The Siamese Twin Mystery

This used to be my favorite among Ellery Queen's early books, and I remembered much of its menace and grotesquerie fondly, but taking it off the shelf again I spoiled it for myself. As a child I gaped to read about John Xavier, the "mad scientist" with cages full of animals, in pairs, like some mad Noah without the Ark, a scientist who built himself a country house, "Arrow Head," at the top of the Tepee Mountains up New England way. The story has atmosphere, atmosphere enough for a better plot than the one they've given us. How many Ellery Queen books have the same storyline where first the police and Ellery arrest one suspect, based on "airtight" deductions on EQ's part, then they find out, oh, they were wrong, and arrest another clown, and then, once again, oh I'm sorry, you were innocent too? (I just finished THE FOURTH SIDE OF THE TRIANGLE where this plot is even more absurdly worked up.) But in general, THE SIAMESE TWIN MYSTERY may be the best novel I've ever read about a forest fire, as the mountain blazes up and Ellery & company are trapped in the mansion at the very top of the impossibly twisty mountain road--trapped for days while their situation grows increasingly worse. By the end of the book you wonder, how the devil are they ever going to get out to this nightmare? Who killed John Xavier and why is he clutching half of a playing card--the six of spades--in his vivisectionist hand? Another victim croaks and his last word is "I." Crazy me suspected until long after the book was over, that the killer would turn out to have one of those names, like "Eileen," in which the first syllable would sound like "I." After Ellery's complicated reasoning in the matter of the "Six of Spades" clue, you will agree that I'm hardly out of line pursuing this ludicrous possibility. It would have made a great 30s movie, with Charles Laughton as Xavier, Judith Anderson as his wife, Dolores del Rio as Marie Carreau, Freddie Bartholomew (and himself) as the twins, Alice Faye as Ann Forrest the comely companion, and perhaps lean, saturnine Raymond Massey as Mark Xavier, the doctor's shady brother. Oh, and Sydney Greenstreet as the threateningly fat lump, "Smith." (Didn't you think "Smith" was going to turn out to be the first husband of Sarah Xavier? Whatever happened with that line of questioning? It seems Ellery and his dad, Inspector Richard Queen of the NYPD, just accept Mrs. Xavier's assurances that her first husband was not a factor in this crime. Well, check, boys!)

I agree with the fine review which leads the list for this book save in one particular. While making for tension necessary to keep the reader moving, I felt Ellery was led by his two Brooklyn creators into some less than sterling reasoning. However, despite that, this is a fine story that should provide readers (or listeners to the excellent audiobook production)with hours of entertainment. Readers of other early Ellery Queen mysteries (this is from 1933) can be assured that the authors had already begun to flesh out a more human and less thinking machine character for the durable hero of books, film, radio, and televison (which probably did the best job of translating the original books into dramatic form with Bob Hutton (Ellery), David Wayne (Inspector Queen)leading a strong cast which always included interesting guest stars.

We join Ellery and his father, Inspector Richard Queen, in an unfamiliar habitat, a remote rugged road in a forested mountainous area in upstate New York. Tired, somewhat uncertain of their directions, with night falling, the situation suddenly worsens as they find themselves cutoff by a forest fire. Following a barely visible rutted road upward, they find temporary safety at a sprawling lodge nestled on the top of Arrow mountain. As the fire below slowly encircles them, the Queens find themselves involved in a bizarre murder mystery.Certainly, the situation is contrived. Dr. Xavier's work on Siamese twins in an isolated mountain lodge is a bit fantastic. The clues are supremely subtle. And yet this mystery is highly effective. Under the stress of the approaching fire, Ellery too hurriedly offers solutions, seemingly masterful examples of pure logic, but flawed nonetheless. (The reader may be reminded of another remarkable Ellery Queen story, The Greek Coffin Mystery.)Ellery and Inspector Queen refuse to let the relentless forest fire dissuade them from continuing their investigation. The drama and suspense shifts back and forth between the danger posed by the ever advancing fire and the more immediate threat, the likelihood that the unknown killer will murder again. The Siamese Twin Mystery (October, 1933) is a good example of the deductive mystery genre that was especially popular in 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s. To assist the reader in unraveling the mystery, it comes complete with a playful description of the cast of characters and a floor plan of the ground level of Dr. Xavier's lodge. Surprisingly, it is missing Ellery's trademark, a pause generally found at the beginning of the last chapter, in which the author challenges the reader to solve the mystery before reading further, as all clues have now been revealed.The Siamese Twin Mystery makes a good introduction to Ellery Queen. It has all of the elements that characterize a classic Ellery Queen mystery. It is among the best of Ellery Queen stories, comparing favorably with The Greek Coffin Mystery, The Spanish Cape Mystery, and The Tragedy of X.