The Best of Ellery Queen: Four Decades of Stories from the Mystery Masters

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!

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 dis