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Ellery Queen Detective #31
Ellery Queen e la parola chiave
The only clue to the murder of Gloria Guild, the singing Glory of the Thirties, is her dying scrawl of the word face. Why face? Whose face? Ellery Queen pursues the Glory riddle from the Bowery to a way-out wedding -- and a surprise climax that will jolt you into cold shock. Any reader who nails this killer is a genius or a cheat.
180 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1967
17 people are currently reading
247 people want to read
About the author
Ellery Queen
1,781 books488 followersaka 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.
(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.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
May 26, 2017
I vaguely recall reading some short Ellery Queen stories many years ago & seeing a few episodes of a TV series that was kind of fun, so when I saw my library had these as audio books, I thought I'd give them a try. I listened to a bit of the narration & really liked it, but I was ultimately terribly disappointed. 1.5 stars is the best I can do. I'm giving it 2 stars simply so I'll give another a try in the future.
To sum it up in a word - misogynistic. Coming from me, that's damning. It's not a word I use often since I don't think it is used properly most of the time. This book was published in 1967, but it's #31 in the series. The first was published in 1929, so I don't expect women to be treated equally. That's the times, but this story went out of its way to denigrate women. Boob size, pretty faces, & riches were their measure & the core of the story line. It was taken for granted that they were otherwise too stupid to tie their shoe laces, save for one ugly old lady who was quite savvy & kept very secondary.
Also (I will not say worse, although it should be, so that gives you an idea how bad the misogyny was.) the big mystery was obvious about 2/3 of the way through. The last third dragged while Ellery brooded about it & then brings it to light at the very end at the worst possible moment. If I was the Scot, I'd have broken his nose.
I have #7 The Siamese Twin Mystery & might try that at a future date, but it had better be a lot better or I won't finish it. I barely made it through this one as I kept waiting for some sort of great ending. I didn't get it. My recommendation is to skip it.
To sum it up in a word - misogynistic. Coming from me, that's damning. It's not a word I use often since I don't think it is used properly most of the time. This book was published in 1967, but it's #31 in the series. The first was published in 1929, so I don't expect women to be treated equally. That's the times, but this story went out of its way to denigrate women. Boob size, pretty faces, & riches were their measure & the core of the story line. It was taken for granted that they were otherwise too stupid to tie their shoe laces, save for one ugly old lady who was quite savvy & kept very secondary.
Also (I will not say worse, although it should be, so that gives you an idea how bad the misogyny was.) the big mystery was obvious about 2/3 of the way through. The last third dragged while Ellery brooded about it & then brings it to light at the very end at the worst possible moment. If I was the Scot, I'd have broken his nose.
I have #7 The Siamese Twin Mystery & might try that at a future date, but it had better be a lot better or I won't finish it. I barely made it through this one as I kept waiting for some sort of great ending. I didn't get it. My recommendation is to skip it.
December 8, 2013
In my younger days, meaning ancient times, I enjoyed a number of the Ellery Queen mysteries. I picked up this last (I believe) written by the duo, after a long hiatus when the books were written by others, and was sorely disappointed. It's terribly contrived (although I understand first hand how difficult to make a who-done-it sound plausible)and the murderess is all but announced 4/5 of the way through the book--although the detective acts as though he doesn't know the answer. I'll have to go back and pick up some of the older volumes, to see if they were really as good as I remembered.
February 3, 2015
This is my first Ellery novel. It wasn't the worst I've seen in this respect, but the characters are pretty oblivious to major clues or possibilities that stare the reader in the face (no bad pun intended) the entire time. Also, it follows in the grand '40s tradition of females that are either stupid sheep or vampish, born from mysogynistic paranoia and fear of women. I can handle that in a great film noir but this book isn't worth your time.
July 28, 2020
Woof...they were definitely out of ideas at this point. Exceedingly predictable and simplistic. A companion piece to Elephants Can Remember as far as I'm concerned.
July 3, 2022
Another good Ellery Queen mystery
June 24, 2022
Het boek heeft alles wat je van een spannende Ellery Queen (met Ellery zelf in de hoofdrol) mag verwachten. Uiteraard een moord, een beperkt aantal verdachten, een aanwijzing die niet ontcijferd geraakt, een bijkomende moord, vele valse en dode sporen, een onverwaconthte en spannende ontknoping, de wanhoop van Ellery als hij geen uitweg meer ziet, de een-tweetjes met zijn vader en een vleugje romantiek tussen enkele betrokkenen.
Toch is de invulling in dit boek nogal duister en onverwacht tragisch.
De cover lijkt minder geslaagd, het is eigenlijk niet goed te zien wat er eigenlijk op staat. Gelukkig staat de naam Ellery Queen er duidelijk op, voor de fans is dat al voldoende.
De buitenstaander die mee zal speuren ontbreekt ook in dit boek niet maar is een professionele Britse detective en geen amateur dit keer.
Het geheel speelt zich af in New York, de thuisbasis van de Queens, maar dat is verder van geen belang. Uiteraard is het een beetje getekend door de tijd maar dat kunnen we rekenen onder nostalgie en is helemaal niet storend als voorbijgestreefd.
De ontcijfering van de clue "f a c e" door Ellery laat lang op zich wachten, is ingewikkeld en een beetje vergezocht maar natuurlijk ingenieus uitgedacht, en brengt Ellery oorspronkelijk in tegenstelling tot de verwachingen, geen stap verder.
De echte climax is erg tragisch en laat tot de allerlaatste bladzijde een vieze smaak na.
Toch is de invulling in dit boek nogal duister en onverwacht tragisch.
De cover lijkt minder geslaagd, het is eigenlijk niet goed te zien wat er eigenlijk op staat. Gelukkig staat de naam Ellery Queen er duidelijk op, voor de fans is dat al voldoende.
De buitenstaander die mee zal speuren ontbreekt ook in dit boek niet maar is een professionele Britse detective en geen amateur dit keer.
Het geheel speelt zich af in New York, de thuisbasis van de Queens, maar dat is verder van geen belang. Uiteraard is het een beetje getekend door de tijd maar dat kunnen we rekenen onder nostalgie en is helemaal niet storend als voorbijgestreefd.
De ontcijfering van de clue "f a c e" door Ellery laat lang op zich wachten, is ingewikkeld en een beetje vergezocht maar natuurlijk ingenieus uitgedacht, en brengt Ellery oorspronkelijk in tegenstelling tot de verwachingen, geen stap verder.
De echte climax is erg tragisch en laat tot de allerlaatste bladzijde een vieze smaak na.
January 18, 2022
Fairly humdrum Ellery Queen.
July 11, 2019
A great singer from the 30s-40s is murdered in the middle of swinging 60s. The stereotypical boy goldigger grifter husband has the perfect alibi, so perfect that somebody had to have worked with him, if he was behind the murder.
Well, Ellery Queen exists to solve these cases. And so he does. This late EQ, though, has an authorial tone of a guy trying to stay hip (though his heart is in the 30s) and an unpleasant bitterness. LSD, the Playboy Club and The Beatles are mentioned. The male characters also have a fixation on women’s chest size.
As for the murder — well, this is a dying clue mystery — and the dying clue is a poor one. (Really, who would leave this obscure a clue, if they have just been mortally wounded?) Nevertheless, the last few chapters, when Ellery has his a ha moment, and realizes that his solution is very very ugly, hark back to melancholy Ellery of the 40s, and that fits this novel.
Well, Ellery Queen exists to solve these cases. And so he does. This late EQ, though, has an authorial tone of a guy trying to stay hip (though his heart is in the 30s) and an unpleasant bitterness. LSD, the Playboy Club and The Beatles are mentioned. The male characters also have a fixation on women’s chest size.
As for the murder — well, this is a dying clue mystery — and the dying clue is a poor one. (Really, who would leave this obscure a clue, if they have just been mortally wounded?) Nevertheless, the last few chapters, when Ellery has his a ha moment, and realizes that his solution is very very ugly, hark back to melancholy Ellery of the 40s, and that fits this novel.
March 1, 2014
A good, but not great EQ. A serviceable plot, though padded at times, the story is fairly straight-forward. A nice touch is the number of references to the early EQ books. Mentions of the Roman theatre, JJ McQ, and Siamese Twins appear in this late EQ title.
July 3, 2023
It was fine.
Ellery is definitely more Ellery-esque than he's been in the other books in this series of late, but I don't know if the 60s are treating Ellery well. I feel like in earlier Ellery Queen books if he was cruel it was for the sake of honesty, and for solving the murder, and he might be apologetic but he was also confident that was he did was for the right reason... or maybe I'm looking back at early Ellery with Rose-tinted glasses. Either way, in this instance, Ellery flubbed up at the end-- not in solving the mystery, which he did very well, but in his interpersonal relationships. He didn't have to . Ellery is smart, there must have been an alternative.
And the writers must have thought that this was unnecessarily cruel as well (although why make Ellery do it then?) because in the end Ellery does not feel righteous or confident. It ends with the ending of a (kind of) friendship, because the Ellery-writer care more for drama (?) than realism or kindness. And Ellery feels guilty about it. He does. So I just don't get why it happened in the first place.
Also, the whole business about that was too much. Just too much. I'll forgive a lot of excessive drama and escape-room-esque puzzles in murder mysteries because they can be fun, but this was a tad behind the pale.
Also also, side-note, but I don't love the sprinkling of fatphobia, sexism, and homophobia in this book.
Ellery is definitely more Ellery-esque than he's been in the other books in this series of late, but I don't know if the 60s are treating Ellery well. I feel like in earlier Ellery Queen books if he was cruel it was for the sake of honesty, and for solving the murder, and he might be apologetic but he was also confident that was he did was for the right reason... or maybe I'm looking back at early Ellery with Rose-tinted glasses. Either way, in this instance, Ellery flubbed up at the end-- not in solving the mystery, which he did very well, but in his interpersonal relationships. He didn't have to . Ellery is smart, there must have been an alternative.
And the writers must have thought that this was unnecessarily cruel as well (although why make Ellery do it then?) because in the end Ellery does not feel righteous or confident. It ends with the ending of a (kind of) friendship, because the Ellery-writer care more for drama (?) than realism or kindness. And Ellery feels guilty about it. He does. So I just don't get why it happened in the first place.
Also, the whole business about that was too much. Just too much. I'll forgive a lot of excessive drama and escape-room-esque puzzles in murder mysteries because they can be fun, but this was a tad behind the pale.
Also also, side-note, but I don't love the sprinkling of fatphobia, sexism, and homophobia in this book.
February 21, 2021
Have been dabbling in Ellery Queen mysteries as they are included in an Audible subscription and I enjoy UK Golden Age so took the plunge into similar US popular crime fiction. Some stories in the series are quite entertaining but now very dated in their dialect, depiction of women and the ability of outsiders to jolly along with local police departments.
This book was written later in the series, in 1967, and the characters, especially the women are still stereotypes of the time, helpless and vapid, judged primarily on looks and shape.
Face to Face begins well, with large cast and an interesting mystery, but around halfway it starts to drag out, many of us may have guessed the killer, meanders all over the place to prove it and by then I am way over Ellery's brooding despondent hours of decision.
Disappointing.
This book was written later in the series, in 1967, and the characters, especially the women are still stereotypes of the time, helpless and vapid, judged primarily on looks and shape.
Face to Face begins well, with large cast and an interesting mystery, but around halfway it starts to drag out, many of us may have guessed the killer, meanders all over the place to prove it and by then I am way over Ellery's brooding despondent hours of decision.
Disappointing.
July 24, 2022
I started reading this book as a first edition printing in a 1967 Toronto Star Weekly comic insert. It was an interesting read and of course I wanted to see how it ended so I found a copy of the book in a used book store to finish it. It is my first Ellery Queen novel. The story seems to be full of unrelated incidents and information. But it is a closely written story that during the final reveal makes you appreciate, what seemed to be fluff, what what written before. My only concern with this book was the misogynistic tone of the main characters when they talk about the female characters. Of course that that was the era the book was written.
June 25, 2019
A nice, tight Queen novel with a small cast of characters, and a puzzle to decode. It's a bit convoluted to believe a person would be shot and then have the presence of mind to create a coded dying message, but that is just what makes the novel. Carlos Armando is the character you love to hate, and would love to see the murder pinned upon. The turn of events at the end reveals the murderer, and creates an unpleasant (to the characters) scene at the same time.
March 27, 2024
Deeply misogynistic and homophobic with lots of xenophobia and fear of the march of time with disgusted allusions to the Fab Five, etc.
If you like this series, there are better Ellery Queens that are just as misogynist--they all are--but without the other off-putting and nasty descriptions, and the slurs in the mouths of characters. I'd rather watch the 70's Ellery Queen tv series again or reread Nero Wolfe.
If you like this series, there are better Ellery Queens that are just as misogynist--they all are--but without the other off-putting and nasty descriptions, and the slurs in the mouths of characters. I'd rather watch the 70's Ellery Queen tv series again or reread Nero Wolfe.
November 3, 2024
This was one of the least plausible type of mysteries -- one that hinges on a dying clue. Fortunately, plenty of mystery remains even when that clue is figured out, but it still signals a bad start. The mystery for the most part limped along due to a dearth of clues (good for mystery as mystery, not for mystery as enjoyable literature). And the ending, though it caught the baddie, was a downer. Some interesting twists, but not enough for a good whodunit.
January 2, 2021
I randomly encountered this on Audible. Narrator Robert Fass is quite good. Nonetheless, I probably should have started with Ellery Queen #1 because this one dragged on with not-terrible-likeable characters. The mystery wraps up in the middle, which of course means there's a twist coming, but there's a long time before that which dragged.
January 19, 2024
I like the idea of Ellery Queen, sort of the American version of Poirot or Holmes and I liked the setting—NYC in the 1960s. I just wasn’t wild about the story in which a decent mystery was buried. I listened to it while walking on the beach so maybe I was distracted. The Scottish character, Harry Burke, was fun.
September 13, 2023
Late Ellery Queen—starts strong, but finishes weak, with detection and solution pretty unbelievable. And Queen’s females and views of romance are even less convincing than usual. The sixties and seventies were hell on these authors.
March 19, 2020
It was a bit weird to read a book written the year I was born. There were several references to musicians and celebrities that I did not expect.
April 24, 2020
I was disappointed with whodunnit. Though I figured out the “face” clue right away.
July 5, 2020
Read in 1976. More mysteries to solve.
September 24, 2013
Another entry from the later EQ canon written in 1967 - Jack Vance, a terrific and stylish writer, rather than Manfred Lee is rumoured to have ghost-written from Frederick Dannay's plot outline - but apart from Ellery's friendship with one blatantly camp character the author(s) make it clear they're not at all engaged in the swinging sixties. I narrowed the killer down to one of two suspects quite early on but the mystery (as usual with EQ) was fair enough. The 'gubbins' that lies behind the 'face to face' title however is exceptionally ridiculous and unconvincing.
May 10, 2007
I'd seen the Ellery Queen show sometime in my youth, and when a friend of mine lent me her copy of this book, I gobbled it up. The writing is totally period and fun, with the authors' tongue stuck firmly in his cheek. A couple of damsels in distress, the hardnosed cop dad, and the smart and dashing young detective son along with his hapless friend round out the cast of an entertaining bit of fluff for a quiet snowy afternoon.
July 21, 2025
This was recommended via Audible. I didn't realize it was in the middle of the series, though that wasn't much of an issue.
I also hadn't known that the author's pseudonym is also the name of their character.
The mystery is slow to unravel, Ellery noodles on it in the back of his mind over months until some of the clues left by the murdered woman make sense. The length of time likely makes more sense than solved in a week.
I also hadn't known that the author's pseudonym is also the name of their character.
The mystery is slow to unravel, Ellery noodles on it in the back of his mind over months until some of the clues left by the murdered woman make sense. The length of time likely makes more sense than solved in a week.
March 30, 2015
Entretenido, para un viaje en el que se tienen dificultades para concentrarse. Más flojo de lo que esperaba.
January 26, 2017
I like Ellery Queen but in his novels the killer is almost always a little too obvious. Queen tips his hat way too early in this novel. Its still a very good novel and worth a read if your a fan of Ellery Queen's books.
November 1, 2019
A retired singer dies the day before New Years ve. He leaves behind a crptic message. Queen uncovers even more troubling clues assisted by Inspector Harry Burke.
March 11, 2014
Quite a good mystery. I had a couple of suspects near the end - and I caught the subtle clue. This is a late-term Ellery Queen, taking place in the post-Kennedy 60s. I really liked it.
September 18, 2015
Lovely story over all, but I had a niggling feeling I knew who the murderer was a little less than half way through the book. In the end, I was right.
September 5, 2022
Read in Danish a long time ago.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews