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Ellery Queen Detective #Short Stories 2
The New Adventures of Ellery Queen
TRICK I-- The first thing to vanish is a worthless doorstop. Then in the twinkling of an eye, goes its rich and eldely owner. and, for the grand finale, both reappear--each as dead as the other.
TRICK II--From the House of Darkness issues more bafflement. In total darkness and from a distance of twelve feet, four bullets are pumped within an inch of each other into a spectator's back. A feat utterly impossible to perform--yet brazenly and undeniably done.
TRICK III-- The piece de resistance. This time it's an entire house, a real house, a solid house which Ellery Queen had been in only the day before...vanished from the face of the earth. And in its place, one of the most incredible conundrums ever to face the master crime solver.
* The Lamp of God (Detective Story, October 1935 as House of Haunts)
* ...The Treasure Hunt (Detective Story, 1935)
* ...The Hollow Dragon (Redbook, December 1936)
* ...The House of Darkness (The American Magazine, February 1935)
* ...The Bleeding Portrait (original title: "The Gramatan Mystery"
* Man Bites Dog (Blue Book, June, 1939)
* Long Shot (Blue Book, September 1939)
* Mind Over Matter (Blue Book, October 1939)
* The Trojan Horse (Blue Book, December 1939)
TRICK II--From the House of Darkness issues more bafflement. In total darkness and from a distance of twelve feet, four bullets are pumped within an inch of each other into a spectator's back. A feat utterly impossible to perform--yet brazenly and undeniably done.
TRICK III-- The piece de resistance. This time it's an entire house, a real house, a solid house which Ellery Queen had been in only the day before...vanished from the face of the earth. And in its place, one of the most incredible conundrums ever to face the master crime solver.
* The Lamp of God (Detective Story, October 1935 as House of Haunts)
* ...The Treasure Hunt (Detective Story, 1935)
* ...The Hollow Dragon (Redbook, December 1936)
* ...The House of Darkness (The American Magazine, February 1935)
* ...The Bleeding Portrait (original title: "The Gramatan Mystery"
* Man Bites Dog (Blue Book, June, 1939)
* Long Shot (Blue Book, September 1939)
* Mind Over Matter (Blue Book, October 1939)
* The Trojan Horse (Blue Book, December 1939)
238 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1940
93 people are currently reading
281 people want to read
About the author
Ellery Queen
1,786 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 37 reviews
January 4, 2017
An interesting collection of Ellery Queen (EQ) short stories dating from the mid- to late 30s. The two oldest stories, "Lamp of God" and "House of Darkness" date from 1935, and the newest ones are from 1939. It's a rather uneven mix, which is not helped by the appearance of EQ's annoying Hollywood girlfriend, Paula Paris, a gossip columnist, in the last four stories.
"Lamp of God" is the best story by far. It starts:
EQ is called by an acquaintance, Thorne, a lawyer, who seems in a state of panic. EQ agrees to meet him at the pier.
Thus begins EQ's very strange adventure of the "Lamp of God," which involves twins, an old miser, a long-lost heiress, backstabbing relatives, and hidden treasure. This is an excellent mystery story with plenty of red herrings, twists and turns. Just when you think you know what's going on, the rug gets pulled out from under you.
The other stories are hit and miss. I won't go over all of them but there a few entertaining ones:
"The Adventure of the Treasure Hunt" - A priceless pearl necklace goes missing during a house party, and it is obvious that the thief is either a guest or one of the servants.
The Adventure of the Hollow Dragon" - The story starts out simply enough when a young nurse, Miss Merrivel, asks EQ to find out who struck her on the head. He soon discovers that her employer is missing - along with $50,000. The story is somewhat marred by the racism. However, it's not as bad as it is in "The House of Darkness."
"Man Bites Dog" - A a famous baseball player and his new girlfriend attend a ball game and end up sitting very close to his estranged wife and her new boyfriend. Murder ensues, of course, but it's not as clear cut as it first appears.
"Trojan Horse" - Similar to "Adventure of the Treasure Hunt" in that priceless jewels meant for a wedding gift are stolen and it is up to EQ to find out what happened to them. The hiding place of the stolen gems was inventive and I never suspected the true culprit.
Overall, a good collection of stories. This is a different book than The Adventures of Ellery Queen. None of the stories are duplicated in either collection.
"Lamp of God" is the best story by far. It starts:
>“Once upon a time in a house cowering in wilderness there lived an old and eremitical creature named Mayhew, a crazy man who had buried two wives and lived a life of death; and this house was known as ‘The Black House’”—
EQ is called by an acquaintance, Thorne, a lawyer, who seems in a state of panic. EQ agrees to meet him at the pier.
Thorne mumbled something that sounded absurdly like: “Thank God!” and hurried on: “Pack a bag. For a couple of days. And a revolver. Especially a revolver, Queen.”
Thus begins EQ's very strange adventure of the "Lamp of God," which involves twins, an old miser, a long-lost heiress, backstabbing relatives, and hidden treasure. This is an excellent mystery story with plenty of red herrings, twists and turns. Just when you think you know what's going on, the rug gets pulled out from under you.
The other stories are hit and miss. I won't go over all of them but there a few entertaining ones:
"The Adventure of the Treasure Hunt" - A priceless pearl necklace goes missing during a house party, and it is obvious that the thief is either a guest or one of the servants.
The Adventure of the Hollow Dragon" - The story starts out simply enough when a young nurse, Miss Merrivel, asks EQ to find out who struck her on the head. He soon discovers that her employer is missing - along with $50,000. The story is somewhat marred by the racism. However, it's not as bad as it is in "The House of Darkness."
"Man Bites Dog" - A a famous baseball player and his new girlfriend attend a ball game and end up sitting very close to his estranged wife and her new boyfriend. Murder ensues, of course, but it's not as clear cut as it first appears.
"Trojan Horse" - Similar to "Adventure of the Treasure Hunt" in that priceless jewels meant for a wedding gift are stolen and it is up to EQ to find out what happened to them. The hiding place of the stolen gems was inventive and I never suspected the true culprit.
Overall, a good collection of stories. This is a different book than The Adventures of Ellery Queen. None of the stories are duplicated in either collection.
Read
April 14, 2022This is a fairly entertaining group of short stories and one novella. The novella, “The Lamp of God,,” is unbelievable in a good sort of way.
November 22, 2017
Agatha Christie is the undisputed champion of the traditional puzzle mystery, in which readers attempt to unravel the clues and solve the case along with the detective. However, back in the 1930’s, Ellery Queen was a close second among American readers. Although Richard Dannay and Manfred Lee, the authors of the Queen mysteries, continued to write the books for another 30 years, those Queen tales from the 30’s are widely considered the best. The New Adventures of Ellery Queen is a collection of eight short stories and a novelette written between 1935 and 1940 and, for the most part, these stories are just as entertaining and perplexing as are the longer Queen works.
As in almost all of the Queen books, the detective in the New Adventures stories is also named Ellery Queen. He’s a mystery writer and the son of a New York City police inspector, and he often gets called on by his father to consult on difficult cases. However, in most of these stories, Ellery just happens upon various crimes, often when invited by some friend to a social gathering. The settings vary from New York City to Hollywood (where the fictional Ellery worked as a screenwriter for a while), and several of them take place at sporting events, including the World Series and the Rose Bowl. Indeed, the baseball story was, for me, the most entertaining in the book, as Ellery resents being pulled away from his box seat at the deciding game of the Series to investigate a murder and has to solve the murder in a hurry so he can see the end of the game.
As mystery puzzles, the stories in New Adventures are typical Ellery Queen, which means they are among the best around. Like Agatha Christie, Dannay and Lee were scrupulously fair in relating the stories, revealing (although often trying to mask the importance of) every bit of information the reader needs to solve the mystery. Then, at the end, Ellery explains to the onlookers and readers just how each crime was committed and whodunit. These explanations tend to be more long winded than you’ll find in many mysteries because Ellery usually demonstrates how the crime couldn’t have occurred in any other way or been committed by anyone else. Needless to say, those who prefer tight, crisp dialogue will probably find these explanations somewhat annoying. Obviously, in short stories, the plots are of necessity less complicated than in novels, but the stories are still fun to read and, for me at least, tough to guess (I figured out about half of them).
Many of the stories in New Adventures are more howdunits than whodunits, as Ellery tries to figure out some seemingly impossible crimes, including two stories involving jewel robberies following which the stolen jewels seem to have completely vanished from sealed-off locations. Another story involves a shooting in a pitch-black funhouse in which the killer could not possibly have seen the target. The best story is the longest, “The Lamp of God,” a novelette that takes up almost a third of the book. In this story, an elderly miser dies and reportedly leaves a fortune in his crumbling mansion. The estate’s attorney asks Ellery to help find the treasure, and the two men spend the night in the house next door to the dead man’s mansion, only to wake up the next morning and find that the mansion has disappeared during the night. The solution winds up being a magic trick worthy of David Copperfield.
While the Queen puzzles are first rate, the authors’ style is much more a matter of taste. Ellery the detective is a bit of a snob, and the authors’ writing style is occasionally a bit stilted as well. Plus, the authors like to play the usual mystery game of teasing the reader (and the other characters) along by having Ellery say things along the lines of, “I’ve just about figured it out but I need to confirm one more thing.” In addition, some readers may be disturbed by the authors’ language in discussing non-white characters. In one story, the victim is Japanese, and in another, one of the suspects is black. Typically for an era that produced Amos and Andy and Charlie Chan, the descriptions of the minority characters are stereotyped, including lines such as “the yellow people are a subtle race with thought processes worlds removed from ours.” Although the authors don’t use today’s common derogatory slang words, the language used, common for that era, may offend some modern readers. However, the minority characters are not the main focus of the stories, so their descriptions are rather brief, and the solution to these cases does not involve some stereotypical racial characteristic.
As for me, I was a bit annoyed by the authors’ overly pedantic style and occasionally insensitive (by today’s standards) writing, more by the former than the latter. Overall, however, these stories are a great way for readers to test their wits against two of the masters of the genre in shorter, easier-to-digest stories that are each a perfect way to pass a lunch hour. The howdunits, especially “The Lamp of God,” are a real delight to read, as Ellery figures out seemingly impossible crimes in a few pages. The style may be dated and the characters one-dimensional, but The New Adventures of Ellery Queen should provide readers with plenty of cerebral adventures.
As in almost all of the Queen books, the detective in the New Adventures stories is also named Ellery Queen. He’s a mystery writer and the son of a New York City police inspector, and he often gets called on by his father to consult on difficult cases. However, in most of these stories, Ellery just happens upon various crimes, often when invited by some friend to a social gathering. The settings vary from New York City to Hollywood (where the fictional Ellery worked as a screenwriter for a while), and several of them take place at sporting events, including the World Series and the Rose Bowl. Indeed, the baseball story was, for me, the most entertaining in the book, as Ellery resents being pulled away from his box seat at the deciding game of the Series to investigate a murder and has to solve the murder in a hurry so he can see the end of the game.
As mystery puzzles, the stories in New Adventures are typical Ellery Queen, which means they are among the best around. Like Agatha Christie, Dannay and Lee were scrupulously fair in relating the stories, revealing (although often trying to mask the importance of) every bit of information the reader needs to solve the mystery. Then, at the end, Ellery explains to the onlookers and readers just how each crime was committed and whodunit. These explanations tend to be more long winded than you’ll find in many mysteries because Ellery usually demonstrates how the crime couldn’t have occurred in any other way or been committed by anyone else. Needless to say, those who prefer tight, crisp dialogue will probably find these explanations somewhat annoying. Obviously, in short stories, the plots are of necessity less complicated than in novels, but the stories are still fun to read and, for me at least, tough to guess (I figured out about half of them).
Many of the stories in New Adventures are more howdunits than whodunits, as Ellery tries to figure out some seemingly impossible crimes, including two stories involving jewel robberies following which the stolen jewels seem to have completely vanished from sealed-off locations. Another story involves a shooting in a pitch-black funhouse in which the killer could not possibly have seen the target. The best story is the longest, “The Lamp of God,” a novelette that takes up almost a third of the book. In this story, an elderly miser dies and reportedly leaves a fortune in his crumbling mansion. The estate’s attorney asks Ellery to help find the treasure, and the two men spend the night in the house next door to the dead man’s mansion, only to wake up the next morning and find that the mansion has disappeared during the night. The solution winds up being a magic trick worthy of David Copperfield.
While the Queen puzzles are first rate, the authors’ style is much more a matter of taste. Ellery the detective is a bit of a snob, and the authors’ writing style is occasionally a bit stilted as well. Plus, the authors like to play the usual mystery game of teasing the reader (and the other characters) along by having Ellery say things along the lines of, “I’ve just about figured it out but I need to confirm one more thing.” In addition, some readers may be disturbed by the authors’ language in discussing non-white characters. In one story, the victim is Japanese, and in another, one of the suspects is black. Typically for an era that produced Amos and Andy and Charlie Chan, the descriptions of the minority characters are stereotyped, including lines such as “the yellow people are a subtle race with thought processes worlds removed from ours.” Although the authors don’t use today’s common derogatory slang words, the language used, common for that era, may offend some modern readers. However, the minority characters are not the main focus of the stories, so their descriptions are rather brief, and the solution to these cases does not involve some stereotypical racial characteristic.
As for me, I was a bit annoyed by the authors’ overly pedantic style and occasionally insensitive (by today’s standards) writing, more by the former than the latter. Overall, however, these stories are a great way for readers to test their wits against two of the masters of the genre in shorter, easier-to-digest stories that are each a perfect way to pass a lunch hour. The howdunits, especially “The Lamp of God,” are a real delight to read, as Ellery figures out seemingly impossible crimes in a few pages. The style may be dated and the characters one-dimensional, but The New Adventures of Ellery Queen should provide readers with plenty of cerebral adventures.
April 17, 2024
This was my first time reading Ellery Queen, and I hope his other stories are better than these. I fully enjoyed one or two of the stories included here, and I enjoyed the premise of most of them. The first one especially - "The Lamp of God" - starts the collection with promise. If you're looking for mystery short stories, that one may be worth a read. Otherwise, stick with Conan Doyle or Christie.
December 2, 2017
Een aantal spannende en/of mysterieuze zaken die door Ellery Queen tot een goed einde moeten gebracht worden.
Soms alleen, soms in gezelschap, soms in persoonlijk gevaar, maar altijd verrassend. Om te lezen en herlezen ook al heb je het al op tv gezien.
Soms alleen, soms in gezelschap, soms in persoonlijk gevaar, maar altijd verrassend. Om te lezen en herlezen ook al heb je het al op tv gezien.
January 11, 2019
Ellery Queen was the shared pen name of Frederic Dannay and Manfred Bennington Lee, as well as the main character of the mystery stories they wrote. Starting with The Roman Hat Mystery in 1929, they wrote many novels and short stories about a brainy mystery writer solving crimes (and then writing about them in the third person.)
This collection has the novella “The Lamp of God” and eight shorter stories from the 1935-1939 time period.
“The Lamp of God” has an introduction that makes it sound as though Mr. Queen is going to need divine intervention to solve the case. It’s certainly bizarre, and Ellery does use the title phrase, but in fact it’s a fair play mystery. Ellery Queen is called in by an attorney to greet an heiress and accompany them and a sinister-acting relative of the heiress to the remote Long Island estate of her late father.
There they find two houses, the ramshackle dwelling the father died in, and next to it, the more modern house all the relatives live in. Snow falls overnight, and the next morning when they look outside, the other house has vanished right down to its foundations! But how?
It’s a good thing I had read this one before in the big book of locked-room mysteries I reviewed a while back, as the back cover blurb spoils an important plot point. If your copy has the cover displayed with this review, do not read the back cover!
“The Adventure of the Treasure Hunt”: While attending a weekend party at Major-General Barrett’s house, Ellery learns that the retired officer’s daughter has had her valuable necklace stolen. When an ordinary search turns up nothing, Ellery creates a party game to search for the treasure, catching the thief. An amusing puzzle with no murder.
“The Adventure of the Hollow Dragon”: Mr. Queen investigates the disappearance of a Japanese businessman. This story leans heavily on “Orientalism”, the notion that Asian people and their culture are exotic and even mystical. Ellery falls under this illusion for a while, but is able to use material sciences and paperwork to prove that there’s nothing supernatural or even very weird going on.
“The Adventure of the House of Darkness” has Mr. Queen’s houseboy Djuna (apparently a teenager of some non-Caucasian ethnicity) drag him to a new funfair attraction. The House of Darkness is just what you might think, a maze that thrillseekers must navigate through in complete lack of light. Naturally, while Ellery and Djuna are inside, murder strikes, and the amateur detective must figure out which of the customers inside did it–and how.
There’s a black couple among the customers, who don’t seem stereotyped, but are mostly there for Ellery to make a bad joke about the dark. Not funny, Mr. Queen. The actual solution is of course based on skewed perception.
“The Adventure of the Bleeding Portrait” involves a portrait of a man betrayed in love, who allegedly bleeds from the heart whenever a member of his family was betrayed by their wife. Ooh, look, the portrait is now smeared with blood in just the right spot, and one of the people on the remote island is missing at the same time there are traces of a body being dragged from the house. Murder? Infidelity? Or something else?
The next four stories all come from the “Hollywood period” when the authors decided to change up the setting by having Ellery Queen move to California to do scriptwriting for the movies. In The Four of Hearts Ellery meets gossip columnist Paula Paris (rather obviously inspired by the real-life Hedda Hopper) who became his romantic interest for two novels and these sports-related short stories.
Thanks to shifts in language, we are repeatedly told that Ellery cured Paula’s “homophobia” by “making love to her.” In today’s vocabulary, that translates to him curing her fear of meeting people in person by flirting with Paula.
“Man Bites Dog”: Paula scores tickets to the seventh game of the World Series for Ellery. Unfortunately, a former baseball star is murdered right in front of them, and Ellery must try to solve the case before he misses too much of the action. Guest appearance by Ellery’s father, an Inspector with the New York Police Department.
“Long Shot”: It turns out Ellery Queen is lacking in knowledge of horse racing, so Paula sets him up to learn from a old pro. But a race goes bad when the horse is shot, and Ellery must somehow figure out how it was done.
“Mind Over Matter”: This time it’s a World Championship Heavyweight Boxing match. The fight itself goes well, but then the challenger is found stabbed to death in the parking lot. Oh, and Ellery’s coat is missing. Could these two things be related?
“Trojan Horse”: And finally, it’s college football time. Except that in the excitement, another valuable necklace has been stolen. Can Ellery save the day by recovering the jewel and proving the young football player innocent?
“Lamp” is the best of these, though I also especially like “Treasure Hunt.” Be aware that most of these stories have become dated, but otherwise, please enjoy the fun puzzles!
This collection has the novella “The Lamp of God” and eight shorter stories from the 1935-1939 time period.
“The Lamp of God” has an introduction that makes it sound as though Mr. Queen is going to need divine intervention to solve the case. It’s certainly bizarre, and Ellery does use the title phrase, but in fact it’s a fair play mystery. Ellery Queen is called in by an attorney to greet an heiress and accompany them and a sinister-acting relative of the heiress to the remote Long Island estate of her late father.
There they find two houses, the ramshackle dwelling the father died in, and next to it, the more modern house all the relatives live in. Snow falls overnight, and the next morning when they look outside, the other house has vanished right down to its foundations! But how?
It’s a good thing I had read this one before in the big book of locked-room mysteries I reviewed a while back, as the back cover blurb spoils an important plot point. If your copy has the cover displayed with this review, do not read the back cover!
“The Adventure of the Treasure Hunt”: While attending a weekend party at Major-General Barrett’s house, Ellery learns that the retired officer’s daughter has had her valuable necklace stolen. When an ordinary search turns up nothing, Ellery creates a party game to search for the treasure, catching the thief. An amusing puzzle with no murder.
“The Adventure of the Hollow Dragon”: Mr. Queen investigates the disappearance of a Japanese businessman. This story leans heavily on “Orientalism”, the notion that Asian people and their culture are exotic and even mystical. Ellery falls under this illusion for a while, but is able to use material sciences and paperwork to prove that there’s nothing supernatural or even very weird going on.
“The Adventure of the House of Darkness” has Mr. Queen’s houseboy Djuna (apparently a teenager of some non-Caucasian ethnicity) drag him to a new funfair attraction. The House of Darkness is just what you might think, a maze that thrillseekers must navigate through in complete lack of light. Naturally, while Ellery and Djuna are inside, murder strikes, and the amateur detective must figure out which of the customers inside did it–and how.
There’s a black couple among the customers, who don’t seem stereotyped, but are mostly there for Ellery to make a bad joke about the dark. Not funny, Mr. Queen. The actual solution is of course based on skewed perception.
“The Adventure of the Bleeding Portrait” involves a portrait of a man betrayed in love, who allegedly bleeds from the heart whenever a member of his family was betrayed by their wife. Ooh, look, the portrait is now smeared with blood in just the right spot, and one of the people on the remote island is missing at the same time there are traces of a body being dragged from the house. Murder? Infidelity? Or something else?
The next four stories all come from the “Hollywood period” when the authors decided to change up the setting by having Ellery Queen move to California to do scriptwriting for the movies. In The Four of Hearts Ellery meets gossip columnist Paula Paris (rather obviously inspired by the real-life Hedda Hopper) who became his romantic interest for two novels and these sports-related short stories.
Thanks to shifts in language, we are repeatedly told that Ellery cured Paula’s “homophobia” by “making love to her.” In today’s vocabulary, that translates to him curing her fear of meeting people in person by flirting with Paula.
“Man Bites Dog”: Paula scores tickets to the seventh game of the World Series for Ellery. Unfortunately, a former baseball star is murdered right in front of them, and Ellery must try to solve the case before he misses too much of the action. Guest appearance by Ellery’s father, an Inspector with the New York Police Department.
“Long Shot”: It turns out Ellery Queen is lacking in knowledge of horse racing, so Paula sets him up to learn from a old pro. But a race goes bad when the horse is shot, and Ellery must somehow figure out how it was done.
“Mind Over Matter”: This time it’s a World Championship Heavyweight Boxing match. The fight itself goes well, but then the challenger is found stabbed to death in the parking lot. Oh, and Ellery’s coat is missing. Could these two things be related?
“Trojan Horse”: And finally, it’s college football time. Except that in the excitement, another valuable necklace has been stolen. Can Ellery save the day by recovering the jewel and proving the young football player innocent?
“Lamp” is the best of these, though I also especially like “Treasure Hunt.” Be aware that most of these stories have become dated, but otherwise, please enjoy the fun puzzles!
February 28, 2021
This collection includes one of the best Ellery Queen stories, the novella The Lamp of God, and seven additional short stories, all set in (and written in) the 1930s. They are classic examples of the "fair play" style of detective mystery, where the reader has everything needed to solve the crime (or at least you feel that way after Ellery explains it all). They are all fun to read, even to re-read when this is at least my third time through the book.
The Lamp of God is one of the best 'impossible until you see what was done' mysteries I've ever read. Even though I knew how the mystery is solved, I found that I enjoyed it again because it was told so well. This really is one of the best EQ stories, and it takes up about half the book.
The other stories are pretty typical of the sort of EQ story printed regularly in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine at the time. Like all the EQ stories, they give you a really good feel for life in the 1930s, at least life among the well-to-do of those years. Ellery, as a celebrity writer and son of a leading New York City detective, was welcome among the elite but always seems to be watching from outside. Sometimes I enjoy EQ stories more for the culture than the mystery.
The last 4 stories are from the Hollywood period, when Dannay and Lee were working in Hollywood, so Ellery did too, and all of these revolve around Ellery's relationship with Paula Paris. In some ways, Paula - an import from the Radio Series - doesn't fit well with the EQ stories,. But they brought her into the books and in a fascinating way in the 1930s in The Four of Hearts. Dannay and Lee do use the character of Paula, a committed and a bit worshipful girlfriend but also a proven professional writer in Hollywood, to present some interesting observations on Ellery's life and personality.
The novels of the Hollywood period explore some of the political turmoil of the 1930s (unemployment, political despair, counter-capitalism movements in Hollywood), but those are not on display in these four short stories.
I've recently finished reading all the core EQ novels in publication order, and I'm now re-reading the short stories. This one holds up well 80 years later, even if I occasionally have to look up out-of-fashion words and current events that no longer are widely known. This collection doesn't have the unique inventiveness of the first EQ collection, The Adventures of Ellery Queen, but, on the other hand, the stories seem a bit fresher because they haven't been reworked by dozens of later writers, movies and TV shows like the classics of that earlier collection. And if all it had was The Lamp of God, this book would be worth your time, especially if you enjoy mysteries where you are spending most of your time wondering how what is happening could possibly have happened.
The Lamp of God is one of the best 'impossible until you see what was done' mysteries I've ever read. Even though I knew how the mystery is solved, I found that I enjoyed it again because it was told so well. This really is one of the best EQ stories, and it takes up about half the book.
The other stories are pretty typical of the sort of EQ story printed regularly in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine at the time. Like all the EQ stories, they give you a really good feel for life in the 1930s, at least life among the well-to-do of those years. Ellery, as a celebrity writer and son of a leading New York City detective, was welcome among the elite but always seems to be watching from outside. Sometimes I enjoy EQ stories more for the culture than the mystery.
The last 4 stories are from the Hollywood period, when Dannay and Lee were working in Hollywood, so Ellery did too, and all of these revolve around Ellery's relationship with Paula Paris. In some ways, Paula - an import from the Radio Series - doesn't fit well with the EQ stories,. But they brought her into the books and in a fascinating way in the 1930s in The Four of Hearts. Dannay and Lee do use the character of Paula, a committed and a bit worshipful girlfriend but also a proven professional writer in Hollywood, to present some interesting observations on Ellery's life and personality.
The novels of the Hollywood period explore some of the political turmoil of the 1930s (unemployment, political despair, counter-capitalism movements in Hollywood), but those are not on display in these four short stories.
I've recently finished reading all the core EQ novels in publication order, and I'm now re-reading the short stories. This one holds up well 80 years later, even if I occasionally have to look up out-of-fashion words and current events that no longer are widely known. This collection doesn't have the unique inventiveness of the first EQ collection, The Adventures of Ellery Queen, but, on the other hand, the stories seem a bit fresher because they haven't been reworked by dozens of later writers, movies and TV shows like the classics of that earlier collection. And if all it had was The Lamp of God, this book would be worth your time, especially if you enjoy mysteries where you are spending most of your time wondering how what is happening could possibly have happened.
January 20, 2016
This volume features four short stories, each with a different sports setting (baseball, football, boxing, horse-racing); four general short stories, and the amazing novella "The Lamp of God," all solved by the still youthful Ellery Queen. In the novella, Ellery and others go to bed in a house during a snowstorm; when they wake up in the morning, the snow is still falling but the house next door--a house they all visited the night before--has disappeared, roof, walls, foundation and all. Some of the short stories show the kind of ethnic stereotyping prevalent in the 1930's.
June 29, 2019
I enjoyed some of the stories, especially the ones where Ellery Queen has a girlfriend ... but found the sports-heavy stories a bit boring: there was a baseball story, a boxing story, a horse racing story, a football story....
Also, one story where the racism was blatant: the central figure was a Japanese gentleman, and various characters reacted in various racist ways ... and even those who were 'tolerant' were a bit self consciously tolerant. And Queen himself let loose one of the worst racial slurs ... even though he was deeply on the side of the Japanese guy.
Also, one story where the racism was blatant: the central figure was a Japanese gentleman, and various characters reacted in various racist ways ... and even those who were 'tolerant' were a bit self consciously tolerant. And Queen himself let loose one of the worst racial slurs ... even though he was deeply on the side of the Japanese guy.
November 22, 2017
Agatha Christie is the undisputed champion of the traditional puzzle mystery, in which readers attempt to unravel the clues and solve the case along with the detective. However, back in the 1930’s, Ellery Queen was a close second among American readers. Although Richard Dannay and Manfred Lee, the authors of the Queen mysteries, continued to write the books for another 30 years, those Queen tales from the 30’s are widely considered the best. The New Adventures of Ellery Queen is a collection of eight short stories and a novelette written between 1935 and 1940 and, for the most part, these stories are just as entertaining and perplexing as are the longer Queen works.
As in almost all of the Queen books, the detective in the New Adventures stories is also named Ellery Queen. He’s a mystery writer and the son of a New York City police inspector, and he often gets called on by his father to consult on difficult cases. However, in most of these stories, Ellery just happens upon various crimes, often when invited by some friend to a social gathering. The settings vary from New York City to Hollywood (where the fictional Ellery worked as a screenwriter for a while), and several of them take place at sporting events, including the World Series and the Rose Bowl. Indeed, the baseball story was, for me, the most entertaining in the book, as Ellery resents being pulled away from his box seat at the deciding game of the Series to investigate a murder and has to solve the murder in a hurry so he can see the end of the game.
As mystery puzzles, the stories in New Adventures are typical Ellery Queen, which means they are among the best around. Like Agatha Christie, Dannay and Lee were scrupulously fair in relating the stories, revealing (although often trying to mask the importance of) every bit of information the reader needs to solve the mystery. Then, at the end, Ellery explains to the onlookers and readers just how each crime was committed and whodunit. These explanations tend to be more long winded than you’ll find in many mysteries because Ellery usually demonstrates how the crime couldn’t have occurred in any other way or been committed by anyone else. Needless to say, those who prefer tight, crisp dialogue will probably find these explanations somewhat annoying. Obviously, in short stories, the plots are of necessity less complicated than in novels, but the stories are still fun to read and, for me at least, tough to guess (I figured out about half of them).
Many of the stories in New Adventures are more howdunits than whodunits, as Ellery tries to figure out some seemingly impossible crimes, including two stories involving jewel robberies following which the stolen jewels seem to have completely vanished from sealed-off locations. Another story involves a shooting in a pitch-black funhouse in which the killer could not possibly have seen the target. The best story is the longest, “The Lamp of God,” a novelette that takes up almost a third of the book. In this story, an elderly miser dies and reportedly leaves a fortune in his crumbling mansion. The estate’s attorney asks Ellery to help find the treasure, and the two men spend the night in the house next door to the dead man’s mansion, only to wake up the next morning and find that the mansion has disappeared during the night. The solution winds up being a magic trick worthy of David Copperfield.
While the Queen puzzles are first rate, the authors’ style is much more a matter of taste. Ellery the detective is a bit of a snob, and the authors’ writing style is occasionally a bit stilted as well. Plus, the authors like to play the usual mystery game of teasing the reader (and the other characters) along by having Ellery say things along the lines of, “I’ve just about figured it out but I need to confirm one more thing.” In addition, some readers may be disturbed by the authors’ language in discussing non-white characters. In one story, the victim is Japanese, and in another, one of the suspects is black. Typically for an era that produced Amos and Andy and Charlie Chan, the descriptions of the minority characters are stereotyped, including lines such as “the yellow people are a subtle race with thought processes worlds removed from ours.” Although the authors don’t use today’s common derogatory slang words, the language used, common for that era, may offend some modern readers. However, the minority characters are not the main focus of the stories, so their descriptions are rather brief, and the solution to these cases does not involve some stereotypical racial characteristic.
As for me, I was a bit annoyed by the authors’ overly pedantic style and occasionally insensitive (by today’s standards) writing, more by the former than the latter. Overall, however, these stories are a great way for readers to test their wits against two of the masters of the genre in shorter, easier-to-digest stories that are each a perfect way to pass a lunch hour. The howdunits, especially “The Lamp of God,” are a real delight to read, as Ellery figures out seemingly impossible crimes in a few pages. The style may be dated and the characters one-dimensional, but The New Adventures of Ellery Queen should provide readers with plenty of cerebral adventures.
As in almost all of the Queen books, the detective in the New Adventures stories is also named Ellery Queen. He’s a mystery writer and the son of a New York City police inspector, and he often gets called on by his father to consult on difficult cases. However, in most of these stories, Ellery just happens upon various crimes, often when invited by some friend to a social gathering. The settings vary from New York City to Hollywood (where the fictional Ellery worked as a screenwriter for a while), and several of them take place at sporting events, including the World Series and the Rose Bowl. Indeed, the baseball story was, for me, the most entertaining in the book, as Ellery resents being pulled away from his box seat at the deciding game of the Series to investigate a murder and has to solve the murder in a hurry so he can see the end of the game.
As mystery puzzles, the stories in New Adventures are typical Ellery Queen, which means they are among the best around. Like Agatha Christie, Dannay and Lee were scrupulously fair in relating the stories, revealing (although often trying to mask the importance of) every bit of information the reader needs to solve the mystery. Then, at the end, Ellery explains to the onlookers and readers just how each crime was committed and whodunit. These explanations tend to be more long winded than you’ll find in many mysteries because Ellery usually demonstrates how the crime couldn’t have occurred in any other way or been committed by anyone else. Needless to say, those who prefer tight, crisp dialogue will probably find these explanations somewhat annoying. Obviously, in short stories, the plots are of necessity less complicated than in novels, but the stories are still fun to read and, for me at least, tough to guess (I figured out about half of them).
Many of the stories in New Adventures are more howdunits than whodunits, as Ellery tries to figure out some seemingly impossible crimes, including two stories involving jewel robberies following which the stolen jewels seem to have completely vanished from sealed-off locations. Another story involves a shooting in a pitch-black funhouse in which the killer could not possibly have seen the target. The best story is the longest, “The Lamp of God,” a novelette that takes up almost a third of the book. In this story, an elderly miser dies and reportedly leaves a fortune in his crumbling mansion. The estate’s attorney asks Ellery to help find the treasure, and the two men spend the night in the house next door to the dead man’s mansion, only to wake up the next morning and find that the mansion has disappeared during the night. The solution winds up being a magic trick worthy of David Copperfield.
While the Queen puzzles are first rate, the authors’ style is much more a matter of taste. Ellery the detective is a bit of a snob, and the authors’ writing style is occasionally a bit stilted as well. Plus, the authors like to play the usual mystery game of teasing the reader (and the other characters) along by having Ellery say things along the lines of, “I’ve just about figured it out but I need to confirm one more thing.” In addition, some readers may be disturbed by the authors’ language in discussing non-white characters. In one story, the victim is Japanese, and in another, one of the suspects is black. Typically for an era that produced Amos and Andy and Charlie Chan, the descriptions of the minority characters are stereotyped, including lines such as “the yellow people are a subtle race with thought processes worlds removed from ours.” Although the authors don’t use today’s common derogatory slang words, the language used, common for that era, may offend some modern readers. However, the minority characters are not the main focus of the stories, so their descriptions are rather brief, and the solution to these cases does not involve some stereotypical racial characteristic.
As for me, I was a bit annoyed by the authors’ overly pedantic style and occasionally insensitive (by today’s standards) writing, more by the former than the latter. Overall, however, these stories are a great way for readers to test their wits against two of the masters of the genre in shorter, easier-to-digest stories that are each a perfect way to pass a lunch hour. The howdunits, especially “The Lamp of God,” are a real delight to read, as Ellery figures out seemingly impossible crimes in a few pages. The style may be dated and the characters one-dimensional, but The New Adventures of Ellery Queen should provide readers with plenty of cerebral adventures.
March 27, 2017
Used to love Ellery Queen but these adventures do not stand up to the test of time. They seemed very dated and the characters cliche.
March 25, 2021
Synopsis: This is a collection of a novella (The Lamp of God) and eight short stories; four of which are sports-related (baseball, football, prizefighting, and horse racing).
The Lamp of God (Novella): Ellery Queen is asked to accompany lawyer Thorne on a mission to pick up Alice Mayhew, coming from England by ocean liner, and bring her to the estate of her late father, Sylvester Mayhew. They drive to remote Long Island to find the estate consists of two houses, the older "Black House" and a more modern "White House." Sylvester lived and died in the Black House, now a derelict shambles. His family lives in the White House. Sylvester claimed to have converted his fortune into gold for Alice, his heir, and hidden it in the Black House. Ellery, Thorne, and Alice are put up in the White House. In the mornng they discover the entire Black House has completely disappeared, and likely the gold has disappeared with it.
The Treasure Hunt: Ellery visits retired military man Major-General Barrett in his fortress-like home on the Hudson River. Barrett's daughter, Leonie, discovers her $25,000 pearl necklace missing. The grounds and persons are thoroughly searched, but it cannot be found, and it is proven no one could have entered or left the estate.
The Hollow Dragon: Mr. Jito Kagiwa disppears suddenly from his Westchester home, along with a large, heavy doorstop decorated with dragons. Bill Gallant, Kagiwa's stepson, offers an explanation but Ellery is skeptical. Kagiwa is later found dead.
The House of Darkness: Ellery and Djuna take a day off to visit the amusement park. In the haunted house, they find a dead body. A man had been shot in complete darkness, but how?
The Bleeding Portrait: Ellery visits Lord Gramerton's home where a legend surrounds an oil painting of the patriarch: that the portrait bleeds whenever the current Lord Gramerton's wife is unfaithful. While Ellery is there, it happens again.
Man Bites Dog: Ellery attends a New York Yankees game. Ex-pitcher Big Bill Tree is in an adjacent box with his girlfriend, and his wife is also attending. Bill falls dead after eating a ballpark hot dog.
The Long Shot: Ellery visits a race track and works with a desperate owner who has one chance left, to win the race and the big purse.
Mind over Matter: A prizefighter is beaten by a challenger, and found dead in his car, parked next to Ellery's. Ellery's missing coat provides the vital clue.
The Trojan Horse: A football team tries to maintain its winning Rose Bowl record, and in the midst of it a collection of precious jewels goes missing.
Review: I had earlier reviewed the first set of short stories, The Adventures of Ellery Queen (1934), and found them lacking due to racial stereotypes, cruelty to animals, and other issues; and so hoped this later collection to be an improvement. It is, although it still contains racist language not used today.
The Lamp of God has such a unique solution I remembered it from reading it 20 years ago, still a solid story. My favorite of the collection is The House of Darkness, with great descriptions of the haunted house setup in the amusement park. The Trojan Horse was very good - even though I do not understand football at all, I was able to follow it just fine.
The Bleeding Portrait was ho-hum, with a much too long wordy buildup to a sleepy solution. The Hollow Dragon is full of Asian stereotypes, spoken by the other characters, still distasteful.
The Lamp of God (Novella): Ellery Queen is asked to accompany lawyer Thorne on a mission to pick up Alice Mayhew, coming from England by ocean liner, and bring her to the estate of her late father, Sylvester Mayhew. They drive to remote Long Island to find the estate consists of two houses, the older "Black House" and a more modern "White House." Sylvester lived and died in the Black House, now a derelict shambles. His family lives in the White House. Sylvester claimed to have converted his fortune into gold for Alice, his heir, and hidden it in the Black House. Ellery, Thorne, and Alice are put up in the White House. In the mornng they discover the entire Black House has completely disappeared, and likely the gold has disappeared with it.
The Treasure Hunt: Ellery visits retired military man Major-General Barrett in his fortress-like home on the Hudson River. Barrett's daughter, Leonie, discovers her $25,000 pearl necklace missing. The grounds and persons are thoroughly searched, but it cannot be found, and it is proven no one could have entered or left the estate.
The Hollow Dragon: Mr. Jito Kagiwa disppears suddenly from his Westchester home, along with a large, heavy doorstop decorated with dragons. Bill Gallant, Kagiwa's stepson, offers an explanation but Ellery is skeptical. Kagiwa is later found dead.
The House of Darkness: Ellery and Djuna take a day off to visit the amusement park. In the haunted house, they find a dead body. A man had been shot in complete darkness, but how?
The Bleeding Portrait: Ellery visits Lord Gramerton's home where a legend surrounds an oil painting of the patriarch: that the portrait bleeds whenever the current Lord Gramerton's wife is unfaithful. While Ellery is there, it happens again.
Man Bites Dog: Ellery attends a New York Yankees game. Ex-pitcher Big Bill Tree is in an adjacent box with his girlfriend, and his wife is also attending. Bill falls dead after eating a ballpark hot dog.
The Long Shot: Ellery visits a race track and works with a desperate owner who has one chance left, to win the race and the big purse.
Mind over Matter: A prizefighter is beaten by a challenger, and found dead in his car, parked next to Ellery's. Ellery's missing coat provides the vital clue.
The Trojan Horse: A football team tries to maintain its winning Rose Bowl record, and in the midst of it a collection of precious jewels goes missing.
Review: I had earlier reviewed the first set of short stories, The Adventures of Ellery Queen (1934), and found them lacking due to racial stereotypes, cruelty to animals, and other issues; and so hoped this later collection to be an improvement. It is, although it still contains racist language not used today.
The Lamp of God has such a unique solution I remembered it from reading it 20 years ago, still a solid story. My favorite of the collection is The House of Darkness, with great descriptions of the haunted house setup in the amusement park. The Trojan Horse was very good - even though I do not understand football at all, I was able to follow it just fine.
The Bleeding Portrait was ho-hum, with a much too long wordy buildup to a sleepy solution. The Hollow Dragon is full of Asian stereotypes, spoken by the other characters, still distasteful.
August 16, 2021
This is a 1939 collection of Ellery Queen short stories.
Spoiler alert. The first and longest story is "The Lamp of God". I understand that we have to suspend believe when it comes to the plots of Golden Age mysteries. Incredibly intricate murder techniques always go off with out a problem. Identical twins, long lost relatives, impossible coincidences, and unknown poisons with bizarre effects are all regular occurrences. But this plot is too silly.
A long lost daughter returns home to her father who abandoned her. He is dead by the time she gets there. He has hidden a big pile of gold in his big old home. She suspects her uncle, his brother, of plotting to steal the gold. Ellery Queen is helping her.
They visit the house the first night. They sleep in the uncle's home next door. When they wake up the next morning, the house with the gold has disappeared!
After a pile of rigmarole we find out the solution. The Uncle has prepared an exact duplicate home a short way away. Ellery and the girl were drugged and moved to the other house while they slept. When they woke up and looked out the window, the house was gone because they were looking out a different window.
How did they not see that they were looking out on a different view?
These were old homes. How could you have perfectly duplicate old homes?
The necessity to pull off this stunt came about because of a chain of accidents, why would you have duplicate houses just hanging around?
And a million other questions. This is a dumb plot.
The rest of the stories are OK.
Bonus, how-the-meaning-of-words-change department. Queen has a girlfriend, the newspaper columnist, Paula Paris. They met, we learn, when , "Mr. Queen had cured Miss Paris of homophobia, or morbid fear of crowds, by the brilliant counter-psychology of making love to her."
Spoiler alert. The first and longest story is "The Lamp of God". I understand that we have to suspend believe when it comes to the plots of Golden Age mysteries. Incredibly intricate murder techniques always go off with out a problem. Identical twins, long lost relatives, impossible coincidences, and unknown poisons with bizarre effects are all regular occurrences. But this plot is too silly.
A long lost daughter returns home to her father who abandoned her. He is dead by the time she gets there. He has hidden a big pile of gold in his big old home. She suspects her uncle, his brother, of plotting to steal the gold. Ellery Queen is helping her.
They visit the house the first night. They sleep in the uncle's home next door. When they wake up the next morning, the house with the gold has disappeared!
After a pile of rigmarole we find out the solution. The Uncle has prepared an exact duplicate home a short way away. Ellery and the girl were drugged and moved to the other house while they slept. When they woke up and looked out the window, the house was gone because they were looking out a different window.
How did they not see that they were looking out on a different view?
These were old homes. How could you have perfectly duplicate old homes?
The necessity to pull off this stunt came about because of a chain of accidents, why would you have duplicate houses just hanging around?
And a million other questions. This is a dumb plot.
The rest of the stories are OK.
Bonus, how-the-meaning-of-words-change department. Queen has a girlfriend, the newspaper columnist, Paula Paris. They met, we learn, when , "Mr. Queen had cured Miss Paris of homophobia, or morbid fear of crowds, by the brilliant counter-psychology of making love to her."
April 1, 2022
An entertaining collection of nine classic Ellery Queen mystery stories from the late 1930s. The book was originally published in 1940.
I enjoyed this collection slightly less than the first Ellery Queen collection, The Adventures of Ellery Queen, whose puzzles were more intricate. The longest story here, The Lamp of God, has a delightful mystery: a disappearing mansion, reminiscent of the Banacek TV mysteries starring George Peppard. In the other stories, the authors seem preoccupied with sports and entertainment settings; there are stories involving an amusement park haunted house, a boxing match, a horse race, a Yankees-Giants baseball game, and a USC Trojans football game. Several of the stories feature Ellery's father, Inspector Queen, and Ellery's girlfriend, Miss Paula Paris, who wasn't around for the first collection. Paris is a Hollywood gossip columnist repurposed from the Ellery Queen radio series. No doubt her inclusion in the last four stories shows that pseudonymous authors Frederic Dannay and Manfred Bennington Lee sought to give Ellery Queen a bit more depth, but he still comes across as a prissy dullard.
The stories are uniformly fun due to their shared characteristics: the pacing is swift, the exposition is economical, the tone is light, and resolution of the mystery is swift and satisfying. Though the stories occasionally seem dated, they hold up reasonably well, particularly if you're nostalgic for classic puzzle mysteries.
I enjoyed this collection slightly less than the first Ellery Queen collection, The Adventures of Ellery Queen, whose puzzles were more intricate. The longest story here, The Lamp of God, has a delightful mystery: a disappearing mansion, reminiscent of the Banacek TV mysteries starring George Peppard. In the other stories, the authors seem preoccupied with sports and entertainment settings; there are stories involving an amusement park haunted house, a boxing match, a horse race, a Yankees-Giants baseball game, and a USC Trojans football game. Several of the stories feature Ellery's father, Inspector Queen, and Ellery's girlfriend, Miss Paula Paris, who wasn't around for the first collection. Paris is a Hollywood gossip columnist repurposed from the Ellery Queen radio series. No doubt her inclusion in the last four stories shows that pseudonymous authors Frederic Dannay and Manfred Bennington Lee sought to give Ellery Queen a bit more depth, but he still comes across as a prissy dullard.
The stories are uniformly fun due to their shared characteristics: the pacing is swift, the exposition is economical, the tone is light, and resolution of the mystery is swift and satisfying. Though the stories occasionally seem dated, they hold up reasonably well, particularly if you're nostalgic for classic puzzle mysteries.
May 21, 2025
Published in book form in 1940, these short stories and one novella were written at various times during the 1930s. As with most books written during that time frame, they have flinch worthy racist and sexist content but in this case it is not so overwhelming as to make the stories unreadable in my opinion. The clever plotting and imagery of the writing make up for these problems. I don't even typically like sort stories much but I thought these were very good.
June 1, 2022
Borrowed this from Hoopla Digital.
I've only listened to the first story, I think it's the short novel mentioned. Boy, is it bleak.
It's a fine mystery. None of the readers could have figured it out with any certainty. I wondered about the solution but had no proof.
Anyhow. I am done with the set right now. Maybe I'll come back and finish the other stories later on.
I've only listened to the first story, I think it's the short novel mentioned. Boy, is it bleak.
It's a fine mystery. None of the readers could have figured it out with any certainty. I wondered about the solution but had no proof.
Anyhow. I am done with the set right now. Maybe I'll come back and finish the other stories later on.
May 22, 2017
Very interesting short stories. Ellery Queen solves a variety of mysteries on both coasts (including one at a race track, one at a baseball game, and one at a football game). Thoroughly enjoyable on all accounts.
February 8, 2023
Honestly find the writing to be very uninteresting, with one exception: the Lamp of God, which is a deliciously creepy story.
Imo the characters are very flat though, and none of the other plots were compelling to me.
Imo the characters are very flat though, and none of the other plots were compelling to me.
July 24, 2023
I like Queen's short stories better than the full-length mysteries and this one is no exception. There are 3 about sports, which pay too much attention to detail that I didn't understand (I'm not a sports person) but the mysteries were excellent.
September 8, 2017
I am just simply a sucker for these stories and the Film Noir movies! If you love these you will love the book!
March 10, 2018
somehow i manged to complete this.
June 3, 2019
A bit dated now but still fun to read! Classic mystery.
May 22, 2020
Starts out excellently but the last few sports-centric mysteries are total bores with a ton of mischaracterizations.
March 22, 2022
Stunning short stories with different elements in each
October 29, 2022
Great set of mysteries!
February 8, 2023
Really enjoyed the stories, though the ending in 'Lamp of God' is weird af. Fun little mysteries.
June 19, 2008
I'm an Ellery Queen fan from way back - specifically, of books by Ellery Queen that feature Ellery Queen as the detective.
The older stories (say, pre-1940) have a particularly dated flavor. Ellery wears pince-nez, and the stories are filled with references to popular culture which anyone born after 1940 would be unlikely to know. There's a certain curious charm to those old stories, an exotic-yet-familiar quality. Many of Agatha Christie's books have a similar dated atmosphere.
I've educated myself on the subject - I probably know more about American and English culture of the 1920-1940s than 99 out of 100 boomer or post-boomer Americans - but even so, I sometimes run into something jarring. As in The New Adventures of Ellery Queen, in which a winning prizefighter is greeted by his manager with a friendly "Heil, Hitler!".
Mind you, these were Americans. And the remark was clearly NOT intended as anything sinister or even political - it was simply a hip, cool, funny thing way to great the new world champion boxer. How utterly bizarre! The story was first published in 1939, and must have been written before the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. It's a fascinating snapshot of the attitudes of the times. I knew that there were a number of people in America and England that admired Hitler, but it's jarring to see a casual reference like that in American popular culture of the time.
I should note that "Ellery Queen" (in fact the pen-name used by two cousins who co-wrote many of the stories) was NOT a Nazi sympathizer, of course. One of his most memorable and unusual novels, And on the Eighth Day, made that abundantly clear - although it must be noted that that novel was ghost-written by Avram Davidson.
As for the stories in this particular collection, I have to say that they haven't aged well. They're not bad, and logically are pretty fair puzzles, but in at least a couple of stories there are points which simply violate common sense. Such as a murderer who obviously wouldn't have had a prayer in the world of escaping uncaught except for a completely unpredictable stroke of luck - which later enabled Ellery to catch him. Why would ANYONE plan a murder (and this murder was planned, not a matter of impulse) if he would obviously have been caught almost immediately?
Not to mention another story (and please note that I'm being careful about spoilers) in which someone attempts to commit a murder, and ends up being killed by the instrument of murder themselves. It simply boggles the mind that having set up a deadly trap, the murderer failed to notice that s/he was about to be accidentally killed by it.
All in all this isn't a bad book to read on a dull afternoon (or on a long train ride, in my case), but there are better works available under the Ellery Queen name.
The older stories (say, pre-1940) have a particularly dated flavor. Ellery wears pince-nez, and the stories are filled with references to popular culture which anyone born after 1940 would be unlikely to know. There's a certain curious charm to those old stories, an exotic-yet-familiar quality. Many of Agatha Christie's books have a similar dated atmosphere.
I've educated myself on the subject - I probably know more about American and English culture of the 1920-1940s than 99 out of 100 boomer or post-boomer Americans - but even so, I sometimes run into something jarring. As in The New Adventures of Ellery Queen, in which a winning prizefighter is greeted by his manager with a friendly "Heil, Hitler!".
Mind you, these were Americans. And the remark was clearly NOT intended as anything sinister or even political - it was simply a hip, cool, funny thing way to great the new world champion boxer. How utterly bizarre! The story was first published in 1939, and must have been written before the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. It's a fascinating snapshot of the attitudes of the times. I knew that there were a number of people in America and England that admired Hitler, but it's jarring to see a casual reference like that in American popular culture of the time.
I should note that "Ellery Queen" (in fact the pen-name used by two cousins who co-wrote many of the stories) was NOT a Nazi sympathizer, of course. One of his most memorable and unusual novels, And on the Eighth Day, made that abundantly clear - although it must be noted that that novel was ghost-written by Avram Davidson.
As for the stories in this particular collection, I have to say that they haven't aged well. They're not bad, and logically are pretty fair puzzles, but in at least a couple of stories there are points which simply violate common sense. Such as a murderer who obviously wouldn't have had a prayer in the world of escaping uncaught except for a completely unpredictable stroke of luck - which later enabled Ellery to catch him. Why would ANYONE plan a murder (and this murder was planned, not a matter of impulse) if he would obviously have been caught almost immediately?
Not to mention another story (and please note that I'm being careful about spoilers) in which someone attempts to commit a murder, and ends up being killed by the instrument of murder themselves. It simply boggles the mind that having set up a deadly trap, the murderer failed to notice that s/he was about to be accidentally killed by it.
All in all this isn't a bad book to read on a dull afternoon (or on a long train ride, in my case), but there are better works available under the Ellery Queen name.
August 7, 2011
The New Adventures of Ellery Queen by Ellery Queen is a classic collection of eight short mysteries and a remarkable short novel that was first published in 1940. Several of the stories have to do with disappearing items. First up is a worthless doorstop which disappears in the middle of the night, but then in the twinkling of an eye, so does its rich and eldely owner. And, for the grand finale, both reappear--each as dead as the other. Other vanishing items including a set of priceless matched sapphires, Ellery Queen's own camel hair coat, and the piece de resistance: an entire house, a real house, a solid house which Ellery Queen had been in only the day before...vanished from the face of the earth. And in its place, one of the most incredible conundrums ever to face the master crime solver. In addition to masterfully told tales of magical sleight of hand, we have the House of Darkness--a harmless attraction at the local amusement park. Or is it? In total darkness and from a distance of twelve feet, four bullets are pumped within an inch of each other into a spectator's back. A feat utterly impossible to perform--yet brazenly and undeniably done. And, course, the odd murder or two.
All of these stories bear the Queen hallmarks of tight plotting, interesting settings and clues, and a maestro performance by the "Master Mind" himself, Ellery. A delightful collection of short stories which rates four stars on the scale of five.
All of these stories bear the Queen hallmarks of tight plotting, interesting settings and clues, and a maestro performance by the "Master Mind" himself, Ellery. A delightful collection of short stories which rates four stars on the scale of five.
June 27, 2015
Nine tales including a short novel bring Ellery Queen back from the pulps – and the tales are a lot of fun, though I suggest you don’t read them all at once – I did – since they all seem to have a basic structure –an interesting story involving Ellery Queen – several of these involve sports – baseball, boxing, horse racing – a crime – usually a murder or attempted murder – and the crime solved by Ellery Queen.
Some of the stories have clues in the descriptions – look for voiced inaccurate assumptions based on these descriptions – while others are knowledge only Ellery Queen seems to have.
So – enjoy – have a lot of fun – and remember – read a story or two or three a day, rather than gobble them all up – you’ll enjoy them more!
Some of the stories have clues in the descriptions – look for voiced inaccurate assumptions based on these descriptions – while others are knowledge only Ellery Queen seems to have.
So – enjoy – have a lot of fun – and remember – read a story or two or three a day, rather than gobble them all up – you’ll enjoy them more!
August 28, 2013
Hay algo en las novelas de ellery Queen que no me acban de enganchar,Quizas sea el aire americano, la artificiosidad de los relatos.No lo se.Pero aun siendo relatos de lavieja escuela, en la que cada crimen es un puzle insondable hasta la aclaración por parte del detectivehay cierto estilo que hecho de menos.Quizas sean lo escenarios, ya que los británicos eran mucho mejores en esto de proponer crimenes en la epoca dorada dew la novela enigma, o quizas la falta de brillo por parte del protagonista, pero no puedo darle mas de tres estrellas.
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