Where is Bianca?

Tim Corrigan

by Ellery Queen

The 1-eyed cop Tim Corrigan tears New York apart in search of a vanished beauty Before the Korean War, Tim Corrigan was the toughest cop in the NYPD. He lost his left eye in battle, but that didn’t make him any softer. The eye patch makes it impossible for Corrigan to work undercover, to blend in, to sneak. So he doesn’t sneak, and he never whispers. He roars. Corrigan’s closest friend is Chuck Baer, a private detective who saved his life more than once in Korea, and who is currently combing the city for a missing heiress named Bianca. When a woman matching her description is hauled out of the sewer, Corrigan fears he’s solved his friend’s case. But finding Bianca will take more than a lucky guess. The secret to her disappearance will draw Corrigan into the darkest part of New York’s underbelly. In the city of the blind, the 1-eyed cop is king.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Audiobook

Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1970

About the author

aka Barnaby Ross.
(Pseudonym of Frederic Dannay and Manfred Bennington Lee)
"Ellery Queen" was a pen name created and shared by two cousins, Frederic Dannay (1905-1982) and Manfred B. Lee (1905-1971), as well as the name of their most famous detective. Born in Brooklyn, they spent forty two years writing, editing, and anthologizing under the name, gaining a reputation as the foremost American authors of the Golden Age "fair play" mystery.

Although eventually famous on television and radio, Queen's first appearance came in 1928 when the cousins won a mystery-writing contest with the book that would eventually be published as The Roman Hat Mystery. Their character was an amateur detective who used his spare time to assist his police inspector father in solving baffling crimes. Besides writing the Queen novels, Dannay and Lee cofounded Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, one of the most influential crime publications of all time. Although Dannay outlived his cousin by nine years, he retired Queen upon Lee's death.

Several of the later "Ellery Queen" books were written by other authors, including Jack Vance, Avram Davidson, and Theodore Sturgeon.

Reviews

[Rob Smith, Jr. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this volume a lot. A law enforcement novel with a pal trying to figure where a body is, alive or dead.

The pacing of 'Where is Bianca?' is terrific as the so many elements are shuffled here and there. It's still easy to follow, which i learned as I traveled across Florida and in and out of places. I could still pick up the book and know where i was in the book.

The character development helps move the book also. Each are very well done. Even the one(s) who are missing. With distinctive voice, each character further stands out. Settings are light.

Bottom line: i recommend this book. 6 out of 10 points.

[Conni Wayne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this book despite all of the noir, period- accurate sexism etc. I think Tim Corrigan is fun, in ways that he probably isn't meant to be, haha. But I always enjoy Ellery Queens' writing style, and the book was fun. Traber Burns, the audiobook narrator, is excellent at Tim Corrigan and has kind of a timeless vibe going on.

[Robert Schneider · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have found that most books with the Ellery Queen name on them are solidly plotted and interesting. I'm not going to go into how the Queen name was the pen name for two cousins and that it became a house name for the publishers. This book has been attributed to Talmage Powell. It is a decent first of a series. Has shades of Ian Fleming's Bond and Richard Prather's Scott novels. the writing was straight forward. The plot was interesting. The body of a woman is found and before the investigation can begin there are three people identifying it as three different women. It kept my attention through the whole story but I felt the ending was a bit rushed and suddenly it was over.

[John Uzzi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Confused.