Product Description
A mysterious religious commune, New York City during a choking heat wave, and a quiet New England town are among the settings for intrigue and murder. Includes five complete and unabridged novels: And on the Eighth Day; The Player on the Other Side; Inspector Queen's Own Case; Cat of Many Tails; Double, Double. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

oldie but goody
I do love the old hard boiled mystery novels and this is no exception.Thouroughly satisfying - given what it is.I'm glad there are five novels so I still have a few to go.

About Crime!
"Ellery Queen" is a title that represents the 'Golden Age' detective stories & novels that we have missed by several generations. With almost all those adventures getting out-of-print, it appeared as if we would be losing that sleuth as well as those two authors permanently to the abyss of time. Then there was a welcome break in the form of a couple of Crippen and Landru Classics short story collections that broke out last year. After reading these short stories I scanned the net and found this book which appeared attractive because of the cross-section of phases in Ellery's life that these stories represented. I got the book from Barnes and Noble, since their 'Used & Out-of-Print' section also caters to orders from India, unlike Amazon. It was a perfect value for money, but more importantly, it was refreshingly reveling to find out how, under the veneer of fair-play with the readers/listeners wherein the authors provided them every single clue that was being gathered by Ellery at the same time through his methods, immensely complex social relaities were being handled and discussed with pragmatic delicacy. This can be seen from each of the novels included in this omnibus collection, namely:

1. "And On The Eighth Day" is a fable disguised as a Crime story, that addresses the basic issues of dilemma and choice: what can be done, and what should be done.
2. "The Player On The Other Side" is a quest for a killer, as well as an exploration of the issues of identity and personality.
3. "Inspector Queen's Own Case" is a complex story of murder and deception, overcast by the grim realities underlining men-women relationship.
4. "Cat Of Many Tails" is about the simultaneous murder-spree of a serial killer and hunt to find him before the next kill takes place. This story once again made me feel that Ellery Queen, with his emotional vulnerability coupled with astute observations and tenacity, would have been more likely to catch Jack The Ripper, than Sherlock Holmes, had the killings taken place in New York of 1940-s rather than in Victorian London.
5. "Double, Double" is a Wrightsville murder case with the anticipated twists and pathos, but it is undoubtedly another gripping yarn.

All in all, I would like to recommend this collection to every lover of mystery and detection, since this novels are not likely to be reprinted shortly and yet their non-reading would be depriving yourselves.

Spread across Ellery-the-character's career
Consists of AND ON THE EIGHTH DAY, CAT OF MANY TAILS, DOUBLE, DOUBLE, INSPECTOR QUEEN'S OWN CASE: NOVEMBER SONG, and THE PLAYER ON THE OTHER SIDE.

AND ON THE EIGHTH DAY (1964) is set during 1944. Ellery, driving across the desert (in those days, he worked in Hollywood as well as his native New York City), encounters by chance an obscure community settled by a religion that doesn't exist outside that community. (The title is a play on words, following the structure of the KJV of Genesis.) It's virtually another world, created anew by its founders - and the isolated community is now dealing with its first murder.

CAT OF MANY TAILS (1949) picks up where TEN DAYS' WONDER left off, so it would have made more sense to include that rather than DOUBLE, DOUBLE (below) as the token Wrightsville story. After the TEN DAYS' WONDER case, in which one character played Ellery like a violin, Ellery resolved to give up detection, feeling that he'd played God once too often and others had suffered for his arrogant confidence in his own cleverness. His father, who hadn't been involved since that had been a case in Wrightsville's jurisdiction, had been unable to persuade Ellery to help with any other cases, until the Cat - a serial killer with few discernable patterns - began stalking New York, and Inspector Queen was put in charge of the task force hunting the murderer down. What really frightens the city's law enforcement and politicians is that a combination of factors - including public hysteria whipped up by the media - seem bound to result in massive panic-stricken riots if the killings continue much longer.

DOUBLE, DOUBLE (1950) is set in Wrightsville, where another serial killer appears to be following the nursery rhyme 'rich man, poor man, beggarman...' Given that this is Ellery Queen, this could be *either* a psychopath *or* a cover for a murder for sane motives - the Queen team has done both, in their time.

INSPECTOR QUEEN'S OWN CASE: NOVEMBER SONG (1956) is a favorite of mine, more than the sequel HOUSE OF BRASS that I happened to read first (don't let that happen to you, this is the stronger book). Inspector Richard Queen has finally reached mandatory retirement, and he has too much pride to let Ellery hover over him - when the story opens, Richard is staying with an old friend, who retired only to take up a much quieter police chief job in a sleepy New England seacoast town. The 3rd-person viewpoint is mainly split between Richard - who's privately depressed, feeling he's outlived his usefulness - and Jessie Sherwood, a professional nurse looking after a newly-adopted baby for a childless rich couple in the area. The story opens, though, with some up-close details of what turns out to have been an illegal adoption - the rich couple would've been too old for an adoption-through-channels, so they essentially bought the child. (The birth mother, an unwed nightclub singer, is actually a decent person - the slimy go-between only persuaded her to go through with it by selling her the idea that the wealthy adoptive parents could give the kid a better life than she could.)

Unfortunately, the flaw in that theory is that various parties - the ne'er-do-well nephew, for one - find it inconvenient to see a sizeable fortune suddenly redirected to an unexpected small baby. After Jessie and Richard meet casually on the beach while she's out with the baby, he insists on coming along with the chief when there's a report of an attempted kidnapping on the estate. When tragedy finally strikes, Richard and Jessie join forces in some unofficial investigating.

THE PLAYER ON THE OTHER SIDE (1963) Title quote is from Huxley, speaking of the universe as the chessboard and natural law as the rules, with the 'player on the other side' metaphorically being God - all-powerful, all-knowing. All the chapters are named for chess moves, though somewhat informally.

In this book, the gameboard is York Square, its corners featuring the four rook-like towers in which the four heirs to the York fortune while away the time until a former heir, missing and presumed dead for many years, finally has to be bypassed under the terms of his father's will. The unseen 'player on the other side' who knows too much about York Square for comfort, however, bypasses all four would-be heirs in going to work directly on Walt, the seemingly insignificant handyman who looks after the Square, and is so starved for human contact that mysterious, flattering notes from the unknown 'Y' carry a lot of weight with him. From Walt's point of view, we see a few of Y's messages before the first murder brings us around to the usual Ellery-and-Inspector-Queen viewpoint.

Their problem, of course, is to find out who might be trying to make Walt a fall guy, and there are far more than 4 suspects. Emily York, for instance, is absorbed in good works; many people, from her assistant Ann to a lot of desperate cases, have a stake in seeing her get funding for her more grandiose philanthropic schemes. Percival's redistribution of wealth would be more personal, involving his fellow woman rather than fellow man. Myra, jilted years ago, seems disconnected from reality, and Robert almost equally so in a different way (he's a fanatic stamp collector).

Only one of the 5 is really good
Cat of many Tails is excellent. The rest mostly show Queen in decline. 4 or 5 stars for that one novel, the rest 2 or 3. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Best Impossible Crime Story ever
This omnibus includes most of the short early Ellery Queen stories. But the real reason to own it is the short (under 100 pages) novel, "The Lamp of God," which may be the best (and fairest) "impossible crime" story ever written. An entire house - one which may contain a hidden treasure - simply vanishes overnight - no house, no ruins, nothing. It's a fair puzzle, and the reader is given all the clues needed to solve the mystery, although I suspect few will. A truly great book!

All the early short stories
All of Queen's early short stories, from the Adventures and New Adventures of Ellery Queen. Most are excellent. A must for the pure-puzzle mystery fan. ... Read more

Product Description
Frederic Dannay and Manfred B. Lee, who wrote under the pseudonym Ellery Queen; and whose fictional sleuth was also named Ellery Queen, were probably the most important American mystery writers from 1929 until the early 1970's. Ellery Queen is the American detective story, wrote Anthony Boucher and he meant not only their detective novels, but also their critical writings, their editing, and their appearance on television and the radio.From 1939 until 1948, Lee and Dannay wrote a hugely popular radio mystery show,The Adventures of Ellery Queen, which like the EQ books stopped the action toward the end and challenged the audience to deduce whodunit. From the more than 350 surviving scripts, we have chosen fourteen of the most challenging: The case of the Tontine whose members die off one by one; The disappearance of Napoleon's Razor on a cross-country railroad train; The case that Sherlock Holmes failed to solve; The strangling in a haunted cave with only the victim s footprints leading to the corpse; A dying message which seems to name all the suspects; The clue of the dead moth; and 8 other extraordinary mysteriesThis book is published in honor of the centennial of the births of Lee and Dannay, and (in the fictional world of EQ), the centennial of Ellery himself. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Good-old Ellery!
The name of Ellery Queen had attained dizzy heights in the so-called golden age of crime-writing for several reasons, notably:
1. Because every one of these stories were firmly based on the principle of fair play where Ellery and the reader/members of the audience get to know the same hints and clues;
2. Ellery's character, with its youthful (and sometimes irritating) attitude towards life, contrasted nicely with the dark and dangerous themes of murder and betrayal;
3. The cute relationships that Ellery shared with his near-and-dears endeared them to all & sundry;
4. Being plot-driven, the stories could stand tall amidst all the vagaries of surroundings.

The best of these stories (in this collection) have all these traits, the weakest among them goes down being not-driven by the plot. But all-in-all, every one of these stories deserve to be read afresh, and enjoyed again, esp. by readers like us who are suffering from the copper-age kind of current crop of hefty but boring novels. Recommended.

Challenge to the Reader
The two cousins who wrote as "Ellery Queen" were born in 1905, and for their centennial the estimable specialty house Crippen & Landru have come out with a book of some radio plays they wrote in the late 30s and early 40s, the peak years for the great detective.Crippen & Landru issued an outline for a final, unfinished novel (A TRAGEDY OF ERRORS) which is marvelous to have, but this volume is a quantum leap more satisfying and a fantastic addition to the Queen corpus.

THE ADVENTURE OF THE LAST MAN CLUB.A play involving a tontine underwritten by an industrial capitalist tycoon and whose members are mostly Navy veterans who served with the dead son of the tycoon.One of the members is hit by a car while crossing the street, and Ellery's hot on the case.

THE ADVENTURE OF NAPOLEON'S RAZOR will appeal to everyone who loves trains, especially guys with model railroading replicas in their basements.Ellery and Nikki try to trap a cunning killer on a train completely sealed off from the outside world.

THE ADVENTURE OF THE BAD BOY.Did a little boy really poison his aunt's stew with arsenic?Ellery and Nikki have to face down the possibility that even a young 10 year old may do evil in the name of love.This one is extremely far-fetched, but persuasive.

THE ADVENTURE OF THE MARCH OF DEATH.When old man March gets bumped off he tries to leave a clue by carving it into his desk with the very knife that stabbed him!Then the killer erases the dying message.You won't feel a thing for any of these people, they're all despicable, but just try to figure out the solution!

THE ADVENTURE OF THE HAUNTED CAVE.Set high in the Adirondacks, HAUNTED CAVE has a spooky story to tell.A ghost hunter is slain inside the wooden door of a cave.The only footprints leading to his body are his own.It seems almost sure that Montague is the victim of a hundred-year old ghost.Almost a Henry Merrivale sort of crime for Ellery.

THE ADVENTURE OF THE LOST CHILD.This case will remind readers of several other well-covered but much more recent true crime stories (Susan Smith, Andrea Yates, etc).The depravity of the murders in this radio play goes considerably beyond anything Queen was writing in his novels at the time.I would have thought the ad agencies would have hesitated before sponsoring this one, it's awfully trenchant.

THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLACK SECRET.Some mystery lovers get all lovey dovey around mysteries set in bookstores with rare book dealers as victims or suspects.This is one of those cases.It isn't my favorite, but I like having Mike Callahan-a rival sleuth-feature in Ellery's cases, and the set-up when Ellery gets arrested on suspicion of shoplifting had me laughing my ass off.

THE ADVENTURE OF THE DYING SCARECROW.I wonder which came first, this macabre play of the countryside's changing seasons and the chainsaw-crazy family who lives on the farm, or maybe Joel Townsley Rogers' novel THE RED RIGHT HAND?Read this one and tell me you don't flash on the Townsley Rogers book.

THE ADVENTURE OF THE WOMAN IN BLACK.A British novelist with a family ghost has grown up believing that if the ghostly woman in black appears to him three times, then he will die.Ellery tries to intervene, but the facts of the case baffle him.Oscar Wilde plays a surprising part in this tale, and the story has atmosphere to burn.This must be the last of the hourlong radio plays, because the remainder of the bunch are much shorter.

THE ADVENTURE OF THE FORGOTTEN MEN.This play takes up the theme of the homeless, but the characterization is pretty dismal.I couldn't tell the difference between the five main characters, Manhattan, Dixie, Yank, Kansas and California.They're all derelicts living in an abandoned lot in New York City.

THE ADVENTURE OF THE MAN WHO COULD DOUBLE THE SIZE OF DIAMONDS.Funny how many Ellery Queen plots depend on strip searching a guy (here, a phony inventor called Doctor Lazarus) and examining every body cavity no matter how indelicate.Something a little kinky there, but that's fine by me.

THE ADVENTURE OF THE DARK CLOUD.The "Dark Cloud" is a yacht on which members of the Valentine family are hosting a swim party and a rousing round of charades.Murder ensues and once again, literary texts function as the database of clues.The dying message here wouldn't have stumped a dolphin.

THE ADVENTURE OF MR. SHORT AND MR, LONG.This is Ellery Queen's version of the famous Sherlock Holmes reference to "Mr. James Phillimore who stepped into his house for an umbrella and was never more seen in this world."Wonder if John Dickson Carr knew this play when he did his own version (with Adrian Conan Doyle) in their book of EXPLOITS?For the two stories share some key points.

THE ADVENTURE OF THE MURDERED MOTHS.Ellery and the gang invade what seems to be some sort of Marjorie Main EGG AND I motel for hillbillies, and meet up with an eloping couple of youngsters.Nikki offers to stand in as bridesmaid for the girl, but then it is discovered that she, Virginia Wender, is underage.Virginia's father gets killed, but not for the reason you'd think!The moths tell the tale . . .

I hated to see this book come to an end.Please, publishers, issue a sequel!If there are 350 of these plays extant, you could do a book every year for the next ten or twenty years!Don't leave us on such a teasing note!These plays bring us the best of Ellery Queen-his wit, his inventiveness, his love of humanity, his spectral note, his innate American spirit, and most of all, the brain teasers that made his name famous for decades.And Nikki Porter too, far less annoying here than in some of the books.Now I realize I should have paid more for the hardcover edition, in which you get an extra play for your money! ... Read more

Product Description
“ELLERY QUEEN IS THE AMERICAN DETECTIVE STORY” So wrote the great critic Anthony Boucher about the contributions of Ellery Queen to the mystery story.Queen appeared in novels and short stories, in the movies and on television, on the radio and even in comic books.

In honor of the seventieth anniversary of the first Ellery Queen novel, Crippen & Landru is proud to publish the first completely new Ellery Queen book in almost thirty years.“The Tragedy of Errors” is the lengthy and detailed plot outline for the final, but never published EQ novel, containing all the hallmarks of the greatest Queen novels—the dying message, the succession of false solutions before the astonishing truth is revealed, and scrupulous fairplay to the reader.And the theme is one that Queen had been developing for many years: the manipulation of events in a world going mad by people who aspire to the power of gods.

The Tragedy of Errors and Others also contains the six hitherto uncollected Ellery Queen short stories, and a section of essays, tributes, and reminiscences of Ellery Queen, written by family members, friends, and some of the finest current mystery writers. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

All in a Row
This important book collects not only the unfinished TRAGEDY OF ERRORS but the long fugitive novelette TERROR TOWN from the 1950s, both of them essential items for the Queen Canon.There's also a spattering of minor short stories involving the Puzzle Club, the sort of thing some people love but I don't.I hate that stuff and it's here in spades.There's even one story, "The Reindeer Clue," which Dannay farmed out to another writer, and it's as good or bad as the others, but what could be the justification of printing this piece in the book if it's not even by Queen?

The whole story of Queen's employment of ghost writers still sticks in my craw. Here we have two sons of Dannay arguing that, because three of the final Queen novels were not entirely written by others, they should be moved up higher in the canon.What temerity!The book is filled with tributes to Frederic Dannay's character, judgment, kindness, editorial prowess, but here and there you get an uncanny sense that these two cousins early on sold their birthright to the highest bidder and that this, their secret flaw, came to overshadow all their other achievements.They were already (1930s) doing fifty times better than the average detective story writer, but they were greedy, or something, and before you knew it they were publishing the work of others--that they had bought with money--under their name--inferior work, work that eventually diluted the brand name beyond repair.

In fact I don't think it was greed precisely that motivated these men, but something deeper and darker entirely which has yet to be revealed--some sort of anxiety complex.They had to be number one, and Lee felt threatened by Dannay in multifold ways so Dannay was always compromising to satisfy his cousin."Terror Town," like the other mid-1950s stories that foretold Lee's eventual collapse, is filled with political and social paranoia a la THE GLASS VILLAGE, INSPECTOR QUEEN'S OWN CASE, AND ON THE EIGHTH DAY--it's the story of a religious right bringing a new age of darkness to a little, insular community.I didn't guess the solution, and the novelette would have been a complete triumph if it didn't suffer from a really, really bad romantic matchup that sort of sinks the enterprise.As for THE TRAGEDY OF ERRORS, I don't know, it might have been OK, but to me it feels like leftovers from THE FOURTH SIDE OF THE TRIANGLE and FACE TO FACE.(The name of the victim, "Morna," seems like yet another working out of the anagram plot of the former--Ramon--Norma--Morna, anyone?)While Morna's extreme horribleness seems like a further turning of the misogynist screws of FACE TO FACE--if a woman if awful enough, readers won't care if she's killed.Highly recommended, especially for Queen lovers, and yet not a patch on the other Crippen and Landru volume, the incredibly excellent ADVENTURE OF THE MURDERED MOTHS which, at any rate, is 100 per cent Queen--the real Queen.

A good read for fans
If you're already a fan of Ellery Queen, this is an excellent book to buy.It includes Dannay's outline for the final Ellery Queen novel, The Tragedy of Errors, several short stories, and a variety of essays on both authors and their work.The outline and letter from Dannay to Lee and the first essay especially provide a good picture of how the authors' collaboration worked, which make for fascinating reading if you're an admirer of the books.

That said, if you're not a devoted fan or just looking for a good mystery read, this is not the book you're looking for.While The Tragedy of Errors would obviously have been a great book if it had ever been turned into one, it remains an outline-- it's more interesting as a picture of how Danny and Lee worked than as a mystery in itself, since it hasn't been fleshed out into a book.The short stories are excellent, especially the previously unpublished Terror Town, but there are six.If you're newly interested in Ellery Queen, wait on this book until you've read more of his (their) work.

A must for all Queen fanatics!
There's been far too little written about Ellery Queen--truly the master of American detective fiction. This book from Crippen and Landru is a great step forward. In addition to the full outline of Dannay and Lee's final butnever finished novel "The Tragedy of Errors," there's also aselection of EQ short stories and best yet, a collection of appreciationsand essays by collaborators and contempraries to EQ, covering the earlyperiod of the pince-nez Ellery to the later ghost-written (but plotted andedited by Dannay and Lee) psychological and religious thrillers--and eventhe Ellery of radio and the comics! EQ's been sadly out of fashion in themystery field over the last 20 years--following a resurgence in 1976 withthe NBC-TV series, various publishers have reissued several books but letthem go out of print quickly; the essays in "The Tragedy ofErrors" remind me how much I wish all the EQs were still available fortoday's new mystery readers. This is the best book I've yet seen on the*history* of Ellery, the cousins who created him, and the groundbreaking"Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine." The very best compliment I cangive this book? It makes me *need* to go back and re-read all my EQfavorites. Now, if I can only figure out those cryptic dying clues... ... Read more

Product Description
Eccentric multimillionaire Cadmus Cole hires Ellery Queen to investigate a case but won't say what it is. When Cole dies mysteriously at sea, Queen and his partner, Beau Rummell, must navigate a thicket of complications that includes a $50 million legacy, two beautiful, avaricious women vying for it, and even a phony Ellery Queen. This confection, now available in audio form, was first published in 1939. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Ellery's Transition Period: Eccentric Millionaires and Romance Abound
Ellery Queen's early period, say 1929 thru 1935, introduced Ellery in such stories as The Greek Coffin Mystery, The Egyptian Cross Mystery, The Siamese Twin Mystery, and The Spanish Cape Mystery. This younger Ellery is perhaps overly intellectual, but his solutions to these eccentric crimes are simply dazzling.

The Dragon's Teeth (1939) dates from a transition period, roughly 1936 thru 1939, in which we readers frequently encounter more humor as well as some romance (often humorously cast). Also, reclusive, eccentric millionaires have a tendency to appear.

In The Dragon's Teeth Ellery's has established a detective agency (that's right, Ellery has gone commercial). His partner, humorously named Beau Rummell, complicates matters by becoming romantically entangled with an attractive, young murder suspect. The mystery itself centers around a Howard Hughes-like millionaire hidden away for twenty years at sea on his yacht. Despite the light-hearted humor, The Dragon's Teeth is first and foremost a mystery puzzle and won't disappoint Ellery's fans.

The Dragon's Teeth (1939) is not hard to find. I have two paperback editions. The older is a somewhat yellowed, 1971 reprint by Signet Book. My newer copy is a 1980 printing, a Signet Double Mystery containing both The Dragon's Teeth and Calamity Town (1942).

If you enjoy this particular tale, you will probably also like other Ellery mysteries from the same period.

In Halfway House (1936) one of Ellery's old college chums, now a struggling lawyer, becomes enamored with the prime suspect in a murder investigation.

Conversely, a friend of Ellery's in The Devil to Pay (1937) is now the suspect; he is in love with the daughter of yet another suspect. An unethical financier is murdered with an Italian dueling sword of the seventeenth century.

And unexpectedly, Ellery himself develops a romantic interest in a popular Hollywood gossip columnist in The Four of Hearts (1938). Ellery encounters an aging, mean-spirited millionaire living on an isolated ridge in the desert outside Los Angeles.

Homicide with humor in the Queen style
What I like best about the Ellery Queen novels and short stories is the sense of fun with which they are infused. Here we have the usual tangle of contested unfair wills, dubious identities, attacks on a lovely lady who is then accused of murder herself, and all the while Ellery's keeping one step ahead of them all.

Now you can hear one of the goofiest of them all for yourself on the Audio Partners audiotape edition of "The Dragon's Teeth" (61197), a complete reading by actor Blain Fairman, whose voice nicely matches the lightweight tone of the text. There are six cassettes with a running time of 8 hours, 14 minutes. I will not go into the plot, because most mystery fans want to come in fresh, but I have to explain that the title refers to the myth of Cadmus sowing the teeth of the dragon to raise fighting men. Since an important character is named Cadmus Cole, Ellery draws the parallel between the situations; but truth to tell, it is a weak one and plays no part in the solution. I thought I had pinpointed the real murder halfway through, but I was wrong! Well, that's what makes books like this one so much fun. ... Read more

Product Description
A facsimile edition of the first edition of this Ellery Queen detective novel is produced to the highest standards and is reprinted exactly from the original. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

Interesting "puzzle mystery" from the late 20's
This first Ellery Queen mystery will fascinate those studying the evolvement of the mystery genre.However, to be honest, it isn't for the average modern reader.

Ellery Queen's First Mystery - An Auspicious Beginning
The Roman Hat Mystery (August 15, 1929) established the basic pattern for many of the later Ellery Queen stories.Ellery Queen, a recent college graduate, often assists his father, the highly respected Inspector Richard Queen of the New York City Police Department, with particularly difficult investigations. This arrangement gives Ellery access to crime scenes and confidential information not available to the general public.

In the late 1920s men still wore top hats for formal affairs. A death occurs in the Roman Theater and inexplicably, the murder victim's top hat is missing.The Roman Hat Mystery is structured as a logical, deductive challenge to the reader. A list of characters and a floor plan of the Roman Theater are provided. Prior to the final chapter, the reader is informed that Ellery has solved the mystery, and the alert reader should have noted the critical clues. I was not particularly successful. Queen's detailed explanation is about twenty pages; the logic is convincing.

An earlier reviewer stated that readers new to Ellery Queen should first read some of the later stories like The French Powder Mystery, The Spanish Cape Mystery, or The Greek Coffin Mystery.I am more ambivalent. Certainly, there is no need to read the Ellery Queen mysteries chronologically. The best approach may be to start with the first Ellery Queen mystery (with Ellery Queen as the major character) that you can find. They are all quite good.

Two cousins, Manfred B. Lee and Frederic Dannay, won first place for The Roman Hat Mystery in a writing contest, sponsored jointly by Frederick A. Stokes Company, a book publisher, and McClure's Magazine. Lee and Dannay used a pseudonym, Ellery Queen.This choice has led to endless confusion as Ellery Queen is also the name of their fictional detective.

The Roman Hat Mystery proved to be quite successful and within a few years the Ellery Queen stories had become immensely popular. The Ellery Queen mysteries stayed in print for at least five decades. I recently had the good fortune to find a discount copy of a beautiful, leather bound, Franklin Library fifty-year commemorative edition of The Roman Hat Mystery. This edition is more costly, but it would make a good gift, possibly to yourself.

Queen Of Its Day
This is the first in the long series of Ellery Queen stories- it's quaint, very dated, and enjoyable, and mostly significant for its place in the history of the genre- old school mystery. In other words, nobody gets punched in the jaw or uses bad grammar.

Revolving around a setting- the theatre- and a prop- a top hat- that symbolize Ellery Queen's place in time very well, this one takes a little while to get going, but it's a worthwhile and enjoyable read. I'm going to take advice from the reader from Kansas (below) and give these guys (uncredited authors Dannay and Lee) another chance with a later entry in the series.

If you can possibly lay hands on Otto Penzler's beautiful facsimile of the first edition, by all means do so.

great detective story
I really do not understand why Ellery Queen is not as famous as Agatha Christie, Christie's books are nice but cliche, you will be able to find out whodunit after reading several of her books. And her stories are not probable at all. While Queen's story is much more complicated and believable. Also I do not understand why Queen's books are not filmed like the ones of Agatha Christie.

First of the greats
This mystery is an excellent example of the classic "puzzle style" mystery.I love how the characters constantly review the little clues and items.I could read this story over and over again.I'll never understand why Agatha Christie's books never go out of print while so many of the other greats like J.D. Carr Ellery Queen have been out of print for years. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Ellery's 2nd Mystery - Proof Positive of Exceptional Talent
The 1930 novel, "The French Powder Mystery", is a well-structured detective story that challenges the reader, is scrupulously fair, and makes good reading.

Cyrus French is the chairman of the eminently successful and stylistically influential French's Department Store in midsection New York. In recent weeks the store window has been opened precisely at noon each day to exhibit somewhat fantastical, European modern furniture. Today the waiting crowd is awestruck as a dead body tumbles from a wall bed.This second mystery by Ellery Queen, the follow-up to his remarkable first novel The Roman Hat Mystery, was proof positive that this new author was here to stay.

The French Powder Mystery foreshadowed the innovative mysteries that would follow in the next few years, classic deductive novels like The Tragedy of X (1932) and The Greek Coffin Mystery (1932) and The Tragedy of Y (1932) and The Spanish Cape Mystery (1935).

To me, much of the fascination with The French Powder Mystery was the recognition that the New York of 1930 now seems remotely distant. While drugs and drug addiction were not unknown, they were largely unfamiliar evils. A former college companion of Ellery Queen says, "Mightn't it be the same stuff? Heroin, I think you called it."Also, New York at night was more secure. For an alibi a young woman replies, "When I left the Zorns that evening, it was a little after ten. I walked and walked in the park (Central Park) until almost midnight." And the wealthy were indeed different: a cosmopolitan young woman had cigarettes, appropriately scented, made up especially for her by a custom tobacco manufacturer.

The French Powder Mystery is classic Ellery Queen and should appeal to all fans of deductive mystery stories. Good hunting.

I highly recommend this book to all mystery fans!
When the body of the wife of the President of French's department store tumbles out of a display, Ellery Queen and his father, Inspector Queen, arrive to unravel this mystery. This is a tale of drug abuse, abduction, marital infidelity, hatred, and a murder that no one could have committed. How will Ellery gather all of the disparate threads and solve this murder? Read this book to find out!

I must admit that this is the first Ellery Queen (1905-71) book that I have ever read, and as such I cannot compare it to any other of his stories. But, that said, I found this to be a great book, and a fascinating mystery! I liked the illustrations of the crime scene and the way that the clues were laid out. I highly recommend this book to all mystery fans!

All the clues you need - more red herrings than you want.
Frederic Dannay and Manfred Lee, the authors of this and the other early Ellery Queen books, certainly enjoyed mystery.They not only invented a fictional sleuth called Ellery Queen, they also wrote the books under that pseudonym.Not content with that, this novel also has a forward by a fictional 'J.J.McC' and some additional notes by an unnamed 'editor'.You may enjoy all of this or, like me, you may find it all rather irritating and wish they would simply get on with the story.

Talking of irritating, was there ever such a provoking hero as Ellery?Pompous, arrogant and vain, he makes Lord Peter Whimsey look like a man of the people."Scoot!" he says to a police officer, handing him some items for fingerprinting.Anyone who thinks that America has always been a classless society, in contrast to Europe's class-consciousness, should read this 1930 novel.

But is it a good tale?Well, yes, if you want a story in the classic mould.It has rather too many red herrings for my taste but I shall say no more, for fear of spoiling it.

One other complaint; the authors don't trust to the power of simple story-telling.Characters do not merely 'say' things.They 'grin broadly' - for no apparent reason - and display tobacco-stained teeth when they speak.The authors seem to think they have to embelish everything to retain the reader's interest.When the Inspector orders his men to inspect the crime scene, they do so 'grinning'.Why?Have they forgotten that the victim's poor spouse is in the room?

Having said all that, if you are a mystery fan you will want to read at least one Ellery Queen story and this is as good a one as any.One last tip: if, when you reach the final episode, you have not solved the mystery, go back over the earlier parts of the book. As the authors say, the clues are all there.

A triumph of logical reasoning
The first ten Ellery Queen novels were pure logic problems, unencumbered by considerations of plausibility of character or situation. However, the puzzles are so enjoyable (especially the challenge to the reader once all the clues have been revealed) that we can overlook these flaws.

The French Powder Mystery concerns a dead body, discovered when the automatic window display of the French Department Store kicks into action one morning. The logic of the solution is rigorous, and the naming of the killer is literally the last two words of the book - even when the denoument is underway and all is being explained, the name of the bad 'un is still a surprise.

A better plot than Roman Hat and the Dutch Shoe Mysteries, I recommend it wholeheartedly!

Well-Entertaining!
'French Powder Mystery' is one of my favorite mystery novel. Grand Finale is really thrilling! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Classic Locked Room Mystery
King Bendigo was the head of a powerful family-run company, with his own island kingdom.Ellery and his father are hired to keep him from being killed after a series of anonymous notes announces his impending murder.

The good:
The mystery.It's a logic puzzle of a mystery, the kind Ellery Queen is rightly famous for.
The take-over-the-world conspiracy is a fun bonus.

The bad:
The murder, the solution, and the conspiracy are all over-the-top, but that's part of the series charm.

The verdict:
Don't expect in-depth characterization, and don't be surprised that it's dated (it's copyright 1952, after all).Just relax and enjoy a little mental puzzle. ... Read more

Product Description
Cornelia Potts is a wicked woman with millio ns of dollars, a henpecked husband, and six miserable childr en. Every life she touches turns to sheer hell. Then, one by one, the inhabitants of the vast, grotesque Potts mansion a re visited by death. ' ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Golden Age mystery entertains, just
An okay example of the mystery story of the 1940's, this is -- at least -- not as outlandishly complicated as many of the Ellery Queen tales are. It has some surprises, but the solution isn't that great a shock. OK, but nothing special.

Eccentric Characters, Well-Crafted Plot - Challenging
There Was An Old Woman named Cornelia Potts, who amassed a fortune selling shoes: Potts Shoes are America's Shoes - $3.99 Everywhere!This eccentric woman lived with her six adult children in a mansion most notable for a huge bronze statue of an Oxford Shoe that decorated the extensive lawn. Her children from her first marriage - the aggressive Thurlow, the secretive Louella, and the playful Horatio - are all decidedly unbalanced. The three children from her second marriage, the twins Robert and Maclyn, and the beautiful Sheila, appear normal. Her argumentative son, Thurlow, challenged one of the twins to a duel. Mrs. Potts didn't know what to do. Actually, Mrs. Potts was not even concerned.

There Was An Old Woman (1943) is a classic Ellery Queen mystery. The reader is challenged to unravel a carefully constructed logical puzzle. The unusual setting, the eccentric characters, and the bizarre murders add spice to the effort. In the final chapters Ellery Queen peels away layers of confusion and misdirection, finally unveiling the culprit. The solution is surprising. Queen's logic, as usual, is convincing.

The Ellery Queen novels were immensely popular during the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. Paperback editions continued to be widely available in the 1960s and 1970s. Signet Classic Mysteries often packaged two Ellery Queen mysteries together as a double mystery. Later, fifty year commemorative editions were published, beginning in 1979 with the first Ellery Queen novel, The Roman Hat Mystery (1929). Reprints (from HarperPerennial and others) continue to be published today.

I particularly recommend the early Ellery Queen mysteries, especially The French Powder Mystery, The Greek Coffin Mystery, The Egyptian Cross Mystery, The Siamese Twin Mystery, The Chinese Orange Mystery, and The Spanish Cape Mystery.

tantalising
This is one of the best Ellery Queen's books I have ever read.It just kept you guessing as to who is the killer.I have read a number of mystery books and Ellery Queen is by far the best.When the identity of the killerwas finally revealed in the end I can only shake my head and say 'now whydidn't I think of that?'

Cool!
I read it at bed time every night. I awaited every moment to find out whathappens next. It's a great mystery and you don't know til the very end whatwill happen. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A Delightful Collection of Short Stories
This brilliant and extensive work is my first foray into the beloved realm of Ellery Queen.Queen was a detective created by two cousins who lived in New York.They came up with the unique idea to have their detective share the same name as their pseudonym.(The full history of the cousins writing career is found in the excellent introduction of the book).Francis Nevins and Martin H. Greenberg have collected memorable short mystery stories that span the entire Ellery Queen detective career from the 1930's to the late 1960's.These stories trace the revolution of Queen from an aloof character who has very unhumanlike qualities, (a man who resembles a machine), into a compassionate and caring individual who helps people who are in trouble.All of the plots are ingenius and put you in mind of an Agatha Christie story. Some of the best stories in the collection are as follows:

1. "The Glass-Domed Clock." A dying antiquarian dealer leaves a clue to the identity of his killer, but the clue points to several people.Ellery must use his deductive powers to determine who the dead man is accusing.A classic Golden Age mystery plot with a twist.
2. "The Mad Tea-Party." Queen uses Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland to trap a clever killer. This piece is from the 1930's.
3. "Man Bites Dog." This hilarious mystery takes place at a World Series baseball game and involves the frustrated and distracted sleuth sniffing out a poisoner.This story has a classic twist at the end that will shock you.
4. "The Dauphin's Doll." This is an amusing Christmas story in which Queen matches wits with a cunning thief who intends to steal a valuable collectors doll which is on display at Macy's.Ellery almost meets his match in this one! This story also contains a shocking conclusion.
5. "The Abraham Lincoln Clue." Ellery uses the events of the last day of Lincoln's life in order to determine the authenticity of a letter which collectors are dying to get their hands upon.

These stories are just a sampling of the many delights contained in this wonderful collection.Happy reading!

puzzles that play fair
Francis Nevins has provided an introduction with a bit of biographical information about Fred Dannay and Manfred Lee, the two cousins who became Ellery Queen, and an overview of the evolution of the character. Nevins also lists the contents of each of Queen's short story collections.

Ellery, incidentally, sometimes ridicules the idea of really elaborate dying clues, but they occur nonetheless.

"The Glass-Domed Clock" (1933) Dying clue. Martin Orr has been found murdered in his curio shop, clutching an amethyst and one of the clocks on display.

"The Bearded Lady" (1934) Dying clue. Old Mrs. Shaw suspected her grown stepchildren of attempting to poison her, so despite her late husband's wishes she disinherited them, leaving most of the money to her husband's niece in England, with instructions that Edith would live in the Shaw house for at least 2 years, with regular checkups by Dr. Arlen, Mrs. Shaw's own physician (who got the rest of the money in trust). Alas, the stepchildren are the residuary legatees, and Dr. Arlen has been found murdered - leaving only an oddly defaced painting in his hobby studio as a clue.

"The Mad Tea-Party" (1934) This story was adapted for the TV series starring Jim Hutton as Ellery, as "The Adventure of the Mad Tea Party"; it's one of the strongest episodes. (Few of the episodes corresponded directly to any Queen story, oddly enough.) Richard Owen is staging a reenactment of the Wonderland tea party for his son's birthday; Ellery consented to visit only because he wanted to meet one of the actresses involved. Owen mysteriously vanishes on the day of the birthday itself, so Ellery (despite his best efforts) has to get to work.

"Man Bites Dog" (1939) A cyanide-laced hotdog at the Polo Grounds, in this case, during a subway series: Ellery's NY Giants vs the NY Yankees.

"Mind Over Matter" (1939) Paula Paris (Ellery's girlfriend from California), is covering the heavyweight title fight between champion Mike Brown and challenger Jim Coyle, and offers to get Ellery and the Inspector tickets. (Ellery at first refuses: "I'm a jinx. If I went, something catastrophic would be sure to happen. So why should I want to go?" "He's afraid somebody will knock somebody off," said the Inspector. "Well, doesn't somebody always?")

"The Inner Circle" (1947) The 1913 class of Eastern University, the 1st graduating class, formed a special organization within the Alumni Club: the Januarians. But 5 of them formed a club within a club as a clandestine business partnership, of which 3 have now died, organized as a tontine. Who will be the last survivor?

"The Dauphin's Doll" (1948) Cytherea Ypson, even at 78, made a hobby of collecting dolls. Upon her death, the collection is to be auctioned to establish a fund for orphans, but only 1 entry in the collection is really valuable: partly for historical associations, partly for the $110,000 diamond in its crown. But Miss Ypson's will provides that on the day before Christmas, the entire collection is to be displayed in Nash's department store...

"The Three Widows" (1950) Locked-room. Penelope and Lyra, after their husbands died, moved back in with their dad, Theodore Hood. After his death, their stepmother feared that (under the terms of the will) they had a great deal of motive to murder her, so she took extraordinary precautions to thwart them. Nevertheless, somehow someone managed to poison her.

"Snowball in July" (1952) Diamond Jim Grady, specializing in jewel robbery at gunpoint, has had Lizbet as his girl for 2 years, 10 months - eternity, in the circles where he moves. But she's put on weight, so when he picks up a new girl, Lizbet (nobody's fool) stages a vanishing act before Grady can clean up any loose ends.

"'My Queer Dean!'" (1953) Matthew Hope, one of Ellery's Harvard professors, is much given to spoonerisms. Very awkward, when he's been hurt badly in an attempted robbery, and Ellery's trying to interpret his attempt to say what happened and who did it.

"GI Story" (1954) Wrightsville + dying clue. One of Clint Fosdick's 3 stepsons (each named for a president: Wash the lawyer, Linc the MD, and draftee Woody) seems to be the murderer, but his last scrawled clue doesn't seem to fit the other evidence.

"Miracles Do Happen" (1957) Henry and Claire Witter have 4 children and no money - but Jody has expensive medical treatments, and hasn't been able to walk for 3 years. So when Tully the moneylender begins calling in debts on the eve of upcoming prosecution, Witter is the prime suspect, as the last victim to see Tully alive.

"Last Man to Die" (1963) Just as Ellery gets stuck with The Butler in his novel-in-progress, the granddaughter of one the last 2 survivors of the Butler's Club comes to him with a problem. The club treasury is tied up with a tontine...

"Abraham Lincoln's Clue" (1965) DiCampo, having fallen on hard times, must now sell his prize: a book bearing the signatures of Poe and Lincoln, with an accompanying document in Lincoln's own hand. The 2 competing bidders (one a Poe collector, the other a Lincoln enthusiast) have agreed to buy it jointly and let him select who takes custody. But the items are hidden somewhere suggested by the manuscript itself, and everyone's stuck figuring out the Lincoln clue.

"Wedding Anniversary" (1967) Wrightsville + dying clue. Ellery, through the police chief, attends the 1st anniversary bash of Ernst Brauenfel and his 2nd wife Zelda. Mr. B has been tactless, not only marrying his pretty bookkeeper within weeks of his 1st wife's death, but on his 1st wife's birthday. Somebody, however, has been much more crass, poisoning the liqueur he drinks only on very special occasions. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A classic whodunit
The Potts family sits atop a fortune built on selling millions of shoes but all is not well in their kingdom.The matriarch, Cornelia Potts is a bitter old hag, three of her six grown children appear to be insane while the remaining three start dying one by one.It's up to Ellery Queen and his father, the Inspector to solve the mystery but even Ellery is stumped to come up with answers amidst one of the most bizarre collection of suspects he's ever stumbled upon.

While I haven't read a great many Ellery Queen novels, I think I'm safe in saying that few of them have a more convoluted path to the ultimate solution, and few stumped Ellery for as long as this one did.Fortunately, the journey is an enjoyable one and the supporting cast is varied and interesting.The Potts household is filled with offbeat characters and Ellery even falls for one of them, which adds an interest element.

This book should please just about anyone looking for a good old-fashioned whodunit.Modern mysteries have largely abandoned this style of novel and I for one enjoy a detective story that focuses primarily on detection instead of police procedure, violence, suspense, and the other elements that are commonly added into the mix (although those can be very enjoyable in their own way as well).I would recommend this book to anyone interested in a good mystery whether you're a first time Ellery Queen reader or a long-time fan.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

You won't find better...
These are three of Queen's best. Intelligent, humane, thoughtful, these novels continue to intrigue and entertain.Read them now, then get AND ON THE EIGHTH DAY. Queen---sadly neglected these days---was and remains a master. All hail Dannay and Lee!

Good, solid Ellery Queen mysteries
Here, were have an omnibus edition of three Ellery Queen mysteries, (about 200 pages each, small fonts), all taking place in the fictional town of Wrightsville, where the young writer-detective visits, initially by chance.

I've read all three entries and these are good, solid examples of middle-period Queen mysteries. They're not the best ever, but they're clearly mature works with nothing silly or hokey about them.

I'll give you the descriptions straight off the dust jacket, as I can not summarize these tales any better myself:

In CALAMITY TOWN, Ellery Queen makes his first appearance in Wrightsville, selecting it as a typical American village, placid, uncomplicated, an ideal spot in which to settle down and write a book. But soon, he finds himself personally involved in a particularly bizarre puzzle -- the case of young Nora Wright whose husband seems determined to kill her by poison. Nora laughs scornfully at the suspicions voiced by her doting family, until a shocking occurence at a New Year's Eve party proves without question that a killer does lurk in their midst.

THE MURDERER IS A FOX finds Queen in Wrightsville once again, this time summoned to attempt to solve a twelve-year-old murder, the scandalous shadow of which threatens the happiness of war hero Davy Fox and his new bride. Bayard Fox returns to the village with Ellery. He is Davy's father, and he is currently serving a life sentence for a murder he swears he did not commit. And death comes along too, provoking Ellery to find two completely different solutions for the tragedy of a dozen years earlier.

TEN DAYS' WONDER concerns the Van Horns: vital, massive Diederich [Van Horn], self-created tycoon, who has spent a fortune in making a famous sculptor of his adopted son, Howard, and who has transformed Sally Mason from a ragged child of the slums into a cultured, extremely desireable beauty. When Diederich Van Horn marries Sally, and Howard falls in love with her, Ellery is called in for a third time, to cope with a curious case of amnesia and blackmail. He predicts one death, but is powerless to prevent another, and, in a night of terror, he is compelled to track a suspected madman to a desolate storm-swept cemetery, and to witness the frightening desecration of a crumbling tomb.

These three stories, (each a book in itself), were written in 1942, 1945, and 1948, respectively. They were re-issued in omnibus form, with a yellow cardboard cover (hardcover) by Little, Brown and Company in this Book Club edition. The dust jacket is black with yellow, white, and red lettering.

If you can find an old copy of this book at a junk store or anywhere else for $3 or $4 bucks, you're getting a worthwhile deal -- it's a nice mystery anthology.

Ellery's first three Wrightsville cases
This omnibus edition consists of the first 3 Ellery Queen novels set in Wrightsville, namely, CALAMITY TOWN (1942), THE MURDERER IS A FOX (1945), and TEN DAYS' WONDER (1948). For more detailed discussion of each individual story, consult reviews of the individual books; here I'll be considering them in general terms.

First published in 1948, this omnibus volume at that time covered all the Wrightsville stories, but quite a few more were added to the list in later years, including a number of short stories (consult Listmania for a more complete list of Wrightsville tales).

When referring to "Ellery Queen" in the rest of this review, I'll be referring to the character, rather than to his creators (the team of Fred Dannay and Manfred Lee).

In CALAMITY TOWN, Ellery's on his own; Inspector Queen and the Centre Street team don't appear. Ellery's character has grown out of the annoying dilettante phase of the earliest books, and as a working writer, he's about to begin his next book. Since the book will be set in a small town, city-dwelling Ellery intends to rent a house incognito for six months in none other than Wrightsville, Wright County, New York. Upon hearing the story of "jinxed" Calamity House - built by the Wrights for their middle daughter's marriage, which never took place - he promptly takes the lease, feeling that it would make just as much sense to call Wrightsville Calamity Town. Little did he know where this small town would lead him - or how devastating small town gossip can be.

While CALAMITY TOWN was published in 1942 and would normally have been set in 1941, one of the major events in the story revolves around a New Year's Eve party - so the entire story is very carefully noted to have taken place between August 1940 - May 1941 - anything including December 7, 1941 would have required a re-write of the ending of the book. As it is, Ellery avoids having his identity exposed by draft registration by quietly registering in his native New York City instead.

In THE MURDERER IS A FOX, Davy Fox returns from the China-Burma-India theater with a Medal of Honor, and a bad case of what would now be called post-traumatic stress disorder. But the worst damage was done not when he carried a fellow pilot and close friend across most of southern China only to watch him die, but when his father was convicted of his mother's murder when he was a child. His wife Linda, a friend of one of the Wright sisters, and knowing that Army psychologists haven't been able to help, makes an appointment with Ellery Queen, bringing him to Wrightsville for the second time.

In this second visit to Wrightsville, the recurring cast of characters is deployed in what comes to be typical of Wrightsville stories, but isn't a pattern: Wrightsville, like a real-life small town, changes over time, as prosecutors run for higher office, old friends retire, and businesses close or change. Unfortunately, Emmeline DuPre, the worst of the town's gossips, never changes: a typical sample of her work is that she sent an anonymous packet of clippings to Davy in China, implying that Linda is cheating on him.

Finally, Ellery's third but far from last visit to Wrightsville in TEN DAYS' WONDER begins with Howard Van Horn, the son of one of Wrightsville's new-money families - and hence someone social lioness Hermione Wright didn't introduce Ellery to on his first triumphal progress of Wrightsville. Howard's been having blackouts, and is terrified that he's committed some crime that he can't remember. Or has he committed only *one* crime? ... Read more

Product Description
This suspense-filled collection gathers together some of today's best mystery writers--including John D. MacDonald, Rex Stout, Margery Allingham, Patricia Moyers, and Malcolm McClintock, and many others--to provide ho-ho-ho homicide, and merry murder to all mystery-lovers of good cheer. A unique holiday classic. Reissue. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Excellent Short Stories For A Cold Wintery Night
On a cold winter's night, if you'd like to read a charming short story by the fire and be taken back to a different time and a different place, then this is your book. Find out how and why someone would want to murder Santa.Find out why someone stole a child's favorite xmas teddy bear. Find out about the motive behind the New York xmas pickpockets.And find out the real meaning behind Christmas--and not what the fundamentalists would like you to believe. Anyway, take my word for it, this book has some excellent stories.After finishing it, I loaned it out to someone; I just hope they return it. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Murder For Christmas by Agatha Christie
On Christmas Eve, the aging Simeon Lee invites his family home for an old-fashioned holiday celebration. However, his motive for gathering his nearest and "dearest" around him is not in the true holiday spirit. That night, he is found murdered in his locked study. Hercule Poirot arrives to solve this "locked room mystery." Usual cast of suspects plus a stranger from abroad. Not the best story in the collection, but still a good read/puzzle. For another Christmas manor mystery, try Christmas is Murder: A Rex Graves Mystery, a novel by C.S. Challinor and seasonal mystery In the Dead of Winter (Ivy Towers Mystery Series #1) (Heartsong Presents Mysteries #3) by Nancy Mehl.

Great fun for the short story mystery lover!
I received this as a gift and it was great fun to read. It contains 26 short stories revolving around Xmas by some of the great writers such as Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh, Ellery Queen, Damon Runyan, etc. A great gift for the mystery lover! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

I shoulda figgered it out....LOL
Yep, I felt like an idiot when I finished this one because I should've spotted the clue early in the book that gave away the identity of the murderer. Yet I give Queen credit for having slipped in the crucial information in such a way that I have it no importance and didn't remember it when it came time to name the culprit.This is one more of the somewhat satirical Hollywood mysteries and while not an accurate picture, it is highly amusing and challenging to me as to trying to equate the Hollywood characters with real life Hollywood people of the era.

The Four Of Hearts - Different Publisher , Same Year
I add to the first reviewer that the 1938 hardcover I have(since about 1957) was published by Grosset & Dunlap , New York "By arrangement with Frederick A. Stokes Co." The quotation came from the second printed page, the first having only "The Four Of Hearts". My copy has the outside color red with black lettering front and on the spine.

Zany Characterization of Hollywood.Another Remarkable Display of Deductive Skills.
The Devil to Pay (1937), The Four of Hearts (1938), and The Origin of Evil (1951) roughly fall in Ellery Queen's middle period and are unique in that the setting is Hollywood.While the portrayal of the Hollywood film industry could not be more farfetched and inaccurate, the three stories are humorous and entertaining, and make good mysteries.

The Four of Hearts is a zany sequel to The Devil to Pay. Ellery finally meets his employer, the young Jacques Butcher, colloquially known as Boy Wonder, executive vice-president of production at Magna Studios. Unfortunately, as Ellery begins his work on his first screen play, an elaborate publicity stunt for the new production is derailed by a double murder. As Ellery begins his investigation, he finds himself crossing swords again with Inspector Glucke of the Los Angeles Police Department. And perhaps what is most unexpected, Ellery himself becomes enamored with a popular, strikingly beautiful, Hollywood gossip columnist.

Despite the hilarious caricature of movie stars, producers, screen writers, and gossip columnists, the murder mystery itself is still quite good and the puzzle will challenge even the astute reader. Ellery's deductions are impressive.

The Four of Hearts has been reissued by HarperCollins. Sometimes an early Pocket Book edition can be found. Another possibility is a 2000 publication by Four Walls Eight Windows of the three Ellery Queen stories that take place in Hollywood under the title The Hollywood Murders. ... Read more

Product Description
Fiction, Mystery, Suspense, Detective ... Read more