1861, in Watkins Glen, New York, to David Peter Dey and Emma Brewster Sayre. He attended the Havana Academy, and later graduated from the Columbia Law School. He practiced law and was a junior partner of William J. Gaynor. Dey took up writing while recovering from an illness. His first full-length story was written for Beadle and Adams in 1881.

Dey married Annie Shepard Wheeler, of Providence, Rhode Island, on June 4, 1885, and they had two children, Harriet and Kinsley. After a divorce he married Haryot Holt (c. 1857–June 16, 1950) on April 1, 1898.^[1][2]

Career

In 1891, Street & Smith hired him to continue the series begun by John R. Coryell, on the adventures of Nick Carter.^[1] Most of his Nick Carter stories appeared under the pseudonyms "A Celebrated Author" and "The Author of 'Nick Carter'".^[3] He wrote over a thousand Nick Carter novelettes, comprising over forty million words, all written longhand.^[4] Dey also worked as a newspaper reporter.^[5]

Writing as "Varick Vanardy", he created "The Night Wind", which appeared in stories from 1913 to the early 1920s. Collected into 4 books, these have been recently reprinted by Wildside Press: Alias The Night Wind (1913), Return of the Night Wind, The Night Wind's Promise, The Lady of the Night Wind (1918).^[6]

Death

Dey shot himself in his room in the Hotel Broztell in New York City, during the night of April 25, 1922, or the morning of April 26, 1922.^[7] The body was found either by Charles E. MacLean, the managing editor for Street & Smith,^[1] or by Deputy Police Commissioner Joseph Faurot.^[8]