Ellery Queen

"In the dog days of August, it is no surprise to see New Yorkers perspire. But this summer, a killer called the Cat gives the city a new reason to sweat. He selects his victims seemingly at random and strangles them, then escapes without leaving a clue. As the death toll climbs and the press whips the public into a horrified frenzy, Gotham teeters on the edge of anarchy. Ellery Queen, the brilliant amateur sleuth, has gone into retirement when the...

At the tail end of the Roaring Twenties, a birthday bash for publishing heir John Sebastian, Jr., perfectly coincides with the twelve days of Christmas. Among the twelve invited guests is Ellery Queen, a newly published mystery writer planning to enjoy every last minute. But when an uninvited Santa Claus shows up on Christmas Eve and then mysteriously goes missing, the party takes a disturbing turn. Threatening clues masked as gifts begin to appear...

When every last one of the Ohippi hydro-electric power plants are destroyed by flood, Rhys Jardin is one of many who loses everything. But somehow Jardin's longtime partner, finance magnate Solly Spaeth, manages to come out of it wealthier than before, thanks to a brilliant-if-underhanded move to sell off his shares before disaster struck. Spaeth has more than enough money to rebuild the plants, but why should he, with the law on his side?
The...

When his daughter's fiancé is suspected of murder, a diplomat fights to learn the truth  The kids call it spring break, but their parents know it by its true name: debauchery. Every Easter, hormone-crazed students pile into cars and drive thousands of miles to the beach to lose themselves in an orgy of beer, sand, and sex. Keith Rollins and Cheryl Pemberton are two such revelers: college sweethearts planning to marry the moment they graduate. But...

A corpse in a department store window offers a gruesome puzzle for Ellery Queen. The windows of French's department store are one of New York's great attractions. Year-round, their displays show off the finest in fashion, art, and home décor, and tourists and locals alike make a point of stopping to see what's on offer. One afternoon, as the board debates a merger upstairs, a salesgirl begins a demonstration in one of the windows, showing off French's...

Ellery Queen investigates a mobster whose bizarre death is marked by the number 9 Nino Importuna has a soft face, but when he smiles, it's terrifying. His Central Park penthouse is lavish, but it was bought with the blood of his enemies. His criminal empire controls mining, electronics, and food-legitimate corporations that he runs with a murderer's touch. When he catches one of his capos stealing from him, Importuna could either kill the man or...

With the help of actor Drury Lane, Inspector Thumm chases a stolen manuscript and a man with a rainbow beard Inspector Thumm has never seen such a marvelous beard. It is massive and pointed, a rainbow composed of all the colors of Joseph's biblical coat. He's so distracted by the beard that he hardly notices the man it belongs to: a prospective client with mysterious business. This bearded fellow hands over an envelope containing a million-dollar...

The Queens are intrigued when a grisly murder mars a small town's Christmas It's Christmas in Chicago, and Inspector Richard Queen is enjoying a busman's holiday at a conference on gangland violencebut his son, amateur sleuth Ellery, is bored silly. Until, that is, Ellery reads of an unusual killing in rural Arroyo, West Virginia: A schoolmaster has been found beheaded and crucified. Ellery hustles his father into his roadster and heads east, since...

When a famous DJ is murdered mid-set, a reporter searches for the killer From 3:00 to 4:00 every afternoon, Tutter "Tut" King reigns supreme. The dreamy disc jockey is a favorite of the sock-hop set, spinning all the records that are too rocking for their parents to let them buy. When Tut is implicated in a payola scheme-taking as much as $100,000 under-the-table to push third-rate records-his teenage fans stand behind him. For Tut's last radio appearance,...

Ellery Queen investigates a murderous dead dog in Hollywood Ellery Queen stands naked by the window, sipping rum from a frosted glass, a corpse at his feet. The deceased is Hollywood, and the cause of death is clear: television. Queen has come to Los Angeles in search of a plot for his latest mystery, but the moribund movie business offers nothing more than nostalgia for better days. He's about to give up and go home when a pretty girl appears and...