Product Description
New York's crime-solving genius is adrift in Tinseltown until a series of fatal finales revives him. With ambitious starlets, idols, and majordomos, The Hollywood Murders offers witty proof that the nature of evil is a bit gaudier on the West Coast. "A grand mystery, lightly handled and expertly solved." - The New Yorker ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A quite pleasing trio of mysteries
The three novels here each give a satirical, not quite accurate, picture of 1938-1951 Hollywood and the movie industry through the eyes of a New Yorker. Although the novels are chronologically arranged, I felt they also were in a mediocre to excellant order.These comments are merely in addition to the previous reviewer's synopses. THE DEVIL TO PAY disappointed me in its lack of challenge.The murderer was too easily spotted by a process of elimination, in my opinionTHE FOUR OF HEARTS was much more challenging and classic Ellery Queen.Yet, ORIGIN OF EVIL stood out for me as the drkest and most penetrating, giving a feel of the era between the war years and the 60's.This one was more basically Los Angeles and not involved so much with the movie industry although the Hollywood mood of fear of the development of TV is quite present there along with glimpses of the effect of the Korean war.Although Ellery is indeed out of his element in these novels, they still work as a good introduction to those who haven't read any of his books yet, and of course quite appropriate for those who are familiar with the character but haven't read the Hollywood based mysteries yet.

Hollywood from Ellery Queen's Perspective
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.Four Walls Eight Windows published these three mysteries in 2000 under the title The Hollywood Murders.

Ellery's deductions are dazzling as usual, despite that Ellery himself sometimes seems out of place, even stranded, in the unorthodox milieu of Hollywood.Ellery encounters classic Hollywood stereotypes from movie stars to film producers to gossip columnists. The plots offer humor, some snappy dialogue, and a few extravagant Hollywood effects (e.g., a murderous pilot commandeers a small plane).I commend Four Walls Eight Windows for printing this collection.

The Devil to Pay (1937): Ellery Queen has been persuaded to rush to Hollywood to assist in writing a major production only to find that the producer is unavailable. Ellery becomes increasingly frustrated as he waits and waits for his first assignment. Fortuitously, he becomes involved in solving a bizarre murder of a hard-hearted, unethical financier. The murder weapon is an Italian dueling sword of the seventeenth century; its tip is coated with molasses and cyanide.

Ellery's remarkable reputation on the eastern seaboard is of little value in Los Angeles. Ejected from a crime scene, he subsequently masquerades as Hilary "Scoop" King, a colorful investigative reporter, to gain access to crime sites and confidential information. While somewhat farcical, this device allows the story to proceed.

The Four of Hearts (1938): In this sequel Ellery finally meets the young Jacques Butcher, colloquially known as Boy Wonder, executive vice-president of production at Magna Studios, and Ellery begins his work on a screen play. Unfortunately, an elaborate publicity stunt for the new production is derailed by a double murder. While the portrayal of the Hollywood film industry may not be entirely accurate, the plot is entertaining.

The Origin of Evil (1951): Thirteen years have elapsed and Ellery returns to a Hollywood that is reeling from the advent of television. However, as Ellery observes, Hollywood's post-mortem may be premature. This third Hollywood mystery reveals a growing list of surrealistic clues, including a dead dog, dead frogs, a poisoned sandwich, and a mutilated leather bound book of Aristophanes. The solution within a solution offered by Ellery is quite ingenious.

If you cannot find a copy of The Hollywood Murders, you might look for paperback editions from the 1970s and 1980s published by Ballantine Books, Signet Classics, and the Signet Double Mystery series. They are all inexpensive. The Origin of Evil is easiest to locate - look for a 1992 reprint edition by Harper Perennial. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Cat of Many Tails - Among Ellery Queen's Best Stories
Cat of Many Tails is Ellery Queen at his best. Written in 1949, this suspenseful story, as much a thriller as a mystery, sits almost exactly midway in the Ellery Queen canon.

Cat of Many Tales illustrates the willingness of Frederic Dannay and Manfred B. Lee to take risks by deviating from their highly successful formula, that of the Ellery Queen deductive puzzler. In this story Dannay and Lee focus more on the victims as actual individuals, and not simply as pieces in a puzzle. Each victim is realistically described; these vignettes add a strong emotional dimension to the story.

The middle chapters examine New York City itself, not the geographical entity, but the living, breathing metropolis of seven and one-half million people. Dannay and Lee offer a fascinating sociological study of collective fear as thousands of individuals become terrorized by the actions of a single, unknown assailant. Contrastingly, the later chapters shift focus from mass psychology to the motivation and psychology of a single, disturbed individual.

Despite this somewhat atypical structure, Cat Of Many Tails is a solid example of Ellery Queen's remarkable deductive skills. Without giving too much away, Cat of Many Tails is an example of one of Ellery Queen's challenging solutions within a solution, a multi-layered conclusion.

Cat of Many Tails ranks among the best Ellery Queen mysteries, worthy of five stars.

Cat of Many Tails - Among Ellery Queen's Best Stories
Cat of Many Tails is Ellery Queen at his best. Written in 1949, this suspenseful story, as much a thriller as a mystery, sits almost exactly midway in the Ellery Queen canon.

Cat of Many Tales illustrates the willingness of Frederic Dannay and Manfred B. Lee to take risks by deviating from their highly successful formula, that of the Ellery Queen deductive puzzler. In this story Dannay and Lee focus more on the victims as actual individuals, and not simply as pieces in a puzzle. Each victim is realistically described; these vignettes add a strong emotional dimension to the story.

The middle chapters examine New York City itself, not the geographical entity, but the living, breathing metropolis of seven and one-half million people. Dannay and Lee offer a fascinating sociological study of collective fear as thousands of individuals become terrorized by the actions of a single, unknown assailant. Contrastingly, the later chapters shift focus from mass psychology to the motivation and psychology of a single, disturbed individual.

Despite this somewhat atypical structure, Cat Of Many Tails is a solid example of Ellery Queen's remarkable deductive skills.Without giving too much away, Cat of Many Tails is an example of one of Ellery Queen's challenging solutions within a solution, a multi-layered conclusion.

Cat of Many Tails ranks among the best Ellery Queen mysteries, worthy of five stars.

Well constructed whydunit, but....
Maybe I was influenced by the mildly repugnant paperback cover of the 1965 edition I first read, but I still have a memory that thismystery has an unpleasant air about it. It's biggest puzzle is what connects the victims that are being strangled by a serial killer.

I wonder why Anthony Boucher picked this as one of the 5 books in the "World's Great Novels of Detection." Obviously he felt compelled to include a Queen title, and maybe others were unavailble to the publisher, or more often printed. I read it on his "advice," and while not bad, I guess i was disappointed when it didn't match his other choices, which remain to this day - 40 years later - books I read over and over.

first class whodunit
This book belongs certainly to the best books by Queen.
Once again the reader is stunned by the solution which is as usual strictly logical enriched by psychoanalysis.
An extraordinary mix of thriller (the description of New York
under fear) and whodunit. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

X Marks the Spot
I wasn't as taken by this one as were most of the other reviewers, who awarded it five stars right across the board.And indeed the boy version of me would have given it six stars if I was still 12 years old.I remember being enthralled by the case in a way peculiar to am inquisitive kid, utterly fascinated by the inner workings of transportation, I guess it was, for the first murder happens on a streetcar, the second on a ferryboat, the third in a dim railway car.I might never have been on any of these strange methods of transport at that age.I just rode my bike around a lot, hitchhiked, or of course, got my mom or dad to give me a ride whenever I wanted to go anywhere.But anyhow if you're not super interested in the workings of a streetcar conductor's life, THE TRAGEDY OF X isn't that sparkling.Wasn't it Walt Whitman who fell in love with his streetcar conductor?Not I, and the ones here are a dreary lot.It's as if Ellery Queen or Barnaby Ross were so into getting their gang of suspects onto that streetcar, and onto the passenger train, that they forgot to write any characterization for them, except for Jeanne De Witt, the vampy stepmother golddigger type whom Catherine Zeta Jones was born to play.

The suspects' lives in 1930s Manhattan are so banal that the existence, revealed way late in the book, of a secret past filled with violence, murder and debauchery in a Uruguayan mining town 20 years before comes as a complete shock and you can hardly say it was prepared for.Drury Lane seems to stumble on the Uruguay connection in a completely accidental way, but having done so, a child could have figured out what was up, or don't you agree?The plot suffers from the fact that Queen asks us to swallow an amazing improbability--that none of the victims ever seem to recognize the killer as someone they knew in the past, even when they see this "person" every day for years.It's like the supreme implausibility in Agatha Christie's MURDER IN MESOPOTAMIA--all right, maybe a little less so.Still no matter how meandering the story gets, Drury Lane wraps things up beautifully with an extended, 40 page explanation of how he guessed everything, that almost redeems the book's manifold flaws.

I love Drury Lane, but he is old school!Lives in a replica of Elsinore Castle along the misty Hudson, with a retinue composed of freaks who do his bidding without question, one a hunchback.Ageless, timeless drama queen who is able to impersonate, with theatrical makeup, one of the dead men simply to startle the killer into confession!

Of course it wouldn't be an Ellery Queen without plenty of homoerotic scenes, my favorite here when Inspector Thumm comes to his appointment at "The Hamlet," Drury Lane's castle, only to find the old tease is sunbathing on a blanket, his 60 year old body brown, hard, with a light coating of golden down, the body of a teen, his private parts bulging beneath what Thumm thinks of as a "breechcloth."Queen's novels, of course, are filled with men stripping for each other, or posing nude or semi-nude for other men to ogle and admire, but come on, Drury Lane, put some pants on, it's October and everyone's freezing!

Overlooked Gem by Ellery Queen - 5-Stars
The highly popular Ellery Queen mysteries in the 1930s, 40s, 50s, and 60s were penned by an author with the same name. It is as though the Sherlock Holmes mysteries had been authored by Sherlock Holmes, rather than Dr. Watson or Sir Conan Doyle. The actual identity of Ellery Queen (the author) was secret, until much to everyone's surprise, it was revealed that the author was actually two writers that jointly created these complex stories.

A few years after the the first Ellery Queen novels were published, a Mr. Barnaby Ross produced "The Tragedy of X", followed by Y and Z, and concluding with "Drury Lane's Last Case". Later the true identity of Barnaby Ross was unveiled as Ellery Queen. Confusing? The Ellery Queen and Drury Lane mysteries are catalogued under Ellery Queen in most libraries.

I have long been a fan of Ellery Queen. I am nearly always baffled by the mysteries. The characteristic conclusion, a detailed logical analysis revealing the solution, always amazes me. How could I have gone astray once again and not seen the obvious conclusion? On the rare occasions that I unravel the solution, I remain exuberant for weeks.

Drury Lane is an eccentric, retired Shakespearean actor of great intellect and great wealth and is sought out by New York City professional detectives (and the District Attorney) whenever they are baffled, like me. For those readers familiar with some of the more fantastical stories by Ellery Queen, it should be no surprise that Drury Lane inhabits an Elizabethan castle on the Hudson River. His close servant Quacey is an ancient hunchback, bald, bewhiskered, and wrinkled.

I enjoyed this Drury Lane mystery for many of the same reasons I admire other Ellery Queen stories. The clues are visible and yet invisible, the plot is intriguing, and the detective himself is fascinating. Ellery Queen and Drury Lane both exercise precise logic that leads to a single conclusion.

Having been written in the early 1930s, the story unintentionally reveals details of everyday life that now seem foreign. A weekly five dollar deposit to a savings account is evidence of frugal behavior. A doorman manipulates a speaking tube. The police awaken a sleepy elevator operator to pilot them up six floors. Longstreet, an early victim, paid bus fares for his ten guests with a dollar bill, and received change. A ten day period in the hospital for an appendix operation is considered a minimal stay. Dictaphones and carbon paper and typewriters are standard. Photographs and fingerprints are not faxed, but transmitted by a telephotographic device.

Mild ethnic slurs pepper the gruff Inspector Thumm's interrogation of witnesses. The medical inspector's dialogue includes liberal use of Ja and Nein and other Germanic words We meet Italians and Irish and Germans and others in New York, but hyphenated Americans had yet to be invented.

A final clue, interesting in itself but not essential for unraveling this mystery, is explained by the final word of the final sentence in the final chapter.

Masterpiece
I eagerly recommend this book and "The tragedy of Y" to those who want to enter the fascinating world of Queen's detective stories. Unexpected answer, sinuous storyline, interesting personality ofprotagonists, exact and correct deduction. In every way this is amasterpiece of detective story.

The Success of X
Probably Queen's greatest book ever written - and that includes GREEK COFFIN.

The plot deals with three murders committed on transport (e.g. trams, ferries and trains), with the murders themselves being peculiarlynasty (the first murder is committed by means of anicotine-tipped-needle-filled cork ball put into the victim's pocket),including Ellery Queen's first 'dying message' (the second would appear inTHE SIAMESE TWIN MYSTERY) - and ingenious.

The solution to the mystery isexcellent - despite similarities to both A STUDY IN SCARLET (as someoneremarked) and one of the stories from G. K. Chesterton's THE INNOCENCE OFFATHER BROWN, it is ingenious, and has the reader gasping with mingledindignation, shock, and admiration.In other words - a grade of 100%.

One of the all time classic detective stories.
This book goes into my short list of the very best detective stories ever. It, with "The Greek Coffin Mystery", "Cat of Nine Tails", and "Face to Face", is one of my favorite Queens.The character of Drury Lane, admittedly greater than life, is welldelineated, as well as his supporting cast and his ambience. It may not beas well known as the Queen books featuring Ellery Queen because of themajor figures that the writer and his famous sleuth are in our belovedgenre. But "X" is a fantastic detective story, one of those I amhappy to re-read every few years and enjoy all over. You will see severalunforgettable scenes, a trial, a denounment scene very similar to the onein "A Study in Scarlet", red herrings, a dying message. And,surrounding it all, an intricately plotted mystery of the very top rank. Donot miss it! ... Read more

Product Description
What is the connection of "Fowl Relief" and an English golf-playing king? Does the nickname of Jimmy Douglas' great-great-grandfather have any significance? Tie these answers with the other clues and the mystery of the purple bird is solved, but not until Djuna, the brilliant young sleuth, and his pal Jimmy go through an ordeal that almost takes their lives. ... Read more

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High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Ellery Queen is an American television mystery series that ran for one season from 1975 to 1976 on NBC. It starred Jim Hutton as Ellery Queen, and David Wayne as his father, Inspector Richard Queen. One of several television adaptations of the Ellery Queen mystery novels (see also The Adventures of Ellery Queen), the series was created by the writing and producing team of Richard Levinson and William Link, who also created such mystery fare as Mannix, Columbo and Murder, She Wrote. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

An unique and thoroughly enjoyable Ellery Queen mystery
As other reviewers have pointed out, this isn't a typical Ellery Queen puzzler nor is it typical for the era.It certainly qualifies as a good puzzler with tragic undertones.The structure of detective fiction in those days doesn't allow the feeling of deep tragedy that you'll find in contemporary novels such as those by Charles Todd, Val McDermid, and others.But there is a fatalistic and tragic flavor here.Others have done well in summarizing the plot.Ellery leaves New York to get the feel of small town America as a setting for a book he's writing and becomes involved in a tragic train of events which culminates in the apparant attempted murder of one woman and death of a second.The culprit apears obvious and this uniquely has a lengthy and well done courtroom sequence which includes Ellery as a reluctant witness for the prosecution.There are minor flaws here and there, but basically it's a good read.I was surprised by the number of lady smokers portrayed because my recollection of a small town at that time is that very few women smoked.Also there is a Biblical goof in which an otherwise learned character confuses David and Goliath with each other.That aside, this is worth reading for those who enjoy classic whodunits.

Ellery's first trip to Wrightsville
Well known mystery writer Ellery Queen has decided to set his next novel in a small town even though he had lived his entire life in New York City.To overcome this lack in his background Ellery has decided to spend the next six months or so living in a small town while writing the book.He has selected the small town of Wrightsville to take up residence and, in order not to become the 'local celebrity', he has decided to live under an assumed name - 'Ellery Smith'.He was surprised to find that there were no hotel rooms available, nor any furnished apartments as Wrightsville was filled to the brim with workers at the defense factory.The only place Ellery could find to stay that October of 1940 was a furnished house, one with an unfortunate history of broken hearts and sudden death.Ellery finds himself being drawn into the family of his landlord, especially the youngest daughter, Pat, and joining in with them through the holidays.Unfortunately for all the celebrations are tainted with plots and murders that are not resolved until the spring.

This is a transitional phase in the Ellery Queen series.In the earlier novels a very cerebral Ellery who dabbles in interesting problems writes mysteries as a hobby.In the later novels Ellery is a famous writer who travels often promoting his books and takes frequent breaks to peaceful Wrightsville to relax, usually with unfortunate consequences for at least one local resident.This novel is the first time Ellery visits the little town and, like all the books in the series, is contemporary to the time it is written.Life in a small town in the pre war years is an alien landscape to the 21st century reader.It is a time when people did not book accommodations ahead of time, when people were who they said they were and paid cash for things.As always with this series though the problem was complex and intriguing, one that will challenge the reader to stay ahead of Ellery.

Fans of the series will not want to miss seeing Ellery's first trip to Wrightsville but those who are new to the series might be better off starting elsewhere.This is not a typical Ellery Queen story of either the first or second half of the series.It also features some rather prolonged court scenes, something that thankfully did not occur often in the series.

Atypical - But Good Ellery Queen Mystery
Ellery Queen, hoping for anonymity and some quiet time for writing, has rented a house in Wrightsville under the name Ellery Smith. The town, Wrightsville, appears ideal - attractive homes, friendly people, and little crime. The writer Ellery Smith is quickly embraced by the community, especially by the founding family of Wrightsville. All is tranquil, that is, until a series of arsenic poisonings earns Wrightsville the name Calamity Town.

Calamity Town (1942) falls chronologically in the middle phase of the Ellery Queen canon and differs considerably from his earlier mysteries. The setting is far from New York City, although the exact location of Wrightsville remains unclear. Several chapters are devoted to an extended courtroom scene that, I believe, is unique to this EQ story. Ellery himself even takes the stand.

Ellery's somewhat one-dimensional character is now more fully developed, more complex, more realistic. Unexpectedly, Ellery even becomes romantically involved with an attractive, quick witted, and independent young woman.

Most noticeably, the characters and the plot, possibly because the setting is a typical small town, are more conventional than is found in Ellery Queen's more imaginative earlier stories such as The Greek Coffin Mystery, The Egyptian Cross Mystery, and The Siamese Twin Mystery.It is not hard to imagine this story, repackaged somewhat, transformed into a British manor house mystery.

This atypical Ellery Queen mystery makes good reading. Calamity Town has often been reprinted and should not be difficult to locate.

Introducing Wrightsville
To refer to the authors, I'll use their real names - Fred Dannay and Manfred Lee - to distinguish them from their chief character, Ellery Queen. CALAMITY TOWN was first published in April 1942, nearly 3 years after THE DRAGON'S TEETH. At this stage, Ellery Queen is in his second incarnation. He's no longer the 'pure reasoner' of the first EQ stories, who had filed for divorce from the human race; he agonizes over the consequences of his investigations, he loves and loses like anyone else. (Mind you, in the right frame of mind, I can enjoy the pure puzzle type of mystery, too, but *this* is a *novel*, where 'why?' can be as important as 'who'.) In fact, Ellery's been fleshed out enough to serve as the viewpoint character for most of the story, though not in first person. The fleshing out of characters and emotional situations is decent, although through Ellery's perception we're often given his take on something rather than being left to draw our own conclusions - i.e., some gracefully handled exposition here and there.

Ellery, no longer drawn as a dilettante, takes his writing seriously. Since his next novel will be set in a typical small town, the normally city-dwelling Ellery plans to live in one for the next six months, incognito, researching the setting and producing a draft.

Welcome to Wrightsville, Wright County, New York, making the first of its many appearances in the Queen canon. As in most Queen stories, the setting was contemporary when written - in this case, August 1940 - May 1941 - making it a period piece today. Rural Wrightsville, founded by Jezreel Wright in 1701, still has some cobbled streets, and horses are still commonplace in the area. The fact that Ellery can *sign a six-month lease* under an assumed name, with no ID and no credentials (other than 'I'm a writer under a pseudonym' and 'here's 3 months' rent in advance') *really* drives home that this is a vanished world. Even 2 years later, he'd have been a suspicious character, if not actually arrested for espionage or whatnot. (He later avoids being exposed by draft registration by quietly registering in his native New York City.) As it is, the defence industry is rejuvenating Wrightsville's economy, although not yet on a war footing, so Ellery can find only one available furnished rental: Calamity House.

The Wrights remain the first family of Wrightsville: John F., bank president; his wife Hermione, holding the reins of Wrightsville society. They built a separate house on their property three years ago as a gift to Nora, their middle daughter, upon her marriage to Jim Haight, a promising young bank officer - but the engagement was broken, Jim left town, and Nora shut herself away, as much to protect herself from the town's petty gossip as from her broken heart. A now-ex newspaper reporter coined the tag 'Calamity House' when a massive heart attack struck down a would-be buyer. Ellery scoffs at the jinx theory, of course: "Calamity House! As sensible as calling Wrightsville Calamity Town!" Only gradually does he come to see the calamities inflicted by spite and mean-spirited gossip, and the hidden wish to see the mighty fallen.

In this small town, the arrival of 'the famous writer, Ellery Smith' (as the realtor calls him while buttering up the Wrights) causes a stir - think of Hitchcock's film _Shadow of a Doubt_ for the flavor. Most of Wrightsville society bluffs its way through enthusiastic gushing over the famous author nobody's ever heard of, following up with clandestine visits to the library that, of course, come up empty. :) But even during Ellery's smooth entry into Wrightsville society, shadows occupy the picture, not only for Nora, but her elder sister Lola, who not only eloped, but (gasp!) got *divorced*, then refused either to take alimony or crawl back to her parents - who won't take her back since she won't play by the rules. Lola lives on piano lessons, alcohol, and guts. Only the 3rd sister, Patricia, is socially in good standing, and frankly enjoys using Ellery to make her *real* interest jealous - the Wright County Prosecutor.

Ellery's lease soon creates a problem - Jim Haight reappears, demands to see Nora, and the long-delayed wedding finally takes place. Their long honeymoon cruise (late August - Halloween) is all very well, but Ellery's lease will still have a few months to run. He amiably offers to leave before being asked, and the Wrights, senior, settle matters by offering him rooms in their mansion for the rest of his lease.

But upon the newlyweds' return, disturbing patterns begin taking shape: quarrels, escalated as Jim's poisonous sister Rosemary settles in for a long visit; a book on toxicology containing letters about an illness and death that haven't happened, yet; Jim's occasional binge drinking. And at last, on New Year's Eve, a poisoned cocktail sets events in motion that lift the lid off Hell, as the subsequent murder trial and its aftermath bring out the worst in Wrightsville. This tale is more like THE SCARLET LETTERS than the earliest Queen stories, as Ellery's part is more concerned with the court case than the arrest.

The First of the Wrightsville mysteries
In the first of the Wrightsville mysteries, Ellery seeks the peace and quiet of a small town for his writing, but soon becomes involved in the affairs of the Wright family.When newlyweds Jim and Nora Haight find themselves unwilling hosts to Jim's sister Rosemary, it is only a matter of time until Nora begins to suffer from sudden attacks of illness.However, it is Rosemary who dies on New Year's Eve of arsenic poisoning.What appears to be a straightforward murder case against Jim turns out to be anything but.There are plenty of romantic twists to the satisfying plot. ... Read more

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A Red Hardcover w/ black binding, awesome stories by Ellery QUeen ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

As dark as Ellery Queen gets
Most Ellery Queen novels are written in a light vein, and are at times almost satirical of themselves. However, this novel stands out as not only more serious and thoughtful than the previous`but with definite dark tones.The mystery itself is complex and fascinating.There are glimpses into the inner being of the characters as well as looks at the society of the times.And while the 60's are looked at as the decade of change, this 1951 book reveals the roots of the change.Most highly recommended, but it would be well to be better acquainted with Ellery before reading this outstanding addition to the series.

Layered, Complex, Satisfying Deductive Mystery - Quite Good
It is 1951 and Hollywood is reeling from the advent of television. Ellery Queen, visiting from New York City, has isolated himself in a rented home overlooking Los Angeles in hopes of quietly completing his latest mystery story. His writing is interrupted, however, by an unannounced visit from a young woman convinced that her father's heart attack at the sight of a dead dog was actually premeditated murder. This third Hollywood mystery reveals a growing list of surrealistic clues, exemplified by the dead dog, hundreds of dead frogs, a poisoned sandwich, and a mutilated leather bound book of Aristophanes. The solution within a solution offered by Ellery is quite ingenious.

The Origin of Evil is unusual in its short topical digressions on the threat of nuclear war, the call-up of troops for the Korean UN Police Action, and Hollywood's exaggerated concern with television. The characters include, among others, a mean spirited business man confined to a wheel chair; his sultry, voluptuous wife Delia; the chameleon-like man servant Alfred Wallace; the pretty, young daughter, Laurel, convinced of her father's murder; and Crowe Macgowan, an eccentric, muscular young man emulating Tarzan in the local trees. Unlike his experience on his two previous visits to Hollywood, this time Ellery's assistance is readily accepted by a detective in the Los Angeles Police Department.

The Origin of Evil has often been reprinted and should not be difficult to locate. My copy is a 1992 reprint edition by Harper Perennial.You might look for inexpensive paperback editions (1970s and 1980s) from either Ballantine Books, Signet Classics, or the Signet Double Mystery series.

Another option: The Devil to Pay (1937), The Four of Hearts (1938), and The Origin of Evil (1951) are unique Ellery Queen mysteries in that the setting is Hollywood. Four Walls Eight Windows published these three mysteries in 2000 under the title The Hollywood Murders. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

5 tales include 3 dying clues, 2 Wrightsville, 1 locked room
The 5 stories herein don't overlap any of the other 6 pure-EQ short story collections to date. (Considering how many *anthologies* carry EQ's name as editor, however, that isn't as sweeping a statement as it first appears.)

All feature the eponymous character himself, and were written by the *real* EQ - the original writing team of Fred Dannay and Manfred Lee. Two are set in Ellery's favorite small town: Wrightsville.

Oddly enough, only one first saw the light of day in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (EQMM), although all eventually appeared there.

"Diamonds in Paradise" (1954) Dying clue; Ellery's self-proclaimed shortest case turns on what a detective *really* has to keep in mind in dealing with dying clues. The real crime isn't murder, but a jewel theft. Inspector Queen, leading a raid on the illegal Paradise Gardens casino, for once strays from the path of duty for the sake of a luscious lady: Lili Minx, the Broadway star of heavenly voice and hellcat vengefulness on the subject of her diamonds. The Inspector's raid morphs into a robbery investigation at the first golden trumpet call of "I've been robbed!"

No *smart* thief would have touched La Minx' diamonds; she once spent $23,000 tracking down one of her $1500 diamond rings, then had the book thrown at the thief in court. But every profession has its fools, and tonight La Minx' Mumtaz green diamond earrings disappeared. The thief, injured fatally in attempting to escape, left only one phrase hinting where the loot might be found.

"The Wrightsville Heirs" (1956) are Bella Livingston's 3 grown stepchildren, who squandered their portions of their father's estate, leaving their stepmother to spend her old age alone. Now payback has arrived: Bella has recalled them from the ends of the earth to put them on notice that she's considering disinheriting them *all* in favor of her young caregiver, Amy Upham. Unfortunately, once she changed her will, she didn't publicize it while she had a chance - and if anything happens to Amy, guess who gets the money? One of Ellery's last cases with Chief Dakin.

"The Case Against Carroll" (1958) begins not with the case, but the crime - *one* of the crimes. Carroll, the junior partner in a blueblood law firm, has just been caught embezzling funds, but for an odd reason: he wouldn't touch his wife's money even to protect his brother. He's touchy about the fact that Helena Vanowen's long-deceased family would *never* have thought him good enough for her. Meredith Hunt, the senior partner who caught him, sneers it's no more than he expected, and gives him until Monday to replace the money - accompanied by insulting orders to stay away from Mrs. Hunt.

When Sgt. Velie and the Queens break the news of Hunt's murder to his widow, the fiery Felicia de los Santos, matters quickly lead to Carroll's arrest: his gun was used, and Hunt left proof of Carroll's motive. Carroll quickly takes steps to secure proof of his alibi for that evening, but hesitates to use it - only to have a critical witness disappear once the trial is underway.

This time Ellery's track record works against him, as Judge Holloway has had a ringside seat for one of his previous performances. I can think of at least 3 possible scenarios that could have played out, but that which fits all the facts is a work of art.

"E = Murder" (1960) Dying clue + locked room; by far the weakest of the 3 such stories in this book, but mercifully short. Ellery, delivering a lecture at Bethesda University, is collected by the Chancellor after his talk, but not for dinner. Professor Agon, one of the world's top physicists, failed to telephone the President of the United States tonight from his secure laboratory on campus. The President interrupted General Carter's meeting with the Chancellor, and they in turn have brought Ellery to the laboratory, to find Agon's corpse seated at his desk, his memopad bearing only a single cryptic letter.

On the plus side, when the General asks why Agon didn't just write the killer's name, Ellery has the grace not only to state the classic reply that the killer might have returned and destroyed it, but to add that the reply's never satisfied him. On the minus side, 1) Agon had a phone *right there*, and the characters don't jump on *that* point the way they should, and 2) the "clue" ranks right down there with Rex Stout's "The Zero Clue" from _Three Men Out_. Just when I thought EQ had got the hang of this dying clue thing, too. :(

"The Death of Don Juan" (1962) Wrightsville + dying clue, but the EQ team had regained their grip by this time. Wrightsville was never a static setting, but always showed the passage of time. Herein, we learn that during these lean years for the cinema, the Bijou Theater's owner closed it in favor of his new, more profitable drive-in operation on Route 478.

Now Scutney Bluefield - a rarity in Wrightsville, who plays with his inheritance rather than working with it - has bought the old Bijou as a new toy: an amateur playhouse. Ellery, passing through on vacation, figures he's *got* to see the opening performance of _The Death of Don Juan_. But when the leading man (who's all too aptly cast) is found dying in his dressing room at the curtain call, Ellery finds himself in an awkward position. His old ally Chief Dakin retired some time ago, and the new chief Newby is a pro with *no* use for amateurs, reputation or no, particularly someone he's never met before. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Z is Disappointing. New Character Misses the Mark.
In the early 1930s Ellery Queen penned four mysteries under the name Barnaby Ross. The Tragedy of X (1932) and The Tragedy of Y (1932) were quite good, but The Tragedy of Z (1933) misfired. I have yet to read "Drury Lane's Last Case".

Although Z was actually written only one year after X and Y, ten fictional years have elapsed.The eccentric, retired Shakespearean actor, Drury Lane, has aged considerably and is in ill health. District Attorney Bruno is now Governor of New York State. Inspector Thumm has retired from the New York City police department and is now managing a private detective agency.His daughter Patience Thumm, not heretofore mentioned, is a young modern woman that not only plays a critical role in unraveling the mystery, but also "authors" or "narrates" The Tragedy of Z.

Patience Thumm is an unsatisfactory creation. Her characterization as a modern, independent, confident, well-educated, cosmopolitan, young woman failed. I found her to be tiresome and uninteresting. I found myself impatiently waiting for the arrival of Drury Lane.

The dazzling deductive fireworks so characteristic of most Ellery Queen novels seemed to fizzle and sputter a bit. I found myself unsatisfied with a convoluted medical analysis of the impact of injuries on right-handedness. Another clue that was slowly unveiled throughout the story proved to be a distraction, simply a way to introduce the letter Z, and was not significant after all. I may just be complaining as I made little progress in identifying the culprit.

The Tragedy of Z is not exceptional, but it is an Ellery Queen original and that alone ensures that it is worth reading. I always enjoy the early Ellery Queen mysteries not only for superb detective fiction, but also for their window on American culture in the 1930s. For example, thisnovel details the procedure for carrying out a death sentence by electrocution in New York state in 1932. It was chilling.

I highly recommend the first two Drury Lane mysteries, X and Y, and despite my disappointment with The Tragedy of Z, I am still looking forward to the fourth (and final) mystery, Drury Lane's Last Case.

Average but entertaining..
Maybe it's because I finished 'The Tragedy of X' before, this one didn'timpress me with better plot. Yet, in terms of entertainment, it's stillworth reading. ... Read more

Product Description
A collection of short mysteries by several popular authors includes Michelle Knowlden's ""The Jane Austen Murder,"" James Thurber's ""The Macbeth Murder Mystery,"" and Bill Pronzini's ""The Private Eye Who Collected Pulps."" Reprint. AB. ... Read more