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Ellery Queen Detective #20
Cat of Many Tails
The famous sleuth comes out of retirement to help his father hunt down a New York City serial “Marvelous . . . one of his best” (Classic Mysteries). In the dog days of August, it is no surprise to see New Yorkers perspire. But this summer, a killer called the Cat gives the city a new reason to sweat. He selects his victims seemingly at random and strangles them, then escapes without leaving a clue. As the death toll climbs, and the press whips the public into horrified frenzy, Gotham teeters on the edge of anarchy. Ellery Queen, the brilliant amateur sleuth, has gone into retirement when the Cat begins to kill. As his father, a seasoned homicide detective, leads the investigation into the murder, Ellery tries to avoid getting involved. But as the body count rises, he can no longer resist the urge to hunt. The Queens are known for their curiosity—and everyone knows how curiosity can affect a cat.
310 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1949
290 people are currently reading
721 people want to read
About the author
Ellery Queen
1,764 books483 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 117 reviews
January 25, 2025
A slow burn of a novel, Cat of Many Tails takes us through a summer in post-war NYC, where a serial killer dubbed The Cat is prowling the streets strangling innocent, and seemingly random citizens. Old and young, male and female, there is no obvious pattern to the victims, which only heightens tensions, leading to terror and panic. Enter Ellery Queen, appointed Special Investigator by the Mayor and Police Commissioner, to solve the case. Ellery however has a confidence problem, the result of what he deems to be a failure from a previous case with which he assisted. This makes him rather tentative in his approach, only slowing down the pace of the novel even further, stretching out the suspense to the point of bursting. About halfway through the novel the pace begins to quicken as the net is drawn around a possible suspect, and it became a real page-turner--I devoured it in a single afternoon.
It is quite unique for a Golden Age mystery to contain a serial killer. In fact the only other example I can think of is Agatha Christie's The ABC Murders, which was referenced obliquely, I suppose as a way to distance itself plot-wise. As a former psychology student myself, I found that aspect of the case done quite realistically; both the progression of the case and the eventual solution were logical and understandable. I even managed to guess the killer, although I always worry that means the plot is too obvious rather than me being too smart. Overall very satisfying from a mystery perspective.
My one complaint would be the romance that is thrust in the middle of the story. The young man in particular was quite obnoxious, and I found him a poor choice for a love interest, especially to a young, beautiful girl with plenty of options. He was prone to bouts of pouting and temper tantrums, which made him seem very immature. I think I might have given this book 5 stars if not for the inclusion of this sub-plot, or at least if the characters were more likeable. However it did not detract too much from the book to make it less than excellent otherwise.
It is quite unique for a Golden Age mystery to contain a serial killer. In fact the only other example I can think of is Agatha Christie's The ABC Murders, which was referenced obliquely, I suppose as a way to distance itself plot-wise. As a former psychology student myself, I found that aspect of the case done quite realistically; both the progression of the case and the eventual solution were logical and understandable. I even managed to guess the killer, although I always worry that means the plot is too obvious rather than me being too smart. Overall very satisfying from a mystery perspective.
My one complaint would be the romance that is thrust in the middle of the story. The young man in particular was quite obnoxious, and I found him a poor choice for a love interest, especially to a young, beautiful girl with plenty of options. He was prone to bouts of pouting and temper tantrums, which made him seem very immature. I think I might have given this book 5 stars if not for the inclusion of this sub-plot, or at least if the characters were more likeable. However it did not detract too much from the book to make it less than excellent otherwise.
October 3, 2015
I've read enough EQ to guess the twist at the end, but the plot was sound and satisfactory. His writing is more overwrought than usual, though, and if it was my first Queen I would have put it down in disgust after the first chapter.
January 10, 2020
I read a half dozen Ellery Queen novels many, many (probably over 40) years ago and liked them. All were set in the 30s and, while I can’t remember which ones I read, I remember liking them a great deal. Somewhere in the intervening years, my tastes must have changed. Or perhaps I’m just more attuned now to what constitutes good, mediocre, and bad writing.
This book is bad writing. The narrative is tedious and plodding, the language overblown and pompous, reading like it was written in 1849 instead of 1949. Queen never uses one word when he can use seven (He must have had a politician in his family tree somewhere in the past!). He also appears devoted to displaying the breadth and depth of his knowledge and vocabulary (or how adept he is at using a thesaurus!) and to being as non-linear as possible. Not only do you have to read this story, you have to translate Queen’s rambling prose into a coherent narrative.
And that’s a pity, since this story was written in the same era as Raymond Chandler’s and Dashiell Hammett’s beautifully economical prose. Those men could deliver a crystal-clear picture in a few well-chosen words. Queen can’t do it in two dozen. As a result, this book has all the tension of the phone book. And had me thinking, ‘Get to the ____ing point!’ on about every other page. This is especially true in the last two chapters, where Ellery goes on and on and on and on over what seems like a hundred pages to explain what could have been covered in 10.
Maybe he was getting paid by the word and needed a ton of money.
Having finally slogged through 300 bloated pages that felt like 600 normal ones, I’m kicking Queen so far off my ‘To Read’ list, he’ll never make it back.
I had to give this book 1 star because I can’t give it ½ star – all it deserved. I wasted my time reading a book that didn’t even engender enough feeling to hate it.
This book is bad writing. The narrative is tedious and plodding, the language overblown and pompous, reading like it was written in 1849 instead of 1949. Queen never uses one word when he can use seven (He must have had a politician in his family tree somewhere in the past!). He also appears devoted to displaying the breadth and depth of his knowledge and vocabulary (or how adept he is at using a thesaurus!) and to being as non-linear as possible. Not only do you have to read this story, you have to translate Queen’s rambling prose into a coherent narrative.
And that’s a pity, since this story was written in the same era as Raymond Chandler’s and Dashiell Hammett’s beautifully economical prose. Those men could deliver a crystal-clear picture in a few well-chosen words. Queen can’t do it in two dozen. As a result, this book has all the tension of the phone book. And had me thinking, ‘Get to the ____ing point!’ on about every other page. This is especially true in the last two chapters, where Ellery goes on and on and on and on over what seems like a hundred pages to explain what could have been covered in 10.
Maybe he was getting paid by the word and needed a ton of money.
Having finally slogged through 300 bloated pages that felt like 600 normal ones, I’m kicking Queen so far off my ‘To Read’ list, he’ll never make it back.
I had to give this book 1 star because I can’t give it ½ star – all it deserved. I wasted my time reading a book that didn’t even engender enough feeling to hate it.
July 13, 2019
COUNTDOWN: Mid-20th Century North American Crime
BOOK 109 (of 250)
HOOK - 4 stars: The opening lines are:
>>>"The strangling of Archibald Dudley Abernethy was the first scene in a nine-act tragedy whose locale was the city of New York. Which misbehaved. Seven [million? or really, does Ellery mean specifically 7?] and one-half persons inhabiting an area of over three hundred square miles lost their multiple heads all at once. The storm center of the phenomenon was Manhattan, that "Gotham" which, as the New York Times pointed out during the worst of it, had been inspired by a legendary English village whose inhabitants were noted for their foolishness."<<<
So, 7.5 people, or 7.5 million people? It's so easy to read the word "Million" into the sentence, but it's not there, and Queen is the kind of writer to do such a thing. But why? And Queen often structures his novels in a certain way, like "And on the Eighth Day" which has 8 chapters, natch. Here Queen promises a tragedy in 9 acts. With a cat. Very clever.
PACE - 2: Sometimes Queen goes overboard into the area of 'impossible to solve' and things can feel a bit frustrating. But, no, don't stop, continue reading.
PLOT - 4: Multiple murders "which plucked universal chords of horror. One was the means employed. Breath being life and its denial, their argument ran, the pattern of strangulation was bound to arouse the most basic fears. Another was the haphazard choice of victims-'selection by caprice,' they termed it. Man, they stated faces death most equably when he thinks he is to die for some purpose. But the Cat, they said, picked his victims at random. It reduced the living to the level of the sub-human...." goes the plot. Those universal chords? Those are the types of ropes used to strangle the victim. The fabrics, the colors, the tightness of the rope twist. The Queen team never pass up a chance for a pun: here, 'universal chords' are not music notes. An original plot.
CAST - 3: This novel contains the "thousands [who] would be drifting into Central Park to throw themselves to the steamy grass... And Ellery: "...plundered back to his desk, lit a cigaret. No matter where I start, he thought, I wind up in the same damned place. That Cat's getting to be a problem. He tilted, embracing his neck. His fingers slithered in the universal ooze and he tightened them, thinking that he could stand an over-all tightening. Nonskid thoughts. A new lining on the wall." Of course Ellery would embrace his own neck: he is subjected to the same fear as everyone else. Then there is The Cat. But the cast is secondary to...
ATMOSPHERE - 4: A steamy hot city: "At Coney Island, Brighton, Manhattan Beach, the Rockaways, Jones Beach, the sands would be seeded by millions of the sleepless turned restlessly to the sea." "Radio was named codefendant...the First Cause of hysteria, delinquency, seclusive behavoior...sexual precocity, nailbiting, nightmare...America saw nothing wrong with airing the depredations of the Cat, with sound effects..." Atmosphere is king here, it's the novel, and it works.
SUMMARY - 3.4. The Queen team has ventured into many types of settings, but here they stay in the city heat, only to catch a mad killer. But, centrally, this is a novel of millions of people in a state of panic, living on the edge, living inside an emergency of impending death for anyone at any time in any place. While deeply convoluted, it's the atmosphere that reigns.
BOOK 109 (of 250)
HOOK - 4 stars: The opening lines are:
>>>"The strangling of Archibald Dudley Abernethy was the first scene in a nine-act tragedy whose locale was the city of New York. Which misbehaved. Seven [million? or really, does Ellery mean specifically 7?] and one-half persons inhabiting an area of over three hundred square miles lost their multiple heads all at once. The storm center of the phenomenon was Manhattan, that "Gotham" which, as the New York Times pointed out during the worst of it, had been inspired by a legendary English village whose inhabitants were noted for their foolishness."<<<
So, 7.5 people, or 7.5 million people? It's so easy to read the word "Million" into the sentence, but it's not there, and Queen is the kind of writer to do such a thing. But why? And Queen often structures his novels in a certain way, like "And on the Eighth Day" which has 8 chapters, natch. Here Queen promises a tragedy in 9 acts. With a cat. Very clever.
PACE - 2: Sometimes Queen goes overboard into the area of 'impossible to solve' and things can feel a bit frustrating. But, no, don't stop, continue reading.
PLOT - 4: Multiple murders "which plucked universal chords of horror. One was the means employed. Breath being life and its denial, their argument ran, the pattern of strangulation was bound to arouse the most basic fears. Another was the haphazard choice of victims-'selection by caprice,' they termed it. Man, they stated faces death most equably when he thinks he is to die for some purpose. But the Cat, they said, picked his victims at random. It reduced the living to the level of the sub-human...." goes the plot. Those universal chords? Those are the types of ropes used to strangle the victim. The fabrics, the colors, the tightness of the rope twist. The Queen team never pass up a chance for a pun: here, 'universal chords' are not music notes. An original plot.
CAST - 3: This novel contains the "thousands [who] would be drifting into Central Park to throw themselves to the steamy grass... And Ellery: "...plundered back to his desk, lit a cigaret. No matter where I start, he thought, I wind up in the same damned place. That Cat's getting to be a problem. He tilted, embracing his neck. His fingers slithered in the universal ooze and he tightened them, thinking that he could stand an over-all tightening. Nonskid thoughts. A new lining on the wall." Of course Ellery would embrace his own neck: he is subjected to the same fear as everyone else. Then there is The Cat. But the cast is secondary to...
ATMOSPHERE - 4: A steamy hot city: "At Coney Island, Brighton, Manhattan Beach, the Rockaways, Jones Beach, the sands would be seeded by millions of the sleepless turned restlessly to the sea." "Radio was named codefendant...the First Cause of hysteria, delinquency, seclusive behavoior...sexual precocity, nailbiting, nightmare...America saw nothing wrong with airing the depredations of the Cat, with sound effects..." Atmosphere is king here, it's the novel, and it works.
SUMMARY - 3.4. The Queen team has ventured into many types of settings, but here they stay in the city heat, only to catch a mad killer. But, centrally, this is a novel of millions of people in a state of panic, living on the edge, living inside an emergency of impending death for anyone at any time in any place. While deeply convoluted, it's the atmosphere that reigns.
August 9, 2017
Non è a nove code come in un famoso film di Dario Argento ma c'è comunque un nove nella sua storia: è il numero delle vittime che egli uccide nella New York degli anni 40, persone diversissime fra loro per abitudini, stile di vita ed estrazione sociale e apparentemente senza nulla in comune. Vengono rinvenute in posti bui e isolati, strangolate con un laccio di seta rosa per le donne e azzurro per gli uomini, nessun evidente macabro disegno, nessuna traccia lasciata, nessuno che abbia visto o udito nulla. E nella città scoppia la psicosi del Gatto, l'assassino che può colpire chiunque e a qualsiasi momento. Solo Ellery Queen e il padre, l'ispettore Richard Queen, riusciranno, partendo dal nulla più assoluto, a venire a capo di questo terribile rompicapo. Ellery Queen ci lascia (o meglio ci lasciano, dato che dietro allo pseudonimo dell'autore si celano due cugini scrittori) un bellissimo giallo classico, elegante e scritto con straordinaria intelligenza, intelligenza che emerge dalla trama, dal modo in cui gli elementi di intersecano fra loro come in un mosaico complesso e ammirabile, dal metodo d'indagine seguito dai protagonisti, dall'impensata soluzione finale. Non manca nulla in questo giallo: non mancano paura e suspense, non manca una studiata indagine poliziesca, non mancano le atmosfere (seppur, rispetto ad altri gialli come ad esempio quelli di Carr, qui molto metropolitane), non manca nemmeno il colpone di scena finale. Lo ammetto, ho miseramente fallito nello scoprire l'identità del Gatto...e voi?
February 13, 2019
Ah, Ellery Queen. I can never quite decide how to feel because, he's enjoyable, yes, but I'm also not terribly surprised he's rather unknown these days.
On the plus side--the writing is often snappy and witty without being over-the-top. There's humor woven throughout. It simply feels like it was written, well, when it was written. Ellery himself is a fairly likable character--who among us cannot identify with being an adult who doesn't want to do things but being semi-coerced into it by people who need us to do things? (Perhaps fewer than I imagine. It's a rhetorical question, don't answer.)
Both Queens--Ellery and his father, a police inspector--are fun characters. Ellery is good at what he does when he's not being walloped by impostor syndrome. He's not too cocky. And this was a good, solid mystery.
The less-good, of course, is that the mystery seemed to drag in places. The writing at times is prone to long paragraphs of introspection and description that cause my eyes to glaze. I guessed the murderer halfway through, but only because I thought gee, that'd be a good yet plausible twist, but the actual ending seemed flat and...not inconclusive, but lacking a feeling of conclusion.
Also, what's purely delightful are the several scenes where a Sweet Young Thing and Ellery make plans--dangerous, murderer-catching plans--while the Sweet Young Thing's boyfriend gets progressively more upset that a) it's dangerous and b) he can't stop his girlfriend, and c) no one cares about his sense of what women should do.
On the plus side--the writing is often snappy and witty without being over-the-top. There's humor woven throughout. It simply feels like it was written, well, when it was written. Ellery himself is a fairly likable character--who among us cannot identify with being an adult who doesn't want to do things but being semi-coerced into it by people who need us to do things? (Perhaps fewer than I imagine. It's a rhetorical question, don't answer.)
Both Queens--Ellery and his father, a police inspector--are fun characters. Ellery is good at what he does when he's not being walloped by impostor syndrome. He's not too cocky. And this was a good, solid mystery.
The less-good, of course, is that the mystery seemed to drag in places. The writing at times is prone to long paragraphs of introspection and description that cause my eyes to glaze. I guessed the murderer halfway through, but only because I thought gee, that'd be a good yet plausible twist, but the actual ending seemed flat and...not inconclusive, but lacking a feeling of conclusion.
Also, what's purely delightful are the several scenes where a Sweet Young Thing and Ellery make plans--dangerous, murderer-catching plans--while the Sweet Young Thing's boyfriend gets progressively more upset that a) it's dangerous and b) he can't stop his girlfriend, and c) no one cares about his sense of what women should do.
February 21, 2013
This was (after a fashion) my first exposure to Ellery Queen, although it was not the first of his books that I read. In 1971, Cat Of Many Tails was used as the basis for the TV-Movie Ellery Queen: Don't Look Behind You, which starred Peter Lawford as Ellery, and Harry Morgan as Inspector Richard Queen. (And for reasons I have been unable to fathom, Inspector Queen somehow morphed from being Ellery's father into his uncle.)
April 24, 2022
Ellery on the trail of a serial killer in 1950s New York. It’s an interesting puzzle, but awfully overwrought.
November 25, 2014
I listened to this audiobook and was surprised that I enjoyed it as much as I did. A serial killer is terrorizing Manhattan. The victims appear to have no connection whatsoever and the killer leaves no clues except a silk cord he uses to strangle. Ellery Queen becomes involved at the request of his father, who is the police investigator in charge of what has been dubbed The Cat murders. The mayor names Ellery Special Investigator. The story is a satisfying mystery of unravelling the scant clues. I would have given it 5 stars except for the ending (no spoilers). The ending's surprises and twists just took a little too long to wrap up. Even when it became clear, the author chose to drag it out a little longer than I wanted, making me anxious for the conclusion. But overall it was a very good book.
June 16, 2017
Not bad. Interesting as an early serial killer story--not much mystery until the end. Also interesting for the heavy-handed psychological analysis of the killer.
July 20, 2023
Il primo giallo di Ellery Queen che ho letto! nonostante non sia il migliore mi portò a diventare un lettore assiduo di questa coppia di giallisti americani maestri di una logica stringente nella spiegazione dei mistero che sempre avvolge un omicidio
June 24, 2010
This was my first Ellery Queen mystery, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Queen matches wits with a serial killer as panic grips the city.
March 12, 2021
Long considered the best of the Queen's, it's a case of small clues and large worries. Ellery finds himself forced into the role of detective in a frightened city.
February 5, 2018
Very dark. A little drawn out. I figured out the solution, which is always a little "Yay, me!" "Darn."
October 4, 2025
This read like Sherlock Holmes on the hunt for a serial killer in a 1940’s film noir setting, dark alleys and shadowy corners just a page away. The story grabbed me by its paw until I conceded it was in fact the cat’s meow! Cat of Many Tails is one of the first serial killer novels and it really set the standard for detective stories with its moody atmosphere, an ace of a detective, suspicious yet endearing characters, and a puzzling mystery! Just when you think the cat’s out of the bag, think again!!
Favorite quotes:
The perfect last line to end the book:
“‘That is written in the Book of Mark. There is one God; and there is none other but He.’”
“But what are the ethics of silence when silence itself is immoral?”
“Their nightly meetings in the dark had taken on the weightless flow of dreams. Nothing was real but the unreality they watched. They were conscious only occasionally that the City ground and grumbled somewhere below. Life was buried under their feet; they marked time above it, a treadmill experience.”
Favorite quotes:
The perfect last line to end the book:
“‘That is written in the Book of Mark. There is one God; and there is none other but He.’”
“But what are the ethics of silence when silence itself is immoral?”
“Their nightly meetings in the dark had taken on the weightless flow of dreams. Nothing was real but the unreality they watched. They were conscious only occasionally that the City ground and grumbled somewhere below. Life was buried under their feet; they marked time above it, a treadmill experience.”
April 19, 2022
After his last Wrightsville case 'Ten Days Wonder', Ellery Queen has sworn off amateur detecting, he will just stick to his writing career.
There is a serial strangler terrorizing Manhattan and the news papers illustration of a cat with nooses for tails, tracking the victim count, is not helping. It has become such a prolific case that Richard Queen has been appointed as the 'Top Dog in the Cat chaser squad,' of the city police and he is not happy about it. The killer doesn't seem to have a pattern. The victims are men and women, unmarried and married, loners and with active social lives. It looks like Ellery will have to come out of his self-imposed retirement from crime solving to help his father's investigation.
There is a serial strangler terrorizing Manhattan and the news papers illustration of a cat with nooses for tails, tracking the victim count, is not helping. It has become such a prolific case that Richard Queen has been appointed as the 'Top Dog in the Cat chaser squad,' of the city police and he is not happy about it. The killer doesn't seem to have a pattern. The victims are men and women, unmarried and married, loners and with active social lives. It looks like Ellery will have to come out of his self-imposed retirement from crime solving to help his father's investigation.
December 13, 2024
Ellery joins the investigation to help his father, Inspector Queen, after the Cat has strangled four people, all with a cord of silk, and none of the victims have any traceable connection to each other.
Ellery Queen (cousins Fredric Dannay and Manifred B. Lee) was as close to the American Agatha Christie as there was in the 1920s into the 1950s. There is some very good writing here, but as with so many detective novels of the period, there is little in the way of characterization of the detective -- Ellery is largely (like Hercule Poirot and Philo Vance and Dr. Fell and ...) a collection of quirks. And yet the book gives the impression of a greater maturity than the early Queens. If you like old mysteries that don't require much from the reader other than following the plot, it's a good, often tense read.
Ellery Queen (cousins Fredric Dannay and Manifred B. Lee) was as close to the American Agatha Christie as there was in the 1920s into the 1950s. There is some very good writing here, but as with so many detective novels of the period, there is little in the way of characterization of the detective -- Ellery is largely (like Hercule Poirot and Philo Vance and Dr. Fell and ...) a collection of quirks. And yet the book gives the impression of a greater maturity than the early Queens. If you like old mysteries that don't require much from the reader other than following the plot, it's a good, often tense read.
January 15, 2023
THAT'S A DETECTIVE NOVEL!! SO GOOD
when i chose which one to read next i looked up a recommendation list of Ellery Queen books and this description caught my eye
Cat of Many Tails
The first classic serial killer story, in which the solution is to be found by discovering what the link is between a seemingly unconnected series of murders. Beautifully plotted against a particularly well-realised depiction of a New York summer in which people become ever more hysterical as the body count increases – a true classic.
and ah so true
i was very clueless but so nice to read and follow along
this was just what i wanted for some change in my reading lists, perfect book at the perfect time for me
when i chose which one to read next i looked up a recommendation list of Ellery Queen books and this description caught my eye
Cat of Many Tails
The first classic serial killer story, in which the solution is to be found by discovering what the link is between a seemingly unconnected series of murders. Beautifully plotted against a particularly well-realised depiction of a New York summer in which people become ever more hysterical as the body count increases – a true classic.
and ah so true
i was very clueless but so nice to read and follow along
this was just what i wanted for some change in my reading lists, perfect book at the perfect time for me
May 19, 2025
Buying this book was the triumph of hope over experience.
Anyway, in this 'mystery' novel the rude and egotistical Ellery Queen is on the scent of the serial killer commonly known as The Cat. It takes nine strangulations before some solid investigation is undertaken and the murderer is identified. The murderer is then caught in the act attempting a tenth death.
However, evidence comes to light, indicating the suspect wasn't even in the country at the time of the first strangulation. A close relative is then identified as the true murderer but this person commits suicide as does the original suspect.
Wholly unsatisfying.
Anyway, in this 'mystery' novel the rude and egotistical Ellery Queen is on the scent of the serial killer commonly known as The Cat. It takes nine strangulations before some solid investigation is undertaken and the murderer is identified. The murderer is then caught in the act attempting a tenth death.
However, evidence comes to light, indicating the suspect wasn't even in the country at the time of the first strangulation. A close relative is then identified as the true murderer but this person commits suicide as does the original suspect.
Wholly unsatisfying.
January 3, 2019
Enjoyed this, my first Ellery Queen read, which is murder mystery, psychological thriller and part sociological comment on mass panic and fear. Well-written with a flawed writer/detective trying to help his police Inspector father in solving seemingly unconnected murders of unrelated people. The crimes multiply with no hint of solution and fear grips the public and the entire city. Description of the behaviors of the citizens of New York city in response to this crime and to the news reporting of the crime were quite realistic: "Every unpunished murder takes away something from the security of every man's life." Ellery Queen (I learned this was a pseudonym for cousin collaborators Frederic Dannay and Manfred B. Lee, whose original names were Daniel Nathan and Manford Lepofsky [a mystery in itself!] creates great atmospheric settings and suspense in the book. A twist at the end leads Ellery Queen to Europe for the final conclusion which turns out to be very logical, but undetected before.
June 13, 2021
I really enjoyed the first half of the book. The building menace and the feel of a city that was reacting to the fear of a serial killer in the midst was really spectacular.
Unfortunately, then stalking of the suspects began. And the story started to get more and more out of hand. My eyes started rolling at an increasing pace. By the last section of the book, I was starting to declare it one of the dumbest things I've ever read. The twist, no spoiler, there's almost always a twist with EQ, was so ridiculous. And Ellery's reaction, what even was that? So disappointing!
I'm going with two stars, because the first half, four stars, the second half- 1 or maybe 0 stars.
Unfortunately, then stalking of the suspects began. And the story started to get more and more out of hand. My eyes started rolling at an increasing pace. By the last section of the book, I was starting to declare it one of the dumbest things I've ever read. The twist, no spoiler, there's almost always a twist with EQ, was so ridiculous. And Ellery's reaction, what even was that? So disappointing!
I'm going with two stars, because the first half, four stars, the second half- 1 or maybe 0 stars.
November 30, 2017
My first Ellery Queen book, kept me involved from beginning to end. The ending was a complete surprise. Great story. Will read more Ellery Queen. Five stars!
November 23, 2018
Fairly good reading didn't grab my attention
Want to read
December 22, 2018Synopsis: the city was in a panic! An unknown strangler had pounced on his victims, seemingly at random. Ellery must find a connection.
September 29, 2025
For my full review click on the link below:
https://crossexaminingcrime.com/2025/...
https://crossexaminingcrime.com/2025/...
March 11, 2020
I haven't read too many Ellery Queens, and unfortunately at this point I don't think I will in the future. I was way underwhelmed, under-impressed by this novel.
First, I did not find the main detective, Ellery Queen a convincing character of this kind. He did not seem to be smart enough for this iconic role; practically he does not do anything but somehow is slapped to the team of detective professionals (including his own dad), riding on their waves. We keep hearing about his fame, fantastic past results, but it is all talk, no show at all, which makes it quite implausible.
Then there is the story. I am the kind of reader of mysteries, who deliberately tries not to guess 'who the killer is', because I am there for enjoying the ride itself, including the usual obligatory final reveal. I want to be 'surprised', satisfied in this way. However, reading this book, the solution was so evident in the moment the killer's figure is introduced, that I lost some of my interest for the rest of the novel because of that.
Then there is the forced 'social commentary' feature of the book. Pages after pages, chapters after chapters do not deal with the actual story line (remember, it is supposed to be a whodunnit), instead, we hear about the psychosis of the masses, and the consequence of it, reacting to a present and active mass murderer in the city. Long, boring, completely dated passages.
Then, there is the forced 'psychology' feature of the book. It was written (by the original two authors behind the 'Ellery Queen pseudonym) in the late 40s, when psychoanalysis, Freud & Co. was getting to be so big and hot, and seemed to be used for explaining all mankind's doing. Which might be true, I am not questioning it, but somehow there are way too many 'purple' and mainly: quite simplified spiels in the book trying to apply the theory to the story's every aspect (from the killer's psyche through the crowd's reactions to the detective's own behavior). The problem is, that sometimes I felt I was reading an encyclopedia's entry (for the younger generation: a Wikipedia page) rather than a mystery fiction. Again, long, boring parts. Lots of them. (Although I felt a kind of pride about a small, but probably a key figure at the end of the novel, the allegedly world famous, evidently Hungarian - his name is Béla! - psychiatrist, albeit I guess he was supposed to be rather Austrian - think of Freud, at that time all fictional psychiatrists were Austrians of course.)
I listened to the Hungarian audiobook version of Cat of Many Tails (A sokfarkú macska), with a decent (but not professional) narration.
First, I did not find the main detective, Ellery Queen a convincing character of this kind. He did not seem to be smart enough for this iconic role; practically he does not do anything but somehow is slapped to the team of detective professionals (including his own dad), riding on their waves. We keep hearing about his fame, fantastic past results, but it is all talk, no show at all, which makes it quite implausible.
Then there is the story. I am the kind of reader of mysteries, who deliberately tries not to guess 'who the killer is', because I am there for enjoying the ride itself, including the usual obligatory final reveal. I want to be 'surprised', satisfied in this way. However, reading this book, the solution was so evident in the moment the killer's figure is introduced, that I lost some of my interest for the rest of the novel because of that.
Then there is the forced 'social commentary' feature of the book. Pages after pages, chapters after chapters do not deal with the actual story line (remember, it is supposed to be a whodunnit), instead, we hear about the psychosis of the masses, and the consequence of it, reacting to a present and active mass murderer in the city. Long, boring, completely dated passages.
Then, there is the forced 'psychology' feature of the book. It was written (by the original two authors behind the 'Ellery Queen pseudonym) in the late 40s, when psychoanalysis, Freud & Co. was getting to be so big and hot, and seemed to be used for explaining all mankind's doing. Which might be true, I am not questioning it, but somehow there are way too many 'purple' and mainly: quite simplified spiels in the book trying to apply the theory to the story's every aspect (from the killer's psyche through the crowd's reactions to the detective's own behavior). The problem is, that sometimes I felt I was reading an encyclopedia's entry (for the younger generation: a Wikipedia page) rather than a mystery fiction. Again, long, boring parts. Lots of them. (Although I felt a kind of pride about a small, but probably a key figure at the end of the novel, the allegedly world famous, evidently Hungarian - his name is Béla! - psychiatrist, albeit I guess he was supposed to be rather Austrian - think of Freud, at that time all fictional psychiatrists were Austrians of course.)
I listened to the Hungarian audiobook version of Cat of Many Tails (A sokfarkú macska), with a decent (but not professional) narration.
October 11, 2017
This was a fun read and step back in to the past for me. Strangely enough I think I just the other day finished a book from Netgalley that was largely based on this story (but I'm not going to tell you what it is because I only gave it two stars).
I had to look up a lot of old-timey terms I had never heard before but I was also surprised by some of the good humor I found in this book. I guess I had a very stiff view of how people carried themselves back in those days so the fact that there were a lot of jokes that I think would still land in literature today was refreshing. ("he curled up on the sofa like an indignant sloth.") ("It's enough to make you cancel your membership in the human race. Come on, let's all get drunk.") ("First things first, that's my motto. I just invented it.")
Of course this is also pre-civil rights era so you will use of an outdated term for African Americans, but it seems done in good humor (not *trying* to be racist). I did find it very funny when the investigators are blown away that one of the Cat's victims was black. They joke that maybe the Cat is a civil rights activist, making sure to target black and white victims equally (not really, the Cat still killed many more white people, but whatever). Additionally, since this is immediately post-WWII, we have a couple funny comments as follows:
"I'll tell you there's as much sense in these killings as there was in a Nazi crematorium."
"[He] used to say the Cat was anti-Semitic because in a City with the biggest Jewish population in the world he hadn't strangled a single Jew. Then he'd laugh and contradict himself and say the odds were the Cat was Jewish because of that very fact."
My complaints is that it went long in some places. I was over halfway in before I really was excited to read this because it just seemed to take a long time to ramp up. Then the end stretches on longer that it needed to, but I thought the twist and logic it took to get there was very interesting, so I didn't mind too much (as opposed to the other book I mentioned above, whose ending follows the exact path of this book but was so difficult to read that it caused me to drop my rating from three stars to two). I don't think I'll be reading any more of this series but I did enjoy reading this one.
I had to look up a lot of old-timey terms I had never heard before but I was also surprised by some of the good humor I found in this book. I guess I had a very stiff view of how people carried themselves back in those days so the fact that there were a lot of jokes that I think would still land in literature today was refreshing. ("he curled up on the sofa like an indignant sloth.") ("It's enough to make you cancel your membership in the human race. Come on, let's all get drunk.") ("First things first, that's my motto. I just invented it.")
Of course this is also pre-civil rights era so you will use of an outdated term for African Americans, but it seems done in good humor (not *trying* to be racist). I did find it very funny when the investigators are blown away that one of the Cat's victims was black. They joke that maybe the Cat is a civil rights activist, making sure to target black and white victims equally (not really, the Cat still killed many more white people, but whatever). Additionally, since this is immediately post-WWII, we have a couple funny comments as follows:
"I'll tell you there's as much sense in these killings as there was in a Nazi crematorium."
"[He] used to say the Cat was anti-Semitic because in a City with the biggest Jewish population in the world he hadn't strangled a single Jew. Then he'd laugh and contradict himself and say the odds were the Cat was Jewish because of that very fact."
My complaints is that it went long in some places. I was over halfway in before I really was excited to read this because it just seemed to take a long time to ramp up. Then the end stretches on longer that it needed to, but I thought the twist and logic it took to get there was very interesting, so I didn't mind too much (as opposed to the other book I mentioned above, whose ending follows the exact path of this book but was so difficult to read that it caused me to drop my rating from three stars to two). I don't think I'll be reading any more of this series but I did enjoy reading this one.
September 25, 2024
The first Queen novel I've read that has some relevance to the world at large, and the first where you might be able to guess that the authors were Jewish. We've got a serial killer afoot in 1949 NYC, and a Great Cat Massacre, and vigilantism (at least briefly--the specter of mass violence is raised, and then things predictably go bad, and that pretty much resolves that question), and references to evil and the Holocaust and the purpose of life--closing line echoes then-current philosophical debates about the human capacity for good. Structure is unusual, in that we're twigged to the culprit, more or less, a little more than halfway through, so there's not much of the usual Queen fair-play business. Weirdly, this felt like one of McBain's 87th Precinct procedurals in its evocation/personalization of the city climate and the amount of time devoted to the minutiae of surveillance; there's a whole bit about how rare it is to have a phone line.
It's also interesting to think of this as inventing serial-killer tropes: the killer gets a special nickname, practices a particular fetishized method of killing, and is even diagnosed as being the core question to address--it's not the victims who are at issue here, but the particular preoccupations of whoever's doing the killing, it's suggested to the police. All of this was, I'm pretty sure, new info as of 1949, and it's also instructive to note how little fetishizing of the killer there is--no such thing as the serial-killer industrial complex existed.
As a novel qua novel, it's...decent? We still don't have real characters, aside from a couple who come together through proximity to tragedy, do a lot of grinning and some romantic byplay, and induce some bits of manly self-assertion by the boyfriend. The decision to mostly wrap up the murder plot with 60 pages to go is fairly audacious formally. I wouldn't say this goes in the canon of great post-Holocaust lit, or major Jewish-American literature, but at least there are some bagels and Yiddish and a sense of NYC as not just the province of rich WASPs. S0, more culturally/historically compelling than the usual Queen. puzzle box.
It's also interesting to think of this as inventing serial-killer tropes: the killer gets a special nickname, practices a particular fetishized method of killing, and is even diagnosed as being the core question to address--it's not the victims who are at issue here, but the particular preoccupations of whoever's doing the killing, it's suggested to the police. All of this was, I'm pretty sure, new info as of 1949, and it's also instructive to note how little fetishizing of the killer there is--no such thing as the serial-killer industrial complex existed.
As a novel qua novel, it's...decent? We still don't have real characters, aside from a couple who come together through proximity to tragedy, do a lot of grinning and some romantic byplay, and induce some bits of manly self-assertion by the boyfriend. The decision to mostly wrap up the murder plot with 60 pages to go is fairly audacious formally. I wouldn't say this goes in the canon of great post-Holocaust lit, or major Jewish-American literature, but at least there are some bagels and Yiddish and a sense of NYC as not just the province of rich WASPs. S0, more culturally/historically compelling than the usual Queen. puzzle box.
November 27, 2024
This is a 1949 Ellery Queen novel. It is one of the recent re-issues in the American Mystery Classic series.
It is a departure from the classic Ellery Queen formula. Usually, Queen is reluctantly dragged in to a murder investigation. Typically, the victim is wealthy, and the investigation is among the upper class. Queen is haughty and aloof. He is intrigued by the mystery but has little interest in the messy humans involved.
In this story, a serial murderer is terrorizing New York. Random unconnected New Yorkers are being strangled with a distinctive colored cord. Queen has sworn off detecting after a bad experience. His father, a Police Captain, pressures him into helping.
The victims and their murders unfold as the book goes on. The City is in a panic. Vigilante groups start to patrol. There is a riot with horrible results. These are not the typical Ellery Queen murder in a mansion, penthouse or a fancy hotel. The victims are a cross section of regular New Yorkers.
The detection is not the typical Ellery Queen either. Ellery is worried and anxious. There are no elaborate murder weapons, no intricate timing to be inspected, no hidden walls, remote guns or disguised poisons. The emphasis on psychology is unusual in these books.
All of this works. The story is exciting in a classic serial murder story way. Who will be next? The New York slice of life is well done. The public hysteria is convincing. The solution is fair, and it surprised me.
Odd Fact. "Ellery Queen", the author, was two cousins. One of them, Fredric Danny, would write a 50-to-70-page outline with all of the plot and mystery construction. The other, Manny Lee, would turn it into a novel. They had a very difficult relationship. By the 195os they were hiring other authors to write Ellery Queen novels from Fredrick's outlines. Avram Davidson, who is one of my favorite science fiction writers, ghosted two Ellery Queen novels. (Fredrick's son Richard explains all this in a very informative introduction to this edition)
It is a departure from the classic Ellery Queen formula. Usually, Queen is reluctantly dragged in to a murder investigation. Typically, the victim is wealthy, and the investigation is among the upper class. Queen is haughty and aloof. He is intrigued by the mystery but has little interest in the messy humans involved.
In this story, a serial murderer is terrorizing New York. Random unconnected New Yorkers are being strangled with a distinctive colored cord. Queen has sworn off detecting after a bad experience. His father, a Police Captain, pressures him into helping.
The victims and their murders unfold as the book goes on. The City is in a panic. Vigilante groups start to patrol. There is a riot with horrible results. These are not the typical Ellery Queen murder in a mansion, penthouse or a fancy hotel. The victims are a cross section of regular New Yorkers.
The detection is not the typical Ellery Queen either. Ellery is worried and anxious. There are no elaborate murder weapons, no intricate timing to be inspected, no hidden walls, remote guns or disguised poisons. The emphasis on psychology is unusual in these books.
All of this works. The story is exciting in a classic serial murder story way. Who will be next? The New York slice of life is well done. The public hysteria is convincing. The solution is fair, and it surprised me.
Odd Fact. "Ellery Queen", the author, was two cousins. One of them, Fredric Danny, would write a 50-to-70-page outline with all of the plot and mystery construction. The other, Manny Lee, would turn it into a novel. They had a very difficult relationship. By the 195os they were hiring other authors to write Ellery Queen novels from Fredrick's outlines. Avram Davidson, who is one of my favorite science fiction writers, ghosted two Ellery Queen novels. (Fredrick's son Richard explains all this in a very informative introduction to this edition)
July 30, 2024
I loved the Ellery Queen mystery TV show in the 70s. As such, I thought this would be an interesting book to read - it was!
In the beginning of the book, over a period of several weeks, nine people have been strangled to death via strangulation by a pink or blue silken cord over a period of weeks. The city residents are scared. In addition, the newspapers nicknamed the unknown assailant "The Cat." Ellery's dad, Inspector Queen, has no clear idea what ties the victims together, much less who the killer may be. Ellery, however, is reluctant to assist his dad, due to the last case he worked.
Ellery Queen discovers a possible connection to each victim's death but he struggles to understand the significance of the dates.
My biggest trouble with The Cat of Many Tails was the language. No, NOT cursing language but instead ... the way every sentence was written in "proper" English. Of course, this book WAS written in the 1940s and people talked in the 1940s with much more proper English than the loose English and slang used in the 2020's.
In addition, there were a few instances where the authors would name multiples of something NYC was famous for in the 1940s. For instance, in the beginning, the authors named several bridges in NYC (I think the only one not mentioned was Verrazano's Bridge but it wasn't built till a decade after The Cat of Many Tails was written & published.) I felt the naming every bridge, et al, was more a word count filler than necessary to the story. Also, I found the listing all of similar items more of a small annoyance than any real deterrent to the storyline.
The Cat of Many Tails was well written, nicely detailed, several victims and very suspenseful in nailing down "The Cat" (aka the killer) and held my attention thru the end. I didn't begin to suspect who the killer was until near the end and even then there's an unexpected twist.
Great book! If I find any more Ellery Queen books still in public circulation, I'll definitely read them.
In the beginning of the book, over a period of several weeks, nine people have been strangled to death via strangulation by a pink or blue silken cord over a period of weeks. The city residents are scared. In addition, the newspapers nicknamed the unknown assailant "The Cat." Ellery's dad, Inspector Queen, has no clear idea what ties the victims together, much less who the killer may be. Ellery, however, is reluctant to assist his dad, due to the last case he worked.
Ellery Queen discovers a possible connection to each victim's death but he struggles to understand the significance of the dates.
My biggest trouble with The Cat of Many Tails was the language. No, NOT cursing language but instead ... the way every sentence was written in "proper" English. Of course, this book WAS written in the 1940s and people talked in the 1940s with much more proper English than the loose English and slang used in the 2020's.
In addition, there were a few instances where the authors would name multiples of something NYC was famous for in the 1940s. For instance, in the beginning, the authors named several bridges in NYC (I think the only one not mentioned was Verrazano's Bridge but it wasn't built till a decade after The Cat of Many Tails was written & published.) I felt the naming every bridge, et al, was more a word count filler than necessary to the story. Also, I found the listing all of similar items more of a small annoyance than any real deterrent to the storyline.
The Cat of Many Tails was well written, nicely detailed, several victims and very suspenseful in nailing down "The Cat" (aka the killer) and held my attention thru the end. I didn't begin to suspect who the killer was until near the end and even then there's an unexpected twist.
Great book! If I find any more Ellery Queen books still in public circulation, I'll definitely read them.
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