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The Roman Hat Mystery (Ellery Queen Detective #1)
by
Ellery Queen
A murder in a crowded theater leaves a pack of suspects, but only one clueDespite the dismal Broadway season, Gunplay continues to draw crowds. A gangland spectacle, it’s packed to the gills with action, explosions, and gunfire. In fact, Gunplay is so loud that no one notices the killing of Monte Field. In a sold-out theater, Field is found dead partway through the second...more
ebook, 236 pages
Published
October 25th 2011
by MysteriousPress.com/Open Road
(first published 1929)
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"The Roman Hat Mystery" by Ellery Queen (third person author Frederick Stokes) depends entirely on 1929 USA for setting, motive, method, even opportunity: a fine silk custom top-hat is missing from a crooked lawyer poisoned by lead alcohol in the Roman theatre, at the close of the second act 9:55. Inspector Richard Q, sneezing snuff, thin multi-faced small addressed as the "Old Man", and large writer son Ellery puffing cigarettes investigate, starting with a map (first the theatre pxvii, later t...more
What fun!!!! This is the first of the Ellery Queen series and is nothing like the ones to follow. This book was written in 1929 and is reflective of the times....prohibition, walking sticks, spats, and racial epithets/beliefs not acceptable to the modern audience. But it must be read in the context of society of that time. Ellery is a somewhat mannered twit but not as bad as his counterpart from that time, Philo Vance. Regardless, this is a good little book with a ridiculously intricate plot tha...more
This first Ellery Queen novel is widely regarded as mediocre at best and significantly worse than many later books. This is the first EQ I've read and had I known beforehand what the general opinion was, i would likely have skipped it and picked up a later mystery.
The Roman Hat Mystery is the first of several "national" novels by the cousins writing as Ellery Queen. (The first few novels have a country as part of the title: The Egyptian Cross Mystery, the Dutch Show Mystery, etc.) The Roman of...more
The Roman Hat Mystery is the first of several "national" novels by the cousins writing as Ellery Queen. (The first few novels have a country as part of the title: The Egyptian Cross Mystery, the Dutch Show Mystery, etc.) The Roman of...more
This is one of those books that are so firmly set in the time of their publication that it is difficult to rate them now on their own merits independent of their placement in the development of their genre. Ellery Queen, detective novel writer and son of Inspector Richard Queen, is the co-protagonist at the center of the early Ellery Queen books. The character of Ellery is clearly inspired by S. S. Van Dine's Philo Vance. The prejudices and attitudes of the time of its initial publication (1929)...more
Rollicking good fun from the 1930s. Both Inspector Queen and his son Ellery are interesting personalities, and it was fun to see how the strengths of each of them were used to finally solve the mystery. It was also fun to see so many of the period characteristics of the time period. The mystery itself was certainly completely impenetrable to me, but then again mysteries always are.
The narrative emphasizes the logical facts of the case, and reminded me of a police procedural show in its unfolding...more
The narrative emphasizes the logical facts of the case, and reminded me of a police procedural show in its unfolding...more
This book jumped right in with the discovery of a crime and a list of characters. There was not enough character development for my taste, and instead too much emphasis on maps, diagrams and itemization of clues. I was not interested in the long, rather pompous explanations of the "logic" which leads to the solution of the mystery.
Incidentally, I hadn't realized that Ellery Queen helps solve crimes along with his father, Richard Queen, who is a police inspector. They live together and seem sort...more
Incidentally, I hadn't realized that Ellery Queen helps solve crimes along with his father, Richard Queen, who is a police inspector. They live together and seem sort...more
I first read this book when I was in my early 20's, which was a lot of years ago! I remember that it started me on collecting the Ellery Queen books - this being the very first one written. The book is set in the 1920's and is a slow moving, "intellectual" mystery. It is dated with some questionable (according to today's standards) references. Ellery Queen actively disappears from the book about 3/4 of the way through appearing thereafter in the form of a letter to his father Inspector Richard Q...more
The first novel in the Ellery Queen series written by cousins Frederic Dannay and Manfred B. Lee. Ellery is an amateur detective who is fixated on books and bookstores and who, on occasion, assists his father, a police inspector, in solving complex crimes. Published in 1929, this novel reflects the culture of the 1920s and the reason for the crime has to be considered in light of that fact. A hit Broadway show, Gunplay, is the setting for the murder of Monte Field. Becasue of the explosions and...more
It's an older style, takes some concentration, but is amusing and entertaining in parts. Ellery is by his father's side while the senior Mr. Queen is on duty working a case, and Ellery is helping put the clues together while loitering between visits to his favorite book store. In the theater there is a varied cross-section of society of the time, and everyone is introduced through interviews at the scene of the crime, which is a clever way of describing the (a) suspects, and (b) characters of th...more
Masterpiece.
The ten first novels are almost all masterpieces. This is the first.
A man killed in the audience of a theater during a performance, with the Tetraethyllead. A top hat, an impossible crime, even better a locked room, because no one has left the theater, which is "room" in which the crime took place. Ellery, then very close to Philo Vance, solves a crime impossible. A resounding success at the time, success repeated whenever the novel is read.
The ten first novels are almost all masterpieces. This is the first.
A man killed in the audience of a theater during a performance, with the Tetraethyllead. A top hat, an impossible crime, even better a locked room, because no one has left the theater, which is "room" in which the crime took place. Ellery, then very close to Philo Vance, solves a crime impossible. A resounding success at the time, success repeated whenever the novel is read.
I enjoyed this book very well. I hadn't read an Ellery Queen book for 15 years and it took me a full month to read this particular beauty. The mystery is engrossing. In the preface the authors whet your appetite by telling you that the criminal has a remarkable mind. That's kind of a tall order to live up to, but this book delivers. At first the criminal could be anyone, but then it turns out that the murderer is someone in the vicinity, not unlike Marple or Poirot stories. The book was pleasing...more
As a fan of the classic detective story, I figured it was high time I try some Ellery Queen. This is the first book to be published in the Ellery Queen series (1929). It is very much a product of its time; for the first third of the book I thought that Djuna the manservant was actually a dog. So, you can only imagine the racism here. Women don't fare much better. I'd much prefer to curl up with a Nero Wolfe story.
Wow. Truly a product of its time. Unlike Dashiell Hammett, Sinclair Lewis, Agatha Christie or Rex Stout -- very little of Ellery Queen's (Frederic Dannay and James Yaffe) writing holds up a century later.
Very intriguing. Keeps you thinking. It provides all fo the clues, but very difficult to sort everythign out unless you keep very good track of them.
According to the Haycraft-Queen list, the first Ellery Queen book.
love all ellery queen mysteries. good clean murder. a class act
I gave up on this after about three pages ... but not forever. I have never read an Ellery Queen and I've always been curious. I still am -- but I'm not hopeful. The writing here is the sort of period style that I can take for about thee pages before I give up. Like many of the classics I remember loving when I was a kid ... I don't love them now. Still, I'm not getting rid of this copy (it's physically a lovely book from the Franklin Mystery series) and I'll try it again later. Next time I'll a...more
very difficult to follow such a slow pace
( O Mistério Do Chapéu Romano )
Vintage Ellery Queen. Great fun!
an early Queen
This is the first of the Ellery Queen stories.
I enjoyed most of it.
However, it took far too long in the wrap-up where Inspector Queen was explaining the whole thing to his boss and the DA.
I suppose my view of the ending wasn't helped any because the day that I finished the book was one of those days where I just kept dozing off. Which includes the time that I was finishing the book.
Maybe it gets better with future books.
I enjoyed most of it.
However, it took far too long in the wrap-up where Inspector Queen was explaining the whole thing to his boss and the DA.
I suppose my view of the ending wasn't helped any because the day that I finished the book was one of those days where I just kept dozing off. Which includes the time that I was finishing the book.
Maybe it gets better with future books.
May 16, 2011
Read1000books
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
mysteries-non-sherlockian
Written in 1929, this is the first of the Ellery Queen novels. Very good, 3 1/2 stars.
The first and by far the best of the Ellery Queen series.
Excellent. The writing style was literary and most enjoyable. Plot a tiny bit dated, but I didn't figure it out, and it is a reminder of what was important in our not so distant past but hopefully no longer so. Highly recommended.
I still can't understand why Ellery got so obsessed with the hat. Deduction? I think he just struck lucky.
Aug 07, 2011
Bev Hankins
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
vintage-mystery,
mystery
The very first Ellery Queen novel and one of the very best.
This is the best Ellery Queen mystery I've read so far.
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aka Barnaby Ross.
Ellery Queen was a pen name created and shared by two cousins, Frederic Dannay (1905-1982) and Manfred B. Lee (1905-1971), as well as the name of their most famous detective. Born in Brooklyn, they spent forty two years writing, editing, and anthologizing under the name, gaining a reputation as the foremost American authors of the Golden Age "fair play" mystery.
Although eventually...more
More about Ellery Queen...
Ellery Queen was a pen name created and shared by two cousins, Frederic Dannay (1905-1982) and Manfred B. Lee (1905-1971), as well as the name of their most famous detective. Born in Brooklyn, they spent forty two years writing, editing, and anthologizing under the name, gaining a reputation as the foremost American authors of the Golden Age "fair play" mystery.
Although eventually...more
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