Cozy Mysteries discussion

It's been awhile since we featured a male author, and last December I featured a classic mystery author in Agatha Christie. So for December our featured author is Ellery Queen.

About Ellery Queen:
Ellery Queen is the pseudonym of cousins Frederic Dannay and Manfred B. Lee. Ellery Queen is also the name of their famous detective who has appeared in more than 30 novels and 70 short stories. He has been on the radio, in the movies, on television, and in comic books. The Mystery Writers of America gave Queen 7 Edgar awards and its coveted Grand Master award. Dannay and Lee also founded and edited Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine which, at 61 years and still going, is the longest running mystery anthology magazine in American history. They wrote Queen's Quorum, a scholarly examination of the detective short story, and edited more than 90 books of detective fiction. Worldwide, their books have sold more than 150 million copies. Taken from: http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/q/e...

Series

Drury Lane (writing as Barnaby Ross)
1. The Tragedy of X (1932)
2. The Tragedy of Y (1932)
3. The Tragedy of Z (1933)
4. Drury Lane's Last Case (1933)

Note: First 3 are available in one hardcover edition The XYZ Murders. On GRs it's attributed to Barnaby Ross however my green covered hardcover edition is credited as written by Ellery Queen).

Omnibus

The Hollywood Murders (2000)

Collections

The Adventures of Ellery Queen (1934)
The New Adventures of Ellery Queen (1940)
Calendar of Crime (1952)
QBI: Queen's Bureau of Investigation (1955)
Queen's Full (1965)
QED: Queen's Experiment in Detection (1968)
The Best of Ellery Queen: Four Decades of Stories from the Mystery Masters (1983)
The Tragedy of Errors (1999)

Novels

The Roman Hat Mystery (1929)
The French Powder Mystery (1930)
The Dutch Shoe Mystery (1931)
The Egyptian Cross Mystery (1932)
The Greek Coffin Mystery (1932)
The American Gun Mystery (1933) aka Death At the Rodeo
The Siamese Twin Mystery (1933)
The Chinese Orange Mystery (1934)
The Lamp of God (1935)
The Spanish Cape Mystery (1935)
Halfway House (1936)
The Door Between (1937)
The Four of Hearts (1938)
The Devil to Pay (1938)
The Dragon's Teeth (1939) aka The Virgin Heiresses
Calamity Town (1942)
There Was an Old Woman (1943) aka The Quick And the Dead
The Murderer Is a Fox (1945)
Ten Day's Wonder (1948)
Cat of Many Tails (1949)
Double, Double (1950) aka The Case of the Seven Murders
The Origin of Evil (1951)
The King Is Dead (1952)
The Scarlet Letters (1953)
The Golden Summer (1953)
The Glass Village (1954)
Inspector Queen's Own Case (1956)
The Finishing Stroke (1958)
Murder with a Past (1963)
The Player On The Other Side (1963)
And on the Eighth Day (1964) (with Avram Davidson)
The Fourth Side of the Triangle (1965) (with Avram Davidson)
The Devil's Cook (1966)
A Study in Terror (1966)
Sherlock Holmes Versus Jack the Ripper (1967)
Face to Face (1967)
The House of Brass (1968)
Cop Out (1969)
The Last Woman in His Life (1970)
A Fine and Private Place (1971)

Anthologies edited

101 Years' Entertainment: The Great Detective Stories 1841-1941 (1943)
To the Queen's Taste (1949)
Ellery Queen's Murdercade (1976)
Ellery Queen's Magicians of Mystery (1978)
The Best of Suspense (1980)
Ellery Queen's Veils of Mystery (1980)
Ellery Queen's Windows of Mystery (1980)
Ellery Queen's Doors to Mystery (1981)
Ellery Queen's Crime Cruise Round the World (1981)
Ellery Queen's Eyes of Mystery (1981)
Maze of Mysteries (1982)
Ellery Queen's Book of First Appearances (1982)
Ellery Queen's Eyewitnesses (1983)
Ellery Queen's Lost Ladies (1983)
Ellery Queen's Lost Men (1983)
Ellery Queen's Prime Crimes (1984)
Crimes and Punishments (1984)
Masters of Mystery (1987)

Anthologies containing stories by Ellery Queen

American Detective Stories (1943)
Daring Detectives (1969)
Great Tales of Mystery and Suspense (1981)
Fifty Famous Detectives of Fiction (1983)


Short stories

The Adventure of the Glass-Domed Clock (1933)
The Adventure of the Seven Black Cats (1933)
The Adventure of the African Traveller

Saving Space if needed for book covers

If you don't have time to read a full Ellery Queen novel during December, if you can find it, how about reading some of the short stories from any old Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine.

(I picked up a load of those at my libraries annual summer book sale, at ten cents a pound. I'm not sure where to find new copies of it, although it's still being published.)

I just check Amazaon and there are a few for Kindle at a reasonable price.

I've been trying to read more vintage mysteries so I'm definitely going to try and find some of these and read them.

I read the first of The XYZ Murders, The Tragedy of X two years ago for a read the alphabet challenge. (Gave me X!). So I think I'll continue with that and read The Tragedy of Y.

I grew up on Ellery Queen-I was reading him before I even knew what a mystery was! It's so nostalgic to be reading him again. Thank you.

I haven't read Ellery Queen in years (and years). I'll have to see what the library has available. I remember loving the Drury Lane books.

The first Drury Lane one was very good. Kept me guessing.

Some of us might be too busy to read a book this month. However, there are many Ellery Queen short stories to read. My children took a course in the detective story and used The Detective Story : An Introduction to the World's Great Whodunit Sleuths and their Creators . Inside there are three Ellery Queen short stories. I will reread them this month.

Yes, besides all of his novels, there are the short stories and beyond even that is the Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. Those are good too.

I haven't read Ellery Queen in years! Sounds like fun.

I just found The Roman Hat Mystery in a pile of books I bought at a book sale several years ago. It is a "Special 50th Anniversary Edition."

I am excited. This month Library never put in my order for the book I asked for. they should surely have Ellery on site.

Every so often it's good to read a classic again. :)

I love Ellery Queen. I read most of the books when I was in high school, after being introduced to the character by the series on t.v. I found Ten Days' Wonder at the library yesterday, and bought The Roman Hat Mystery and Calamity Town for my Kindle (they were Daily Deals yesterday).

Lucky you. I've never seen the Ellery Queen tv series starring Jim Hutton. Thought about buying the DVD of the series to watch, but it's rather pricey.

ஐ Briansgirl "Book Sale Queen"ஐ wrote: "Lucky you. I've never seen the Ellery Queen tv series starring Jim Hutton. Thought about buying the DVD of the series to watch, but it's rather pricey."

The TV show was great! Jim Hutton died not long after it ended.

Never read a book by this Author. Can someone recommend one that you think is the best by him? Thanks :)

Ellie wrote: "I grew up on Ellery Queen-I was reading him before I even knew what a mystery was! It's so nostalgic to be reading him again. Thank you."

I'm old enough to know better, but I've never read an Elery Queen novel. That's why I love Goodreads. It keeps me on my toes and let's me meet very smart people!

Carol wrote: "Our library has eight titles by Ellery Queen, some of them anthologies edited by EQ or that include EQ stories. Strangely, I don't see those anthology titles on your list; they may be alternate tit..."

It's quite possible the anthologies and such have alternate titles. I know The XYZ Murders hardcover I have is attributed to Ellery Queen on my copy but the only copy on GRs is under Barnaby Ross (a pen name). It's also possible the list I used wasn't complete. (The link I used it posted above along with their description of who/what Ellery Queen is.)

At my (friend of the local) library's bookshop today I found and bought 5 old Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine's for 50 cents each. I read part of the Feb 2005 issue, part of the Ellery Queen Centenary (2005). I read "The Queen Letters" which was all about the author's look at an archive of letters written between Dannay and Lee, the cousins that make up Ellery Queen. Later in the issue, I then read "Ellery Queen and the Baker Street Irregulars" (BSI) which is about how Dannay eventually became a full fledged member of this Sherlock Holmes loving group.

Looking forward to another story in this issue, "Gustav Amlingmeyer, Holmes on the Range" by Steve Hockensmith. (Sherlock Holmes has fictional fans as well as real-life devotees such as the BSI, whom we are honoring this issue. Steve Hockensmith's Old Red is a fine example. The sleuthing cowboy has practically memorized every Holmes story he can get his hands on. Old Red is soon to start appearing in a series of novels from St. Martin's Minotaur. Look for "Holmes on the Range" in early 2006.)

I like alot of the Ellery Queen Anthologies as it's a good way to get introduced to alot of classic mystery authors. And if you don't have time for a full novel, you can just pick and read one short mystery or two, time permitting.

Just completed two short stories that are surprisingly modern and fresh. The first story, "The Telltale Bottle" is a Thanksgiving story, while the second story, "My Queer Dean" is filled with spoonerisms while contemplating an issue people still talk about: Who wrote the plays that are attributed to Shakespeare?

I love Ellery Queen, too! I'm looking forward to seeing how everyone thinks his stories hold up today. Remember the TV series? A lot of those shows were based on the short stories.

For those interested in viewing the TV series with Jim Hutton, it is available at Netflix. I watched them inthe past year or so and enjoyed them so much, I've got them in m y queue again so my husband can see them too. I think he'll relaly enjoy them...great puzzlers which give the aucience a chance to solve the 'whodunnit' just like inthe books...all the clues are presented to the audience.

I finished Ten Days' Wonder yesterday. It was really good. The ending was unexpected.

Waiting for book to come in at Library. I hope I get to participate this month. last month library never ordered book. calling Monday to check on it.

Starting finallyA Fine and Private Place. Looks really awesome to read. I have a few days to do it in.
If I have ever read his ,it was a few shorts. This book is really good and almost halfway though.

Karen wrote: "Starting finallyA Fine and Private Place. Looks really awesome to read. I have a few days to do it in.
If I have ever read his ,it was a few shorts. This book is really good and almo..."

Finished yesterday. I really liked the play on #'s (9)in here. so interesting and though I figured the murderer, I will definitely want to read more. One of the top cozies I have read.

Any idea on next months author. sooner I know the better to get it ordered?

I've read A Study in Terror, that it was included in an Spanish anthology about "Jack the Ripper", and I think it is very good.

Bit busy over New Year's Karen. I have to send my husband off tomorrow to see if he'll get hired for a job. If he gets it, he'll be gone 60 days. To find out, he has to take a bus 640 miles for 10 days. I'll try to get to it on Monday. Don't know who I'm choosing yet.

Good luck to your husband, Briansgirl!

Thanks Marisa.

ஐ Briansgirl "Book Sale Queen"ஐ wrote: "Bit busy over New Year's Karen. I have to send my husband off tomorrow to see if he'll get hired for a job. If he gets it, he'll be gone 60 days. To find out, he has to take a bus 640 miles for 10 ..."

Thanks. I know it cannot be easy setting this up. I am in agreement with husband's course as Marisa said.And just waiting to see who you choose.

I have 2 more Ellery Queens from the library. They are short stories though. I just asked the library to order an Ellery queen and I received 3. Looking forward to the others though I think I would rather do a regular book length better.