The Quick and the Dead

Ben Perkins #7

by Ellery Queen

The award-winning author of Made in Detroit presents a mystery novel that's "polished, tough and fun to read" (Detroit Free Press. P.I. Ben Perkins has his hands full awaiting the birth of his first child and juggling some unfinished business with the Mob, when he's asked to investigate the theft of the body of a long-dead priest--whom the Pope is coming to beatify.

Genres: Mystery

Paperback

First published November 1, 1992

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

[Mike Gower · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perkins has trouble thinking with his upper brain, and trouble ensues. Ends with shooting and a miracle or two.

[Marti]

Passed on to me by Mom.