Besa y mata

by Ellery Queen

The Nice-Guy Blues......The nice mild man named Edward Tollman had a problem. His lovely wife was missing, and he wanted her back-fast.

So he went to a fellow whose specialty was solving problems like that-a very private detective called Barney Burgess. Burgess' methods were not pleasant-but they got results.

Burgess was used to sordid scenes and secrets. But after four quick corpses, a wild ride to Mexico, and a blonde sex bomb who threatened to blow the case wide open at the first wrong move, Barney began to wonder how much a nice guy got him into something this nasty.....

Genres: Mystery, Fiction

120 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1969

About the author

aka Barnaby Ross.
(Pseudonym of Frederic Dannay and Manfred Bennington Lee)
"Ellery Queen" was a pen name created and shared by two cousins, Frederic Dannay (1905-1982) and Manfred B. Lee (1905-1971), as well as the name of their most famous detective. Born in Brooklyn, they spent forty two years writing, editing, and anthologizing under the name, gaining a reputation as the foremost American authors of the Golden Age "fair play" mystery.

Although eventually famous on television and radio, Queen's first appearance came in 1928 when the cousins won a mystery-writing contest with the book that would eventually be published as The Roman Hat Mystery. Their character was an amateur detective who used his spare time to assist his police inspector father in solving baffling crimes. Besides writing the Queen novels, Dannay and Lee cofounded Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, one of the most influential crime publications of all time. Although Dannay outlived his cousin by nine years, he retired Queen upon Lee's death.

Several of the later "Ellery Queen" books were written by other authors, including Jack Vance, Avram Davidson, and Theodore Sturgeon.

Reviews

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was the most simply "okay" Ellery Queen novel I've read - very over-the-top and definitely a bit sexist. (Or more sexist than other similar books I've read written by men in 1969.) The most striking feature is a character who is what we today would call an incel, the earliest case of one I've come across. (That I remember, anyway.)

[Julie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Quite a bit of contemporary harlequin-like romance elements.

[Pat · Rating 1 out of 5]

I did not care for this book

All kinds of ridiculous dialogue. I’ve read old fashioned books before…but this was so silly. After a bunch of murders…igave up…checked reviews…finally read the end. Not worth the trip.

[Elliemae · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Bent Andreassen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read in Danish a long time ago.

[Aitor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Si obvias todo el machismo del personaje principal es una novela muy entretenida.

[Jeffrey Marks · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book started well. The wife disappeared without a trace and the police think she’s run off with someone. However, when the husband hires a PI, the plot becomes a mashup of tropes.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good pulp PI fiction.

[Evelyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

An entertaining mystery involving a search for a kidnaped wife, and murder, money and mayhem resulting from the theft of money that was supposed to be used for the purchase of heroin in Mexico for resale in the United States.

[Sergio · Rating 2 out of 5]

Che romanzetto lagnoso e insopportabile, letto da studente quando qualsiasi lettura era preferibile allo studio!

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

It has been a long time since I read a book by Ellery Queen.

[Corinne E. Carpenter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lots of historical sites

It was an interesting book with plenty of surprises.
Interesting ending! I know if you like mysteries you will enjoy this one.