The Adventures of Ellery Queen

As TomCat also mentions in his recent worshipping post, the more Carr you read the more you appreciate him and that's certainly what happened to me in the last months. I don't really prefer either him or Queen as an author anymore and I've gotten attuned to the duo of Merrivale and Masters, but as a detective figure I still enjoy Ellery a lot; in contrast to certain other readers it seems. Maybe I was primed by arrogant, eccentric detectives in Japanese novels already even without reading anything with Philo Vance in it. Anyway, I was kind of reluctant to pick up The Egyptian Cross Mystery due to the prevalent opinion it would have been more suitable for a short story frame, which is comparable to how I felt about The Dutch Shoe Mystery. So I decided to finally read the first of Queen's short story collections instead and here are my own two cents about the stories.

The Tragedy of Y

York Hatter had been missing for some time and is eventually found after apparently having jumped from a ferry and poisoning himself before that to commit suicide. Afterwards follow two attempts to poison his deaf, blind and mute step-daughter Louisa Campion. In the second case, her mother Emily Hatter, who is sleeping in the same room, is knocked down with York's old mandolin and dies from shock. The rest of the case isn't any less abnormal than the Hatter family itself and to make sense of the happenings, Inspector Thumm needs the help of Drury Lane.

The Dutch Shoe Mystery

Abigail Doorn, benefactress of the Dutch Memorial Hospital, is due for operation, but when her comatose body is wheeled into the operation theatre, she is already dead. She must have been strangulated in the anteroom next to the amphitheatre. The anaesthetist Francis Janney, the strongest suspect who benefits from Doorn's death and was witnessed being in the anteroom by several persons, has a rather insufficient alibi since he had a meeting with an unknown person called Swanson, whose identity he does not want to give away. Was Janney impersonated? It takes a second murder for Ellery Queen to deduce the murderer from a set of various clues - most prominently a pair of white canvas shoes.

The French Powder Mystery

French's Department Store on Fifth Avenue is the place for modern living and exhibits fancy furniture every day in a special show window at noon, which became an event on the street. One day when the demonstrator pushes a button to unfold a bed from the wall, a corpse slides from the sheets! Inspector Queen and his son Ellery arrive at the scene and eventually conclude that the murderer must be an employee or otherwise affiliated person of the store and so Ellery sets out to narrow down the only possible culprit.

The Chinese Orange Mystery

The 22nd floor of the Chancellor Hotel includes both the Kirk family's suites and the office of Donald Kirk's Mandarin press. In a waiting room of said office a man is found murdered by a poker smashed over his head and with two african spears pushed through his clothes. The just as strange fact about his clothes however is, that they are entirely reversed - just as everything else in that whole room has been turned backwards! On top of that, all the people living or working on that floor claim to have never seen this man before...

The Siamese Twin Mystery

Ellery and his father wind up in a forest fire and have to refuge in the Xaviers' mansion. While being hospitable there is a strange tension among the inhabitants and the reason for the other guests' stay only becomes apparent after Dr. John Xavier is found murdered in his study, his right hand grapping a six of spades torn in half.

The Greek Coffin Mystery

After the famous art dealer Georg Khalkis dies caused by illness, his will turns out to be stolen. When the police, including Inspector Richard Queen and his son Ellery, arrive at the scene, Ellery suggests the will could only be found in Khalkis' coffin. However what turns out to be there is not the will but another corpse - and an obvious murder at that!