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[edting]

92. A Study in Terror by Ellery Queen (1966)

I’m approaching the end of my little Ellery Queen experiment for 2006. This is the last full-length novel in the original 43-book Dannay/Lee series (I’m still missing a couple of titles but they’re short story collections.)

I’m glad I finished this part of the series with this one. It’s hard to find, and I paid a pretty penny for it.

The premise is original and creative. One day, a visitor drops off an envelope to Ellery in his apartment. Inside is a very old handwritten book written by a certain Dr. Watson. It details one of the last great adventures of Sherlock Holmes. The volume is undiscovered and unpublished. Then we get to read the story. Dannay and Lee really get the feel of Doyle’s writing style, and the trademark Holmesian devices are all there, including the fantastic deductions made from minimal clues.

What’s more, the end of the book reveals the identity of Jack the Ripper!

And furthermore, it turns out there is a good reason that Holmes and Watson chose not to publicize the identity of Jack the Ripper, and why the volume remained undiscovered!

And even more furthermore, it turns out that the end of Watson’s tome actually contains a false ending, but you don’t realize it’s a false ending until Ellery points it out to us!

And even more MORE furthermore, the Ellery’s deduction from the abovementioned false ending leads us to an entirely different conclusion!!

Many of these revelations come tumbling out in the book’s last 10 pages, and it’s a hoot to read them.

I had a smashing good time reading this.

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[jeffp]

That sounds like a fun read, Ed.

[edting]

Note: I am told that the Sherlock Holmes chapters were written by Paul W. Fairman, not Dannay and Lee, as stated above. I stand corrected.