Ellery Queen

When a popular singer goes from retired to dead the day before New Year's Eve, Ellery Queen is certain it's murder. Luckily, just before she died, the victim managed to scribble out a single mysterious word: F A C E. Unfortunately, no one knows what it means. With the help of a new acquaintance, Inspector Harry Burke from Scotland, Queen uncovers even more baffling clues written in invisible ink. Enter the beautiful, discarded conquests of the dead singer's playboy husband, who prove a dangerous distraction for both Queen and Burke. Will erotic temptation derail the investigation? If it does, hearts will be broken, and what's worse -- someone will get away with murder.

"De gale Hatters" - s dan omtalte man blandt New Yorks society den m rkelige familie i det gamle pal , men snart skulle navnet Hatter for alvor komme p avisernes forsider. Netop dette hus blev skuepladsen for en r kke rystende forbrydelser, der savnede sidestykke i politiets annaler. Hvem var det i familiens kreds, der for enhver pris ville myrde den blinde og d vstumme datter? Hvem var det, der anlagde en mordbrand i det afl ste laboratorium? Var det, fordi den gamle, sataniske Emily Hatter, familiens overhoved, virkelig kendte sandheden, at morderen ogs en nat kr vede hende til regnskab? Pressen og en ophidset folkestemning kr vede, at inspekt r Thumm skulle vise resultater, f r det var for sent. Inspekt r Thumm banker en dag p hos Drury Lane, den gamle Shakespeare-skuespiller, der kastede glans over de st rste scener i Europa og USA. De to kender hinanden. Det bliver ikke sagt, men det ligger i luften - "Kun De kan hj lpe os, Drury Lane." Ellery Queen er b de en fiktiv karakter og et f lles pseudonym for to f tre fra Brooklyn, New York - Daniel Nathan, alias Frederic Dannay, og Manford Emanuel Lepofsky, alias Manfred Bennington Lee - som sammen skrev mere end 30 romaner og flere novellesamlinger under Ellery Queen-pseudonymet. Den fiktive Ellery Queen er krimiforfatter og amat rdetektiv, og han bist r sin far, der er politiinspekt r i New York, med at l se forvirrende mordg der.

'Ellery Queen IS the American detective story' Anthony Boucher.

When a washed up Hollywood cowboy-turned-circus rodeo actor is shot dead in the midst of his performance at a New York sports-palace, in front of thousands of onlookers, it seems obvious that someone would have seen the perpetrator of the crime--or at the very least, recovered the gun. But when the ensuing investigation fails to turn up any evidence, even after the newsreels made in the moment are reviewed, the net of suspicion widens across the troupe of performers and the circus staff. Who among them is cunning enough to have constructed such a baffling murder scene? Unluckily for the murderer, genius sleuth Ellery Queen is among the thousands that witnessed the crime, and he won't be satisfied until he cuts through the confusion to discover the truth of the execution. By the time he uncovers all the necessary clues and delivers his patented "Challenge to the Reader," Queen (and his most careful readers) will be able to expose both the killer and the hiding place of the weapon--the titular American Gun that fired the fatal bullet. Reissued for the first time in over thirty years, The American Gun Mystery is among the most beloved of the early Ellery Queen novels, renowned to this day as exemplary works of the American Golden Age mystery. The central puzzle is a "fair play" story in which the reader has all the necessary clues needed to solve the crime.

When a washed up Hollywood cowboy-turned-circus rodeo actor is shot dead in the midst of his performance at a New York sports-palace, in front of thousands of onlookers, it seems obvious that someone would have seen the perpetrator of the crime--or at the very least, recovered the gun. But when the ensuing investigation fails to turn up any evidence, even after the newsreels made in the moment are reviewed, the net of suspicion widens across the troupe of performers and the circus staff. Who among them is cunning enough to have constructed such a baffling murder scene? Unluckily for the murderer, genius sleuth Ellery Queen is among the thousands that witnessed the crime, and he won't be satisfied until he cuts through the confusion to discover the truth of the execution. By the time he uncovers all the necessary clues and delivers his patented "Challenge to the Reader," Queen (and his most careful readers) will be able to expose both the killer and the hiding place of the weapon--the titular American Gun that fired the fatal bullet. Reissued for the first time in over thirty years, The American Gun Mystery is among the most beloved of the early Ellery Queen novels, renowned to this day as exemplary works of the American Golden Age mystery. The central puzzle is a "fair play" story in which the reader has all the necessary clues needed to solve the crime.

Hollywood 1938. Ellery Queen är på plats för att skriva filmmanus, men istället tvingas han gå undercover som journalist i denna lättsamma deckare där polisen misstänker att offret har blivit mördad med en antik värja insmetad med förgiftad sirap! Vad betyder revan i markisen? Och varför fanns det bara två fingeravtryck på kikaren? Boken avslutas med en extra Ellery Queen-novell: Högoddsaren En deckarklassiker för första gången på svenska! Sedan debuten 1929 är Ellery Queen en garanti för rent spel med läsarna som ska ha tillgång till alla ledtrådar för att lösa mordgåtan. Bakom pseudonymen dolde sig de två amerikanska kusinerna Manfred B. Lee (1905-1971) och Frederic Dannay (1905-1982). Boken inleds med ett specialskrivet förord om Ellery Queens år i Hollywood. Originalets titlar: The Devil to Pay (1938) och Long Shot (1939). "Mord i Hollywood är ett expertpussel." NEW YORK HERALD TRIBUNE

"Crucifixion on Christmas Day." That's what the newspapers report when a small-town schoolteacher is discovered dead, beheaded, and tied to a T-shaped cross on December 25th. It's a murder bizarre enough to pique Ellery Queen's interest -- and intriguing enough to lure him to the West Virginia village where it occurred to take a closer look. But when he arrives, Queen is met with too few clues and too little evidence to produce a satisfactory verdict, even for a master sleuth such as himself, and so returns home to New York defeated. The yuletide gore is a distant memory when the next such murder occurs, identical in every way, but now the location has moved to Long Island. When Ellery Queen learns that the sun-worshipping nudist cult he encountered down south has made the same relocation, it becomes clear that the group and the killings must be intertwined. But then several more crucifixion murders follow, drawing Queen deeper into a tangled and eerie puzzle unlike anything he's encountered before. It will take all of his powers of deduction to uncover the killer. Reissued for the first time in decades, The Egyptian Cross Mystery is a "fair play" puzzle in which the readers have all the clues necessary to solve the mystery themselves. It is the fifth of Ellery Queen's cases, which may be enjoyed in any order.

After a wealthy woman is strangled in a hospital full of relatives and friends, Ellery Queen searches for her deadly enemy.

"Crucifixion on Christmas Day." That's what the newspapers report when a small-town schoolteacher is discovered dead, beheaded, and tied to a T-shaped cross on December 25th. It's a murder bizarre enough to pique Ellery Queen's interest -- and intriguing enough to lure him to the West Virginia village where it occurred to take a closer look. But when he arrives, Queen is met with too few clues and too little evidence to produce a satisfactory verdict, even for a master sleuth such as himself, and so returns home to New York defeated. The yuletide gore is a distant memory when the next such murder occurs, identical in every way, but now the location has moved to Long Island. When Ellery Queen learns that the sun-worshipping nudist cult he encountered down south has made the same relocation, it becomes clear that the group and the killings must be intertwined. But then several more crucifixion murders follow, drawing Queen deeper into a tangled and eerie puzzle unlike anything he's encountered before. It will take all of his powers of deduction to uncover the killer. Reissued for the first time in decades, The Egyptian Cross Mystery is a "fair play" puzzle in which the readers have all the clues necessary to solve the mystery themselves. It is the fifth of Ellery Queen's cases, which may be enjoyed in any order.

When Ellery Queen and his father encounter a raging forest fire during a mountain drive, the only direction to go is up -- up a winding dirt road that leads to an isolated hillside manor, inhabited by a secretive surgeon and his diverse cast of guests. Trapped by the fire, the Queens settle into the uneasy atmosphere of their surroundings. Things become even more tense the following morning when the doctor is discovered dead, apparently shot down while playing solitaire the night before. The only clue is a torn six of spades. The suspects include a society beauty, a suspicious valet, and a pair of conjoined twins. When another murder follows, the killer inside the house becomes as threatening as the mortal flames outside its walls. Faced with a complex set of alibis, motives, and evidence, Ellery Queen must rely on his powers of deduction and logic to uncover the murderer's identity -- but can he solve this whodunnit before the fire devours its subjects? Featuring bizarre circumstances, eerie atmosphere, and a dazzling solution, The Siamese Twin Mystery is a fair play mystery in which the reader has all the necessary information needed to solve the puzzle. The seventh Ellery Queen novel (which can be read in any order), it finds the legendary sleuth facing one of the most memorable cases of his career.