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[edting]

3. The House of Brass by Ellery Queen

I pull one of these Ellery Queen mysteries off the shelf every time I visit my parents in Houston. The idea is to use them as airplane books, but I’m starting to save them for home reading. These are too good to be airplane books.

This is the first “Ellery Queen” mystery I’ve read that actually features Ellery Queen as a character (most of the later books in the series use other detectives.) It features a typically twisted and complicated plot. A dying eccentric millionaire named Brass invites 6 strangers to his mansion, which is made largely of brass. Riches are promised to one of the visitors, which just happens to include Ellery’s father, Richard.

Most mysteries would be content to have a murder, an investigation, and a solution, but what I like about these Ellery Queen novels is that they really go overboard. There are three mysteries that develop in short order:

1) Why did Hendrik Brass invite these particular six people to his mansion?
2) When the murder does occur, whodunit?
3) Without revealing too much, I’ll simply state that there is an issue with the nature of the money that is promised.

The book is very short (153 pages) but manages to pack in a cast of memorable characters (including Hans, the giant retarded butler), a crazy improbable plot, those three mysteries listed above, and at least two false endings. By the time it’s over your head is spinning as you rethink all the events of the book, and what was really going on all the time.

I think there’s only one more of these on the shelf in Houston, so I may start looking for more of these on ebay. These Ellery Queen books are trashy potboilers and make no pretense towards being great literature. That’s meant as a compliment by the way. Great stuff.

PS: I just bought a box of 40 mystery books off ebay for $15. Most are Agatha Christies, but there are 9 Ellery Queen books in there. Can’t wait to get them! Yippee!!

[jeffp]

Ed,

I just checked paperbackswap.com to see if they have any Ellery Queen books listed. As I write this, there are 13 available to be sent out, and 78 that are listed but not currently available.

If you have books you're willing to mail away, this might be an interesting way to get at the books you want. Then again, your bunch of books from ebay is probably cheaper. Still, if you want a specific book, PBS may be an interesting way to get it. Not sure.

--jeffp

[edting]

Jeff:

Thanks, I'll check it out! (If they are the Signet versions with the '70s disco-style covers, that's a plus.)

-Ed

[alyson]

Have you ever read the Ellery Queen mystery magazine? Just like the Hitchcock one, buncha whodunits by all sorts of authors? When I was in jr high ('83ish) I got a small handful of handmedowns from an aunt. I still reread them.
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