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

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 Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

, and later graduated from the Columbia Law School. He practiced law and was a junior partner of

William J. Gaynor William Jay Gaynor (February 2, 1849 – September 10, 1913) was an American politician from New York City, associated with the Tammany Hall political machine. He served as the 94th mayor of the City of New York from 1910 to 1913, and previously ...

. 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.

Career

In 1891, Street & Smith hired him to continue the series begun by

John R. Coryell John Russell Coryell (December 15, 1851 in New York City – July 15, 1924 in Readfield, Maine) was a prolific dime novel author. He wrote under the Nicholas Carter and Bertha M. Clay house pseudonyms, and, like many of his fellow dime novelist ...

, on the adventures of Nick Carter. Most of his Nick Carter stories appeared under the pseudonyms "A Celebrated Author" and "The Author of 'Nick Carter'". He wrote over a thousand Nick Carter novelettes, comprising over forty million words, all written longhand. Dey also worked as a newspaper reporter. 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).

Death

Dey shot himself in his room in the

Hotel Broztell A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a ref ...

in New York City, during the night of April 25, 1922 or the morning of April 26, 1922. The body was found either by Charles E. MacLean, the managing editor for Street & Smith, or by Deputy Police Commissioner

Joseph Faurot Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the mo ...

.Van Raalte, Joseph. "Nick Carter: The Picturesque Career of the Man Who Made Him." ''Century: A Popular Quarterly'' 114 (Nov 1927): 91-97. Print.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dey American male writers 1861 births 1922 suicides Street & Smith Suicides by firearm in New York City People from Watkins Glen, New York Dime novelists