Talk Back

[edting]

And now for something completely different – an Ellery Queen science fiction novel!

As the story begins, Ellery and his father are whisked away to an unknown island by armed and uniformed security guards. The island, which is not charted on any map, is run by a man simply known as “King” and houses a futuristic, militaristic society. King is the richest man in the world and keeps his society going my selling advanced weapons to the highest bidder.

I’m weirded out by the plot and amused by the 1952 vision of what the future looks like. All the buildings are shiny rounded steel structures, everything is automatic, and armed guards are everywhere. At one point a character picks up a little device and finds that it will actually record conversation spoken into it! Not only that, you can point it at someone in the distance and it will amplify audio from a large distance away!

There’s a twist on the theme. As in “The Chinese Orange Mystery” (see somewhere below) in which the murdered man’s identity is never revealed, and is not even important to the plot. In this one, the killer reveals himself before doing the murder, and also reveals to everyone exactly when and how he will do it.

You’ve all heard of locked room mysteries, but this one takes the cake. The “killer”, King’s drunken brother, says that he will commit the murder at exactly 12 midnight on Thursday. Naturally, Ellery and his father take all steps necessary to insure that this won’t happen. They place the “killer” under arrest in his room, with Ellery personally watching him. King himself is sequestered in the most secure place on the island, a war room that is essentially a large safe with two foot thick walls, no windows, and a safe-like door. Only King and his wife are in the room. The rooms are searched and searched. There are no weapons, no way to get into the room, let alone kill King.

The description of the last three minutes before midnight is one of the most inventive and suspenseful I’ve ever read. The “killer” remains confident, even though he’s under guard and nowhere near King. At one minute to midnight, he produces a small unloaded gun, points it at the general direction of where King might be, and pulls the trigger. The unloaded gun goes “click.” Ellery inspects the gun and verifies that the gun was indeed unloaded, and that no shot has been fired from it.

The door to King’s war room is opened. He has been shot in the chest. What’s more, ballistic tests reveal that the bullet has unquestionably been fired from the small unloaded gun held up by the brother.

This would have been a great book even without the science fictioney plot. I’m impressed. Very impressed.

[jeffp]

Without telling us the answer, does the book explain how the murder actually happened?

--jeffp

[edting]

[jeffp]

Thanks Ed. Very interesting.

I may have to get a copy of this. Paperbackswap.com doesn't have it right now, though, and amazon lists it only via used book sellers. I can do the latter, of course, but not just yet. I'll see if it shows up on PBS before spending real money on it.

--jeffp

[edting]

Jeff: Give me your address and I'll send it to you.

[jeffp]

I sent it to you a PM via the board. I didn't want it sitting out here for any Tom, Dick, or Harry to find. If you didn't get that, let me know, and I'll email it to you directly. I think I can dig up your email address.

Thanks much.

--jeffp

[Bea]

[jeffp]

[Bea]

[jeffp]

Darn! And here I was all prepped to get a new stalker!

As for spiders, I am perfectly happy to leave them alone if they are outdoors, but once they get inside my home they are fair game. I've been bit once or twice, and while I am not allergic (so far), they were not fun bites.

Hopefully we live far enough apart that I haven't killed the radioactive spider with your name on it.

--jeffp