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29. Face to Face by Ellery Queen

I started this short (174 page) book late at night. Two hours later, I had to stop because I was falling asleep, but I didn’t want to put the book down. The first thing I did when I woke up was finish it.

A dying woman manages to scrawl “f a c e” on a piece of paper just before she dies. Face? What face? Whose face? The plot twists and turns, and winds up with a wedding that takes place in Ellery’s apartment between two of the main characters. The minister gets to the part about “…speak now or forever hold your peace” and Ellery stops the wedding just in time to make a brilliant analysis of the unsolved murder. Really, really well done.