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Ellery Queen Detective #35
A Fine and Private Place
Ellery Queen investigates a mobster whose bizarre death is marked by the number 9
Nino Importuna has a soft face, but when he smiles, it’s terrifying. His Central Park penthouse is lavish, but it was bought with the blood of his enemies. His criminal empire controls mining, electronics, and food—legitimate corporations that he runs with a murderer’s touch. When he catches one of his capos stealing from him, Importuna could either kill the man or send him to prison. Instead, he makes a simple He wants the thief’s daughter to be his wife.
On their 5th wedding anniversary, Importuna signs his fortune over to his young bride. Soon after, the 9-fingered mobster is killed by 9 blows to the head and Ellery Queen receives a 9-letter note that holds the key to the homicide. In the legendary detective’s final case, 9 is the magic number.
Nino Importuna has a soft face, but when he smiles, it’s terrifying. His Central Park penthouse is lavish, but it was bought with the blood of his enemies. His criminal empire controls mining, electronics, and food—legitimate corporations that he runs with a murderer’s touch. When he catches one of his capos stealing from him, Importuna could either kill the man or send him to prison. Instead, he makes a simple He wants the thief’s daughter to be his wife.
On their 5th wedding anniversary, Importuna signs his fortune over to his young bride. Soon after, the 9-fingered mobster is killed by 9 blows to the head and Ellery Queen receives a 9-letter note that holds the key to the homicide. In the legendary detective’s final case, 9 is the magic number.
197 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1971
35 people are currently reading
259 people want to read
About the author
Ellery Queen
1,784 books486 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 - 24 of 24 reviews
June 29, 2017
I hadn't realized this as I was reading it (in reality, rereading it after a period of decades) but this was not only the last "proper" Ellery Queen novel -- i.e., with its authors being Dannay and Lee -- but also the last novel to feature the fictional detective Ellery Queen. To be honest, it'd be hard to claim that the Queens went out in glory -- although at least this is not so much a step as a whole flight of stairs above the previous year's abysmal The Last Woman in His Life; I see I was rather kinder than I should have been when I talked about the latter here.
When global plutocrat Nino Importuna is brutally murdered on the day that's not just his (official) birthday but also the (real) fifth anniversary of his wedding to the far younger and totally dreamboat Virginia Whyte, the obvious suspects are Virginia and her supposedly secret boyfriend Peter Ennis, Nino's private secretary. But Ellery Queen is not so sure, especially when he perceives how the case is covered in references to the number nine -- nine having always been the dead man's supposed lucky number because he'd been born with two of his fingers fused together. The connection seems ever-stronger as a stream of nine-related communications arrive on Inspector Queen's desk. Can Ellery -- or anyone else? -- sort it all out?
All the old EQ love of language -- of wallowing in language -- is here, so in that respect reading the novel was a complete delight. And Lee's ability to pinpoint character in a matter of a few words is evident, too: even the minor characters were very clear in my mind.
Where the novel fell down was in its plotting. Essentially this is a tale of red herrings, and the distraction of Ellery thereby: he believes that the solution to the murder lies in identifying and eliminating all the false clues to focus on the real one. The trouble is that the tale itself follows the same rules: as soon as you, the reader, realize you should follow Ellery's example -- i.e., step back and ignore the flimflam -- everything becomes pretty obvious . . . a lot more obvious than it is to the supposed superdetective Ellery!
At a guess, at least seven out of ten Golden Age detective novels were not as good as this one and certainly, as noted, the prose is a joy to read, so possibly I'm being a bit cruel in dismissing A Fine And Private Place as a bit mediocre.
On the other hand . . . well, Calamity Town.
When global plutocrat Nino Importuna is brutally murdered on the day that's not just his (official) birthday but also the (real) fifth anniversary of his wedding to the far younger and totally dreamboat Virginia Whyte, the obvious suspects are Virginia and her supposedly secret boyfriend Peter Ennis, Nino's private secretary. But Ellery Queen is not so sure, especially when he perceives how the case is covered in references to the number nine -- nine having always been the dead man's supposed lucky number because he'd been born with two of his fingers fused together. The connection seems ever-stronger as a stream of nine-related communications arrive on Inspector Queen's desk. Can Ellery -- or anyone else? -- sort it all out?
All the old EQ love of language -- of wallowing in language -- is here, so in that respect reading the novel was a complete delight. And Lee's ability to pinpoint character in a matter of a few words is evident, too: even the minor characters were very clear in my mind.
Where the novel fell down was in its plotting. Essentially this is a tale of red herrings, and the distraction of Ellery thereby: he believes that the solution to the murder lies in identifying and eliminating all the false clues to focus on the real one. The trouble is that the tale itself follows the same rules: as soon as you, the reader, realize you should follow Ellery's example -- i.e., step back and ignore the flimflam -- everything becomes pretty obvious . . . a lot more obvious than it is to the supposed superdetective Ellery!
At a guess, at least seven out of ten Golden Age detective novels were not as good as this one and certainly, as noted, the prose is a joy to read, so possibly I'm being a bit cruel in dismissing A Fine And Private Place as a bit mediocre.
On the other hand . . . well, Calamity Town.
June 30, 2022
Um policial sem peripécias muito intricadas e com poucas personagens.
A pouco mais do meio do livro já tinha a minha suspeita do assassino a qual se veio a verificar.
Gostei de todas as referências ao número nove resultando do título do livro.
É um livro que entretém sem desgastar o cérebro 😁
A pouco mais do meio do livro já tinha a minha suspeita do assassino a qual se veio a verificar.
Gostei de todas as referências ao número nove resultando do título do livro.
É um livro que entretém sem desgastar o cérebro 😁
March 10, 2017
This was an odd one. Really, really good in some aspects. Not so in others. It almost seemed like a throwback to the early Queen books, in that the PUZZLE is the main attraction to the story. And what a puzzle. A murder where 9s show up everywhere! Even the murder weapon resembled a nine. The trouble comes with the actual solution. Since there are so few characters (and most of them have been killed!) it's not hard to figure out the murderer. Hell, flip a coin!
October 15, 2023
Er bestaan meerdere covers met hetzelfde isbn-nummer. Ik verkies deze. Het is symbolisch als in getalmagie en ook symbolisch voor de inhoud van het boek
Wiskunde: 3x3 is ongeveer gelijk aan 10, dat is de essentie van het boek.
De grote witte 9, gebarten en bloederig en met een geraamte er doorheen... prachtig en een samenvatting van het verhaal.
De plot zit goed in mekaar en bevat maar 1 duidelijke verhaallijn die chronologisch verhaald wordt. De symboliek van het verloop van 9 maanden zwangerschap en 9 maanden moordverhaal geeft kippevel.
Weinig verdachten dus een typische whodunit met obscure elementen (de 9's) dus speciaal geschikt voor Ellery Queen.
Toch geeft de schrijver voor de oplettende lezer eigenlijk aan het begin al een duidelijke hint die het mogelijk maakt om de dader te vinden. Een aantal vragen blijven onbeantwoord, al hebben ze weinig belang voor de oplossing, in de loop van het verhaal houden ze wel de schijn van belangrijkheid en mysterie op, zoals de seksuele afwijking van Nino.
De link met en de beschrijving van een zwangerschap, evenals de 9-vingerige Nino komt nogal onsmakelijk over, daar valt het eten van een boterham met pindakaas door Prouty tegen in het niet.
Weinig humor en ook niet echt goed speurwerk van Ellery. Hij verzuipt in de negens, verklaart er heel veel, ook vergezochte maar vergeet er ondertussen evenveel.
De laatste, maar niet de beste, echte Ellery Queen.
Wiskunde: 3x3 is ongeveer gelijk aan 10, dat is de essentie van het boek.
De grote witte 9, gebarten en bloederig en met een geraamte er doorheen... prachtig en een samenvatting van het verhaal.
De plot zit goed in mekaar en bevat maar 1 duidelijke verhaallijn die chronologisch verhaald wordt. De symboliek van het verloop van 9 maanden zwangerschap en 9 maanden moordverhaal geeft kippevel.
Weinig verdachten dus een typische whodunit met obscure elementen (de 9's) dus speciaal geschikt voor Ellery Queen.
Toch geeft de schrijver voor de oplettende lezer eigenlijk aan het begin al een duidelijke hint die het mogelijk maakt om de dader te vinden. Een aantal vragen blijven onbeantwoord, al hebben ze weinig belang voor de oplossing, in de loop van het verhaal houden ze wel de schijn van belangrijkheid en mysterie op, zoals de seksuele afwijking van Nino.
De link met en de beschrijving van een zwangerschap, evenals de 9-vingerige Nino komt nogal onsmakelijk over, daar valt het eten van een boterham met pindakaas door Prouty tegen in het niet.
Weinig humor en ook niet echt goed speurwerk van Ellery. Hij verzuipt in de negens, verklaart er heel veel, ook vergezochte maar vergeet er ondertussen evenveel.
De laatste, maar niet de beste, echte Ellery Queen.
October 25, 2018
Pretty good, but not certain what the place is that’s fine & private.
July 24, 2023
At the beginning of the book I really thought that . I did guess who the real murderer was about 3/5ths of the way through, though that isn't always a bad thing. I love the (constant) reminders that Ellery is human-- not just in this book, but in the whole series, and he does make very human mistakes, but I always hate the embarrassment of him putting together a whole solution and then being very publicly proved wrong. I'd say it keeps him humble, but it really doesn't.
I think the fact that Peter's nickname for Virginia is "Virgin," is the stupidest thing I've ever read.
I hate that Ellery made a point of marking this murderer as "one of the smartest adversaries [he's] ever encountered" (not direct quote because I listened to the audiobook), because no he wasn't. Dude was mid at best. I'm not even sure all of the things he did make sense from a murderer or sneaky perspective. I think Ellery is just impressed with him because he did a lot of crazy stuff just to pull the wool over Ellery-in-particular's eyes. Of course, this isn't he first murderer who's organized their entire crime and series of clues in order to trick Ellery-in-particular [Ten Days Wonder is the first one that comes to mind in that regard, but there might have been more].
Also .
It was a fine Ellery Queen novel, I didn't enjoy it as much as I liked The Last Woman in His Life but I enjoyed it much more than A Study in Terror or And On the Eighth Day. It feels like kind of a let down as the last official Ellery Queen novel, but that's fine because I'm just going to go back and read the earlier short stories
I think the fact that Peter's nickname for Virginia is "Virgin," is the stupidest thing I've ever read.
I hate that Ellery made a point of marking this murderer as "one of the smartest adversaries [he's] ever encountered" (not direct quote because I listened to the audiobook), because no he wasn't. Dude was mid at best. I'm not even sure all of the things he did make sense from a murderer or sneaky perspective. I think Ellery is just impressed with him because he did a lot of crazy stuff just to pull the wool over Ellery-in-particular's eyes. Of course, this isn't he first murderer who's organized their entire crime and series of clues in order to trick Ellery-in-particular [Ten Days Wonder is the first one that comes to mind in that regard, but there might have been more].
Also .
It was a fine Ellery Queen novel, I didn't enjoy it as much as I liked The Last Woman in His Life but I enjoyed it much more than A Study in Terror or And On the Eighth Day. It feels like kind of a let down as the last official Ellery Queen novel, but that's fine because I'm just going to go back and read the earlier short stories
May 12, 2019
I suppose I can't be terribly surprised. In general, Golden Age mystery writers tended to decline in ingenuity and all-around cleverness towards the ends of their careers. At least as often as not, this was because of literal cognitive decline- Agatha Christie has now been suspected of having had Alzheimer's by virtue of literary analysis of her final, forgettable Poirot novel (Elephants Can Remember). John Dickson Carr, another great, is also considered to have written his greatest works by 1960. I'm discovering more and more that the same principle applies to Ellery Queen, and A Fine and Private Place is the final Ellery Queen novel. Uh oh.
It's a short trifle of a book- 192 pages with 15-20 of them blank for plot reasons. I read it in a day and a half, which calls to mind Christie more than Queen. So it was breezy enough. But it suffers the faults of Late Queen in large quantities. The cast of characters (and therefore, suspects) is extremely limited. Hard to have a whodunnit when the functional number of "who"s numbers less then four. Anyone with half a brain will have this one solve by the time queen has doled out all of the relevant clues...
As far as it can be figured out. The culprit isn't difficult to discern, but the convolutions of the murder plot just flat out don't make internal sense. And this is really the heartbreaking bit. For writers who, in the first 10-15 books especially, were known for tight chains of deductions, to deliver a plot this broken is quite out of character.
I'm still hoping there are some mid to late Queen gems out there, but for now, the hunt continues unsuccessfully.
It's a short trifle of a book- 192 pages with 15-20 of them blank for plot reasons. I read it in a day and a half, which calls to mind Christie more than Queen. So it was breezy enough. But it suffers the faults of Late Queen in large quantities. The cast of characters (and therefore, suspects) is extremely limited. Hard to have a whodunnit when the functional number of "who"s numbers less then four. Anyone with half a brain will have this one solve by the time queen has doled out all of the relevant clues...
As far as it can be figured out. The culprit isn't difficult to discern, but the convolutions of the murder plot just flat out don't make internal sense. And this is really the heartbreaking bit. For writers who, in the first 10-15 books especially, were known for tight chains of deductions, to deliver a plot this broken is quite out of character.
I'm still hoping there are some mid to late Queen gems out there, but for now, the hunt continues unsuccessfully.
July 3, 2019
It’s 1967, kind of late for a oddly young master detective to be practicing his craft. But give Ellery Queen credit: he’s still plugging after some 40 years of being 30 years old, and sharing his pad with his about to retire father. Golden age style detection feels odd in a world with the Playboy Club and murders with suggestions of S&M. Ellery’s mind boggling deductions seem both arrogant and frankly wacko for a plot that really isn’t that hard to figure out. (Yup, I had it solved 60-70 pages in front of the detective).
The writing throughout is erratic — parts have a vaguely satiric tone that is vintage Queen. There is a fragment of diary where a couple of 60 plus men pretend they are a 25 year old diary writer infatuated with mid-60s mod. This is really lousy. But mostly, it’s young Ellery, during the Summer of Love, partying like it’s 1939.
It’s not embarrassing. It’s just a last novel like a lot of last novels — professional jobs written after everything has been said.
The writing throughout is erratic — parts have a vaguely satiric tone that is vintage Queen. There is a fragment of diary where a couple of 60 plus men pretend they are a 25 year old diary writer infatuated with mid-60s mod. This is really lousy. But mostly, it’s young Ellery, during the Summer of Love, partying like it’s 1939.
It’s not embarrassing. It’s just a last novel like a lot of last novels — professional jobs written after everything has been said.
May 2, 2020
This one was fairly easy to figure out, considering there were only two or three possible suspects. This seemed to be more of a chance for the authors to show off how many different ways they could demonstrate the importance of the number nine, and the story was focused more on the investigation and Ellery asking a bunch of questions, rather than him just showing off his cleverness. I think this was one of the better stories, possibly because it was one of the later ones.
October 14, 2021
Ellery has the deductive powers of a Sherlock Holmes and the education and insouciance of a Peter Wimsey plus a dash of 60s slang. It’s nice to see a “Mind” make mistakes before getting it right. It sucks that I figured it out in advance.
August 2, 2018
It was a good mystery.
February 1, 2022
Not much.
June 25, 2022
I know how popular he was so I read one long ago and now this one, but I can take him or leave him.
November 2, 2023
For the last Ellery novel, not bad—very derivative of earlier ones, with some disastrous modern-day speech. But the story is elegantly constructed—almost crystalline—and worth following through.
June 23, 2014
Para mais informação, consulte o post completo em:
http://linkedbooks.blogspot.pt/2014/0...
A minha expectativa inicial não se afastou muito da realidade. Esta foi uma leitura razoável, de uma história que pouco deixará na minha memória, tal como tem acontecido com as restantes leituras desta colecção que realizámos aqui no blogue.
Este livro é o último de uma série de 36, a série "Ellery Queen". Ellery Queen é um heterónimo criado em 1929 pelos primos Frederic Dannay e Manfred B. Lee. Estes autores conseguem assim, um personagem principal, escritor e autor dos seus próprios livros. Esta foi uma perspectiva interessante neste livro e algo inovadora. O protagonista é o autor, escritor de profissão, cujo pai é detective e frequentemente lhe pede ajuda para solucionar os crimes. E foi isso que aconteceu nesta história.
Os enigmas em torno do número nove, poderiam ser também uma mais valia à história. Contudo, e em minha opinião, se bem que o número nove surja cedo na história, associado às superstições de uma das vítimas, a sua relação com os assassinatos é bastante mal explorada. A história acaba também por ter um desfecho pouco surpreendente, o que não ajuda à minha opinião sobre a mesma.
Um outro aspecto que prejudicou seriamente a leitura foram as gralhas da edição. Se bem que "Colecção Vampiro" já se tenha transformado para mim em sinónimo de gralhas, esta edição conseguiu ainda assim surpreender-me.
Concluindo, mais um policial morno, numa edição de fraquíssima qualidade, e cuja leitura não aconselho.
http://linkedbooks.blogspot.pt/2014/0...
A minha expectativa inicial não se afastou muito da realidade. Esta foi uma leitura razoável, de uma história que pouco deixará na minha memória, tal como tem acontecido com as restantes leituras desta colecção que realizámos aqui no blogue.
Este livro é o último de uma série de 36, a série "Ellery Queen". Ellery Queen é um heterónimo criado em 1929 pelos primos Frederic Dannay e Manfred B. Lee. Estes autores conseguem assim, um personagem principal, escritor e autor dos seus próprios livros. Esta foi uma perspectiva interessante neste livro e algo inovadora. O protagonista é o autor, escritor de profissão, cujo pai é detective e frequentemente lhe pede ajuda para solucionar os crimes. E foi isso que aconteceu nesta história.
Os enigmas em torno do número nove, poderiam ser também uma mais valia à história. Contudo, e em minha opinião, se bem que o número nove surja cedo na história, associado às superstições de uma das vítimas, a sua relação com os assassinatos é bastante mal explorada. A história acaba também por ter um desfecho pouco surpreendente, o que não ajuda à minha opinião sobre a mesma.
Um outro aspecto que prejudicou seriamente a leitura foram as gralhas da edição. Se bem que "Colecção Vampiro" já se tenha transformado para mim em sinónimo de gralhas, esta edição conseguiu ainda assim surpreender-me.
Concluindo, mais um policial morno, numa edição de fraquíssima qualidade, e cuja leitura não aconselho.
February 6, 2020
Big fan of the EQ TV show - which took me forever to track down at some backwater torrent site, by the way - I particularly like this book because it reminds me so much of that hokey, but endearing show. Especially the interaction between father Queen and son, it feels like a lost script novelized. And it's a bit more adult than the show, which is always welcome in my book. A Fine and Private Place is a good, old-fashioned mystery. Something to look forward to: the amateurish yet symbolically pregnant structure...
Note to self: I've given this book five stars because I am trying to rate books within their own category or genre. Awarding stars otherwise seems a ridiculous headache.
Note to self: I've given this book five stars because I am trying to rate books within their own category or genre. Awarding stars otherwise seems a ridiculous headache.
February 8, 2016
This is one of those classic detective novels that don't care a jot about realism, but instead form the story around a conceit and carry it through reality be damned! This story is framed around the conception of a child, but the child is a CRIME. To boot there's a lot of rigamarole with nines and characters named Peter Ennis (P. Ennis) and Virginia (inexplicably nicknamed Virgin). A fun, light read, but check reality at the door.
June 24, 2025
A disturbing story - and I couldn't tell if when written it was considered disturbing that a gambling addict's daughter is cornered into marrying a man far older than she is and with whom she has nothing in common. All so her father doesn't end up having his fingers broken.
In a weirdly popular trope for Ellery Queen, there's a five year marriage clause. Stay married for five years, then the spouse who is not in it for love will be granted full monetary support.
In a weirdly popular trope for Ellery Queen, there's a five year marriage clause. Stay married for five years, then the spouse who is not in it for love will be granted full monetary support.
December 29, 2011
I loved this book. I will read more Ellery queen for sure. though I did guess the murderer, I was very intrigued with all the number info in it. I am into biblical numeric s and am sure this stuff fit also with that. Just wonderful, light, but deep puzzle book.
February 4, 2016
Typical Ellery Queen with a few red herrings and his wrapping up the solution at the end. The number 9 figures heavily throughout the story. Read it to see how and where it plays in. Enjoyable read for me and my liking of this series.
July 2, 2010
I found the text very difficult to follow. It felt like I was reading in a foreign language (and not one I'm fluent in).
December 17, 2013
prefer the earlier works
January 27, 2015
This book started out really slow for me. The first third of the book was very boring and I almost gave up. It slowly started picking up, so I stuck it out. By the end I found it quite enjoyable.
June 23, 2019
Minimalistinen salapoliisikertomus. Ei ehkä Ellery Queenin parhaita teoksia kuitenkaan, vaikka takakansiteksti niin lupailee.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews