How could a man have been murdered when he was found alone in his study, a gun in his hand, and the door locked from the inside? It had to be suicide, the police figured. Although there was no suicide note, there was a letter proving conclusively that Roland Nelson, over the last several months, was being blackmailed. But to his daughter, Ann, whom he had seen only spasmodically since he had left her mother when Ann was a baby, there were unanswered questions. She was convinced that her father could never have killed himself. Before she found the answers, two people were brutally garroted with a wire, one of them in her own apartment. Could she find all the answers before the killer silenced her, too?
Ellery Queen and Sherlock Holmes match wits to reveal the identity of history’s most infamous killer
Ellery Queen and Sherlock Holmes are the undisputed masters of analytical deduction—their talents and methods strikingly, almost uncannily, alike. Through the strange interlocking of events past and present, the two celebrated detectives meet to focus their razor-sharp intellects—and their brilliant powers of observation—on the mystery of … Jack the Ripper.
History’s most depraved murderer, Jack the Ripper’s victims were the whores of Whitechapel. Lurking in narrow, fog-shrouded alleys, he crept forth night after night to murder—and mutilate. Eluding Scotland Yard’s most heroic efforts to track him down, the Ripper continued to satisfy his unnatural appetites, unrestrained—and unidentified! Can Queen and Holmes unmask the notorious killer?
Uniquely imaginative, A Study in Terror is a masterpiece of mystery and suspense.
There is an epidemic of death in the town. Lila Connor, neighborhood flirt and sex goddess, lay dead in her home, victim of an ill-placed letter opener. Larry Connor, successful accountant and distraught husband, lay dead in his office, slain by the giant Mickey Finn. And at Shady Acres, Nancy Howell is crazy wondering who killed Lila and Larry. Is a killer even now hidden in Shady Acres, waiting for a chance to slay again?
“Ellery Queen is the American detective story.”—Anthony Boucher, author of Nine Times Nine
Looking for trouble, Ellery Queen descends on a small town. At the tail end of the long summer of 1940, there is nowhere in the country more charming than Wrightsville. The Depression has abated, and for the first time in years the city is booming. There is hope in Wrightsville, but Ellery Queen has come looking for death.The mystery author is hoping for fodder for a novel, and he senses the corruption that lurks beneath the apple pie façade. He rents a house owned by the town’s first family, whose three daughters star in most of the local gossip. One is fragile, left at the altar three years prior, never to recover. Another is engaged to the city’s rising political star, an upright man who’s already boring her. And then there’s Lola, the divorced, bohemian black sheep. Together, they make a volatile combination. Once he sees the ugliness in Wrightsville, Queen sits back—waiting for the crime to come to him.
“The best mystery produced by Ellery Queen.” --New York Times
In the merry month of May, Ellery Queen made a trek to Gettysburg to witness an annual celebration-and an annual murder. February found the ingenious Ellery locked in a furious battle of wits with a dead US president. These are but two of the twelve appointments with crime that make up Queen's baffling calendar of conundrums. Each elegant enigma ticks off all the surprise and excitement that have made Queen the dean of American detective fiction.
Stories include "The Inner Circle," "The President's Half Dime," "The Ides of Michael Magoon," "The Emperor's Dice," "The Gettysburg Bugle," "The Medical Finger," "The Fallen Angel," "The Needle's Eye," "The Three R's," "The Dead Cat," "The Telltale Bottle," and "The Dauphin's Doll."
"Effective episodes...combine to show this virtuoso at his best."-Kirkus Reviews
“Let’s face it, Alex: you were the KGB’s top assassin, and they paid you off. Just as we might. A cushy lieutenant-colonelcy in Tokyo, riding pour le sport, a yacht, your pick of Eurasian dolls … Like? We can do you better in the USA, Alex—come on over, and bring your secrets with you.”
That was FACE’s pitch to the would-be defector, and it got results. Witness one hell of a nice courier slashed and dumped in a Tokyo alley.
Maybe Agent Pete Brook could make jolly Alex’s dream come true. Except what did Krylov really long for in America: wine, women, and song—or a dramatic return to the murderer’s trade?
Tim Corrigan is up to his eye-patch in scandal, intrigue, and wide-open murder
The banners waved, the crowd cheered, the reporters rushed toward the candidate as he made his way to the speaker’s platform. And then a shot rang out, the candidate clutched at his chest, screamed, and fell dead. It was a pretty kettle of fish for Tim Corrigan, the crime solver with the eye-patch and the stainless steel nervous system. The suspects included the candidate’s voluptuous widow, his handsome bodyguard, and a breathtaking young thing with every reason to want the candidate dead. And pretty soon Corrigan was a candidate himself—for murder.
An exciting mystery by the masterly Ellery Queen
Dr. Harry Brown is a competent, respectable practitioner of the time-honored art of medicine—until the day old man Gresham, with his millions of dollars, failing heart, and young spouse, hires him. Suddenly it’s money, luxury, and love. But what happens to a doctor when someone slips a corpse into his locked apartment? What can a man say when he finds himself a member of an organized crime ring? How can Harry tell his richest patient that he’s having an affair with a man’s wife? It’s enough to give a man a heart attack—but which man?
The nice mild man named Edward Tollman had a problem. His lovely wife was missing, and he wanted her back—fast. So he went to a fellow whose specialty was solving problems like that—a very private detective called Barney Burgess. Burgess’ methods were not pleasant—but they got results. Burgess was used to sordid scenes and secrets. But after four quick corpses, a wild ride to Mexico, and a blonde sex bomb who threatened to blow the case wide open at the first wrong move, Barney began to wonder how such a nice guy got him into something so nasty.
“Ellery Queen clearly is, after Poe, the most important American in mystery fiction.”—Otto Penzler, editor of Best American Mystery Stories
An exciting novel by the master of mystery.
Some men retire on a hundred grand—or buy their wives mink coats with days of the week sewn in the lining … or fly to Rio for a good cup of coffee—but not Jim Morgan.
Jim had a hundred thousand all right—neatly packed in stacks of fifties—only someone had made an expensive mistake. A mistake that put him on the run for his money—as well as his life.
“The story of the man, who, through an accidental switch of briefcases, acquires a hundred thousand dollars in black money and all the temptations thereunto…Moves at a fine, fast pace.”—New York Times, 1966
Who killed Cox, the robber? Was it Ruth Tully, who visited Crandall Cox on the night of his death, and who might have decided to quench a torrid past with a spray of bullets? What about Sandra Jean, the knock-’em-dead beauty, who knew more than she was telling about the sudden demise of blackmailer Cox? Or had some past scandal driven lawyer Ollie Hurst and his wife, Norma, to claim the blackmailer’s life? Dave Tully didn’t know who the killer was, but if he didn’t find out fast, the price of failure could be death …
Queen's Bureau of Investigation is now open for business-and in each department of this new enterprise Ellery finds ample opportunity to exercise the brilliant, ingenious, and at times startling talents of his crime-lab mind. For to the bureau come some of the most plaguey cases in Queen's career.
In "The Three Widows," two of Theodore Hood's wealthy, widow daughters, as well as his own widow, are caught in a murder that Ellery reluctantly relegated to the Impossible Crime Department.
In "The Myna Birds," old Mrs. Andrus' bequest of a million dollars to thirty-eight observant and talkative birds sets off a chain of violent events leading straight to the Embezzlement Department-and the only bird-detective on record!
"A Question of Honor" is a matter of considerable international delicacy, involving indiscreet letters, a Shakespearean scholar from Scotland Yard, and a crime at once assigned to the Suicide Department.
Numerous other criminals, crimes, follies, and felonies find their way to the bailiwicks of the QBI as well. From the files of the Buried Treasure Department comes "Miser's Gold"; from the Narcotics Department, "The Black Ledger"; from the Kidnapping Department, "Child Missing!"; and many others. In each case, Ellery Queen demonstrates the powers that make him unique among detectives.
