Product Description
THE ELLERY QUEEN-TENNIAL!!!!!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 Dannaywrote 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 (n the fictional world of EQ), the centennial of Ellery himself.The publisher: Founded in 1994 as the only publishing house to specialize in mystery short story collections, Crippen & Landru has been described as “a monument in the making” (Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine) and “the best edited, most attractively packaged line of mystery books introduced in this decade” (Mystery Scene), and even “God bless Crippen & Landru” (The Strand).In many ways, however, in introducing completely unknown EQ detections to a new generation of readers, The Adventure of the Murdered Moths may be our most important book. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

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

Customer Reviews (3)

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

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Mystery ... Read more

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One of Queen's best
The early Queens -- all titled The

Product Description
The cat had 9 kills. The silent rush of footsteps, the muffled shriek, the ever tightening noose of exotic silk, the mark of the Cat. The Cat had claimed number nine. Ellery found number 10 alive and offered the victim temptingly to the killer. The trap was baited and Ellery and the police poised for the strike that never came. But the strangler struck elsewhere. ... Read more

Book 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 (2)

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

Customer Reviews (1)

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
TRICK I-- The first thing to vanish is a worthless doorstop. Then in the twinkling of an eye, goes its rich and eldely owner. ANd, for the grand finale, both reappear--each as dead as the other. TRICK II--From the House of Darkness issues more bafflement. In total darkness and from a distance of twelve feet, four bullets are pumped within an inch of ecah other into a spectator's back. A feat utterly impossible to perform--yet brazenly and undeniably done. TRICK III-- The piece de resistance. This time it's an entire house, a real house, a solid house which Ellery Queen had been in only the day before...vanished from the face of the earth. And in its place, one of the most incredible conundrums ever to face the master crime solver. ENCORES-- THE NEW ADVENTURES OF ELLERY QUEEN is a classic collection of eight short mysteries and a remarkable short novle. First published in 1940 it has sold over a million copies and continues to be "as good as they come." --THE NEW YORK TIMES. ... 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

Book Description
Ellery Queen, perhaps as famous as any fictional detective after Sherlock Holmes, was created by cousins Frederic Dannay and Manfred Lee over lunch one day in 1929. This led to more than 40 novels, a film series, a long and convoluted run on radio, and various runs on TV. For an initial $350 fee, Dannay and Lee would write one mystery per week, allowing both the guest armchair detective and radio listeners the opportunity to solve the mystery themselves, before the famous sleuth did.

This new publication includes a detailed account covering the lives of the creators, the how and why they moved llery Queen into radio, and a detailed history of the series during its long run on the airwaves (1939-48). Included in the chapters are reminiscences taken from interviews and correspondence with the creators themselves; with mystery writer and critic Anthony Boucher, who collaborated on more than 70 of the later radio adventures of the master detective; and with three of the actors who played Ellery over the years.

Includes an introduction by Larry Dobkin, who played Ellery Queen for a short time on the radio! Includes a detailed broadcast log with a chart showing various time slots, networks, sponsors, and competition. Brief biographies of cast and production crew. Capsule biographies of more than 350 personalities who appeared on the program as guest armchair detectives. A week-by-week log giving principal actors, announcer, director, composer-conductor, sponsor, script writer(s), plot synopsis, and much more. Appendices covering subjects like the early episodes of The Shadow that Dannay and Lee wrote without credit in order to learn the craft of radio writing, and other Ellery Queen incarnations on the radio. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

An exemplary account
I wonder if any of the Ellery Queen radio plays will ever be published!Or if any more have been discovered since the publication of this book, which might have been almost twenty years ago.Surely in all that time a few might have been discovered in a crate, trunk, or archive.I would love to havewhole book of them published, as we Ellery Queen fans haven't had anything substantial to chow down on since the publication of the TRAGEDY OF ERRORS outline a few years back.THE SOUND OF DETECTION is such a great book, makes you hungry to hear some of the scripts being acted out by the great character actors of the radio.It's literally haunting.I love the way the actress who played Nikki Porter got married to the producer of the show, Zachary, and then found her parts getting bigger and bigger--a la Irving Thalberg and Norma Shearer.And the cannibalization of Dannay and Lee, always feeding back on the prior products of their mind, is almost painful to read about.

Wonderful Scholarship!
Martin Grams once again demonstrates that he is one of our leading scholars of vintage radio drama.The Sound of Detection is THE total source-book on all-things radio related to Ellery Queen.If you are a mystery fan, an old time radio fan, or just interested in how a literary propety transfers into another medium, this is the book for you. Bravo, Mr. Grams!

VOYAGE TO GREAT DETECTION
The booki is full of information and great reading experience. I give it only 4 stars because of the lack of photos to make this volume even better. BUY IT! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Jeremiah McCarthy
I found this book to be a delight. It is a gripping and suspensefullcollection of short stories which will keep you turing the pages andeagerly awaiting the next story. ... Read more