Queens Full

Rating:
Summary: 5 tales include 3 dying clues, 2 Wrightsville, 1 locked room
Review: The 5 stories herein don't overlap any of the other 6 pure-EQ short story collections to date. (Considering how many *anthologies* carry EQ's name as editor, however, that isn't as sweeping a statement as it first appears.)

All feature the eponymous character himself, and were written by the *real* EQ - the original writing team of Fred Dannay and Manfred Lee. Two are set in Ellery's favorite small town: Wrightsville.

Oddly enough, only one first saw the light of day in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (EQMM), although all eventually appeared there.

"Diamonds in Paradise" (1954) Dying clue; Ellery's self-proclaimed shortest case turns on what a detective *really* has to keep in mind in dealing with dying clues. The real crime isn't murder, but a jewel theft. Inspector Queen, leading a raid on the illegal Paradise Gardens casino, for once strays from the path of duty for the sake of a luscious lady: Lili Minx, the Broadway star of heavenly voice and hellcat vengefulness on the subject of her diamonds. The Inspector's raid morphs into a robbery investigation at the first golden trumpet call of "I've been robbed!"

No *smart* thief would have touched La Minx' diamonds; she once spent $23,000 tracking down one of her $1500 diamond rings, then had the book thrown at the thief in court. But every profession has its fools, and tonight La Minx' Mumtaz green diamond earrings disappeared. The thief, injured fatally in attempting to escape, left only one phrase hinting where the loot might be found.

"The Wrightsville Heirs" (1956) are Bella Livingston's 3 grown stepchildren, who squandered their portions of their father's estate, leaving their stepmother to spend her old age alone. Now payback has arrived: Bella has recalled them from the ends of the earth to put them on notice that she's considering disinheriting them *all* in favor of her young caregiver, Amy Upham. Unfortunately, once she changed her will, she didn't publicize it while she had a chance - and if anything happens to Amy, guess who gets the money? One of Ellery's last cases with Chief Dakin.

"The Case Against Carroll" (1958) begins not with the case, but the crime - *one* of the crimes. Carroll, the junior partner in a blueblood law firm, has just been caught embezzling funds, but for an odd reason: he wouldn't touch his wife's money even to protect his brother. He's touchy about the fact that Helena Vanowen's long-deceased family would *never* have thought him good enough for her. Meredith Hunt, the senior partner who caught him, sneers it's no more than he expected, and gives him until Monday to replace the money - accompanied by insulting orders to stay away from Mrs. Hunt.

When Sgt. Velie and the Queens break the news of Hunt's murder to his widow, the fiery Felicia de los Santos, matters quickly lead to Carroll's arrest: his gun was used, and Hunt left proof of Carroll's motive. Carroll quickly takes steps to secure proof of his alibi for that evening, but hesitates to use it - only to have a critical witness disappear once the trial is underway.

This time Ellery's track record works against him, as Judge Holloway has had a ringside seat for one of his previous performances. I can think of at least 3 possible scenarios that could have played out, but that which fits all the facts is a work of art.

"E = Murder" (1960) Dying clue + locked room; by far the weakest of the 3 such stories in this book, but mercifully short. Ellery, delivering a lecture at Bethesda University, is collected by the Chancellor after his talk, but not for dinner. Professor Agon, one of the world's top physicists, failed to telephone the President of the United States tonight from his secure laboratory on campus. The President interrupted General Carter's meeting with the Chancellor, and they in turn have brought Ellery to the laboratory, to find Agon's corpse seated at his desk, his memopad bearing only a single cryptic letter.

On the plus side, when the General asks why Agon didn't just write the killer's name, Ellery has the grace not only to state the classic reply that the killer might have returned and destroyed it, but to add that the reply's never satisfied him. On the minus side, 1) Agon had a phone *right there*, and the characters don't jump on *that* point the way they should, and 2) the "clue" ranks right down there with Rex Stout's "The Zero Clue" from _Three Men Out_. Just when I thought EQ had got the hang of this dying clue thing, too. :(

"The Death of Don Juan" (1962) Wrightsville + dying clue, but the EQ team had regained their grip by this time. Wrightsville was never a static setting, but always showed the passage of time. Herein, we learn that during these lean years for the cinema, the Bijou Theater's owner closed it in favor of his new, more profitable drive-in operation on Route 478.

Now Scutney Bluefield - a rarity in Wrightsville, who plays with his inheritance rather than working with it - has bought the old Bijou as a new toy: an amateur playhouse. Ellery, passing through on vacation, figures he's *got* to see the opening performance of _The Death of Don Juan_. But when the leading man (who's all too aptly cast) is found dying in his dressing room at the curtain call, Ellery finds himself in an awkward position. His old ally Chief Dakin retired some time ago, and the new chief Newby is a pro with *no* use for amateurs, reputation or no, particularly someone he's never met before.