It is impossible to talk about the American detective story - or, for that matter, about the American equivalent of Britain's "Golden Age" of detective fiction - without talking about Ellery Queen. So who, pray tell, was Ellery Queen?
Ellery Queen was two cousins, Frederick Dannay and Manfred B. Lee, who used the pen name of "Ellery Queen."
Ellery Queen was the fictional detective who starred in the books and stories which were written by Ellery Queen, the author.
Ellery Queen was also the name of the editor of the tremendously influential publication, Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, edited (primarily) by Fred Dannay and still going strong in its 77th year. And, for the record, it has had just three editors in that time span, including Dannay, who was the first one.
Yet today, Ellery Queen - the author and the detective, at any rate - are largely unfamiliar to far too many readers who might very well enjoy the classic puzzle-oriented and "fair play" mysteries written by Dannay and Lee. But how to spread the word, how to give today's readers some idea of why Anthony Boucher (yes, he after whom the mystery conference "Bouchercon" is named) once said, simply, "Ellery Queen IS the American Detective Story"?
Here's one possible answer: a brand new book from Wildside Press, edited by Josh Pachter and Dale C. Andrews, and called The Misadventures of Ellery Queen. It's a collection of sixteen short stories inspired by Ellery Queen (in all their personas). It's the subject of today's audio review on the Classic Mysteries podcast, and you can listen to the full review by clicking here. Wildside Press has made a copy available to me for this review.
In The Misadventures of Ellery Queen, you'll find an assortment of pastiches (serious attempts to write stories in the manner of the original author) and parodies (satirical takeoffs on the characters and situations created by the target), as well as what the editors call a "potpourri" of stories inspired by Ellery Queen. The stories are an eclectic bunch from authors, some of whose names are likely to be new to you, others of whom are acknowledged experts on the subject of Ellery Queen. You’ll also find introductions to the stories from the editors of this book, Josh Pachter and Dale C. Andrews, which may help you understand why a particular story was chosen for inclusion. The two editors also contributed stories of their own to this anthology. And one of the highlights of the book, to me, is the inclusion of brief introductory essays by Richard Dannay and Rand Lee, two of the sons of the creators of Ellery Queen.
The Misadventures of Ellery Queen is quite clearly a labor of love – a love that many of us share for Ellery Queen. If you are already a fan, I strongly recommend this book to you. If you have yet to fully appreciate Ellery Queen, then I recommend it even more strongly. The contents of the book will, I hope, encourage you to seek out some of the existing books about Ellery Queen, the books by Ellery Queen, and the seventy-seven year old magazine founded by Ellery Queen and still going strong today. There’s a lot of good reading to be done.
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