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Cop Out
Book by Queen, Ellery
157 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1969
21 people are currently reading
186 people want to read
About the author
Ellery Queen
1,784 books490 followersaka Barnaby Ross.
(Pseudonym of Frederic Dannay and Manfred Bennington Lee)
"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 famous on television and radio, Queen's first appearance came in 1928 when the cousins won a mystery-writing contest with the book that would eventually be published as The Roman Hat Mystery. Their character was an amateur detective who used his spare time to assist his police inspector father in solving baffling crimes. Besides writing the Queen novels, Dannay and Lee cofounded Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, one of the most influential crime publications of all time. Although Dannay outlived his cousin by nine years, he retired Queen upon Lee's death.
Several of the later "Ellery Queen" books were written by other authors, including Jack Vance, Avram Davidson, and Theodore Sturgeon.
(Pseudonym of Frederic Dannay and Manfred Bennington Lee)
"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 famous on television and radio, Queen's first appearance came in 1928 when the cousins won a mystery-writing contest with the book that would eventually be published as The Roman Hat Mystery. Their character was an amateur detective who used his spare time to assist his police inspector father in solving baffling crimes. Besides writing the Queen novels, Dannay and Lee cofounded Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, one of the most influential crime publications of all time. Although Dannay outlived his cousin by nine years, he retired Queen upon Lee's death.
Several of the later "Ellery Queen" books were written by other authors, including Jack Vance, Avram Davidson, and Theodore Sturgeon.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
March 25, 2021
My first foray into Ellery Queen the author (as someone who read the magazine bearing their name for several years), and while it wasn't what I expected (a mystery involving the sleuth Ellery), it was still a great book.
A crime thriller more than a mystery, Cop Out is packed with suspense and danger, with just the right amounts of "wait, don't do that - or DO do that!" moments where you see what mistake is being made by the characters and where it will lead without the characters appearing stupid or clueless. A tense book with a few twists to keep you on your toes and the constant threats to the characters to keep you on edge.
Well written with believable characters making believable decisions that honestly makes you wonder who will make it through the ordeal in the end, I'd recommend Cop Out to anyone seeking a classic crime story of desperate characters holding out from the fuzz (as one of the main antagonists calls them) after a heist, wrapping themselves up in the kidnapping of a child, and the lengths the parents are willing to attempt to go through to get them back, without resorting to being an over-the-top action story.
A crime thriller more than a mystery, Cop Out is packed with suspense and danger, with just the right amounts of "wait, don't do that - or DO do that!" moments where you see what mistake is being made by the characters and where it will lead without the characters appearing stupid or clueless. A tense book with a few twists to keep you on your toes and the constant threats to the characters to keep you on edge.
Well written with believable characters making believable decisions that honestly makes you wonder who will make it through the ordeal in the end, I'd recommend Cop Out to anyone seeking a classic crime story of desperate characters holding out from the fuzz (as one of the main antagonists calls them) after a heist, wrapping themselves up in the kidnapping of a child, and the lengths the parents are willing to attempt to go through to get them back, without resorting to being an over-the-top action story.
February 17, 2016
This might be my favorite ellery queen. Not a mystery either, but easily a suspense movie.
April 3, 2023
As a teenager I liked Ellery Queen novels but it seems that time (and probably also age) has made their tricks and this wasn't particularly good. This was more like an episode of an older crime TV-series episode - which I also liked when I was in my teens.
The story is a very straightforward description of a robbery and a couple of murders; nothing special, nothing surprising, no mystery. A "Peyton Place" with a sinister crime and that's it.
The main villain was naturally a gun loving psychopath, small and mean with a beautiful girl friend and a simple, muscular side-kick. Clichéd as it can get, won't you say. Definitely old-fashioned.
One must remember that this was published in 1969 when times were different and the bad characters could be recognized miles away; eyepatches and scars weren't too rare :-)
Easy to read and as easy to forget. A fast one.
Tyttö panttina
K.J.Gummerus 1970
July 17, 2023
Probably would have been a 5/5 if it had actually included Ellery Queen. I have no clue why this book is included in the list of Ellery Queen Detective Novels (that is, books featuring Ellery Queen, not ones written by hims), since neither Ellery nor any other known Ellery Queen side character appear in this book.
10/10 for the first time I've heard the word "Groovy" in one of these books.
Altogether a fun novel (not a mystery-- not really) about a cop who has to make the choice between rescuing his daughter and aiding and abetting a crime. It was tense and action-filled, and every turn had me sitting on the edge of his seat. The fact that his name is Wes Malone and his wife, his wife calls him "Loney" is hilarious, and their daughter's name is Barbara, so of course everyone calls her Bibbi (sp?). A fun book, I just legit expected Ellery because it's in the list of Ellery Queen novels.
10/10 for the first time I've heard the word "Groovy" in one of these books.
Altogether a fun novel (not a mystery-- not really) about a cop who has to make the choice between rescuing his daughter and aiding and abetting a crime. It was tense and action-filled, and every turn had me sitting on the edge of his seat. The fact that his name is Wes Malone and his wife, his wife calls him "Loney" is hilarious, and their daughter's name is Barbara, so of course everyone calls her Bibbi (sp?). A fun book, I just legit expected Ellery because it's in the list of Ellery Queen novels.
November 22, 2020
Non esattamente il mio genere. È un Ellery Queen molto diverso da altri che ho letto in passato. Questo "Disertore di coscienza" vira pesantemente sull'hard boiled, come trama, stile di scrittura e linguaggio. La trama in sé è anche interessante, ma la scrittura frammentaria, l'accavalllarsi dei dialoghi con i pensieri dei personaggi mi hanno un po' smorzato la curiosità, quando c'è quel "voglio proprio vedere come va a finire" che fa divorare i libri gialli. Insomma, sono riuscita a finirlo solo per la brevità, ma la colpa è soprattutto mia e dei miei gusti personali. Ripeto, l'hard boiled it's not my cup of tea
October 30, 2022
This is a most excellent read. It bills itself as 'Different from any detective story Ellery Queen has ever written' and it's totally true. Except for the fact that like Queen's other stories, it's a page-turner. I inhaled this in a day, flipping pages like mad to find out what would happen next. The resolution was brilliant. The characters were true. The writing was amazing. Overall, an awesome book.
January 10, 2019
Never read Ellery Queen as a kid. Really enjoy the style and plot, this was book #34 so I’ll have lots to read in the future.. lots of fun
June 2, 2022
Don’t generally like detective stories, but this was a fast engaging read! Not so convoluted as this genre can often get.
August 29, 2023
Didn't care for the writing style of this one, and the "intro" seemed to go on forever. Had a nasty edge to it too. Gave up early.
November 18, 2013
The cover describes this novel as "Different from Any Detective Story Ellery Queen Has Ever Written" and that's certainly the case so far as I'm aware: I haven't read every EQ novel, but there aren't that many that I haven't. After just a few pages, I rushed to the Wikipedia entry on EQ to see if this was one of the books that had been ghostwritten for Dannay and Lee, but apparently not: it seems to have been a genuine exploration of new territory for them. I'm still not 100% convinced this is the case, but it did seem to me while reading that some sections are better written than others, suggesting two writers were involved; that'd support the theory that this really was a Dannay/Lee collaboration. On the other hand, they were able to match up seamlessly on the other EQ novels, so . . .
Three crooks -- the psycho Furia, the hulking knucklehead Hinch and the broad-with-brains Goldie -- do a payroll heist in a small town, during which Furia murders their inside man. The body's discovered far sooner than anticipated, and the cops are able to throw up a cordon before the thieves have got out of the area. If they're caught with the cash they're history, but where could be a safe place to stow it?
Goldie, a local girl who long ago departed the town but still keeps in touch with kid sister Nanette, knows through Nanette's babysitting activities about the family of cop Wesley Malone, wife Ellen and small daughter Barbara (rather nauseatingly called Bibby). Where would the cops be least likely to look for the stolen loot? In the home of a fellow cop. So the trio invade the Malone house, seize Bibby, leave the money in Wes's and Ellen's charge -- on the grounds that they'd better look after it or they'll never see their child again -- and go off to their prepared hideout.
The rest of the novel concerns, of course, Wes's efforts to outwit the crooks and get Bibby back. Matters are complicated when a stocking-masked stranger steals the bag of money, and when Wes covertly brings his boss, Chief John Secco, in on the act: there are things Wes is prepared to do as a father that Secco, as a cop, can't countenance.
Everything rattles along at a good pace and I can't say that I was bored. (It would make a great movie.) Yet the writing style is bizarre, especially when compared to the lightly mannered style you expect from EQ. The blurb explains that the tale's "told in contemporary language" -- "contemporary" referring, of course, to 1969 -- which means there are occasional rude bits, as when Furia subjects Goldie to a cavity search. But the rude bits aren't very rude -- it's not spelled out what Goldie's "special treat" for Furia is,* for example -- and there's little or no cussin'.
What the blurb-writer seems really to be talking about by that "contemporary" is an attempt at making the text hardboiled, abjuring grammatical correctness in the sake of effectiveness and immediacy. There's nothing wrong with that, of course; yet there's a thin line between playing fast and loose with grammar and syntax for the sake of impact and just plain incompetent, incoherent writing, and one or both of the Queens quite often staggered over it here. To pick a single example from many:
Y'know, there's a reason Jack Kerouac didn't make a name for himself as a mystery writer.
I haven't a clue why the Queens essayed this experiment (or put their name to it if indeed it was written by another hand). If they were trying to show the hardboiled writers that The Dean of American Mystery could do it better, it was a bit of vainglory: I've read a fair deal of hardboiled fiction over the past year or so, and this is of barely average standard. Yet, as noted, it does crackle along with pace, and it's mercifully short -- remove the pages wasted through all the part-titles and you're talking about maybe 160 pages, with not too many words per page. A modern practitioner of the Bloated Thriller would probably have made 400 wearisome pages out of the same plot. All told, I prefer the sloppy writing here to the Bloat.
* The "special treat" was earlier: it's doubtful Furia was in line for any of Goldie's "special treats" after the cavity-search incident.
Three crooks -- the psycho Furia, the hulking knucklehead Hinch and the broad-with-brains Goldie -- do a payroll heist in a small town, during which Furia murders their inside man. The body's discovered far sooner than anticipated, and the cops are able to throw up a cordon before the thieves have got out of the area. If they're caught with the cash they're history, but where could be a safe place to stow it?
Goldie, a local girl who long ago departed the town but still keeps in touch with kid sister Nanette, knows through Nanette's babysitting activities about the family of cop Wesley Malone, wife Ellen and small daughter Barbara (rather nauseatingly called Bibby). Where would the cops be least likely to look for the stolen loot? In the home of a fellow cop. So the trio invade the Malone house, seize Bibby, leave the money in Wes's and Ellen's charge -- on the grounds that they'd better look after it or they'll never see their child again -- and go off to their prepared hideout.
The rest of the novel concerns, of course, Wes's efforts to outwit the crooks and get Bibby back. Matters are complicated when a stocking-masked stranger steals the bag of money, and when Wes covertly brings his boss, Chief John Secco, in on the act: there are things Wes is prepared to do as a father that Secco, as a cop, can't countenance.
Everything rattles along at a good pace and I can't say that I was bored. (It would make a great movie.) Yet the writing style is bizarre, especially when compared to the lightly mannered style you expect from EQ. The blurb explains that the tale's "told in contemporary language" -- "contemporary" referring, of course, to 1969 -- which means there are occasional rude bits, as when Furia subjects Goldie to a cavity search. But the rude bits aren't very rude -- it's not spelled out what Goldie's "special treat" for Furia is,* for example -- and there's little or no cussin'.
What the blurb-writer seems really to be talking about by that "contemporary" is an attempt at making the text hardboiled, abjuring grammatical correctness in the sake of effectiveness and immediacy. There's nothing wrong with that, of course; yet there's a thin line between playing fast and loose with grammar and syntax for the sake of impact and just plain incompetent, incoherent writing, and one or both of the Queens quite often staggered over it here. To pick a single example from many:
A noiseless entry, front and back, coordinated, the main group with rubbers over their shoes sneaking upstairs, Secco knew the old house well it was built in 1799 the chestnut floors were all creaked out and the stairs heavily carpeted . . . one burst into Furia's room, heave a couple of gas cans, and that would be it. [All punctuation, including the ellipsis, is sic.]
Y'know, there's a reason Jack Kerouac didn't make a name for himself as a mystery writer.
I haven't a clue why the Queens essayed this experiment (or put their name to it if indeed it was written by another hand). If they were trying to show the hardboiled writers that The Dean of American Mystery could do it better, it was a bit of vainglory: I've read a fair deal of hardboiled fiction over the past year or so, and this is of barely average standard. Yet, as noted, it does crackle along with pace, and it's mercifully short -- remove the pages wasted through all the part-titles and you're talking about maybe 160 pages, with not too many words per page. A modern practitioner of the Bloated Thriller would probably have made 400 wearisome pages out of the same plot. All told, I prefer the sloppy writing here to the Bloat.
* The "special treat" was earlier: it's doubtful Furia was in line for any of Goldie's "special treats" after the cavity-search incident.
June 11, 2017
slow...boring
August 11, 2011
Oh. Ick. I mentioned in a blog posting that this did not sound like my kind of book. I like Ellery Queen. The writing is a little more hard-boiled than I like...but the stories with Ellery & Inspector Queen are more medium-hard than hard. Cop Out definitely breaks this pattern. While the Ellery Queen novels I've read in the past have been more 30s-50s in nature, this book is definitely a product of the 60s and has a mean-streets feel to it. It's not that the writing is not well done; it's just that it's not the style to which I've been accustomed and I think Queen did best sticking to what they did so well.
You have your hard-nosed, small-time gangster types. Trying to be tough and throwing their weight around with the cop that they've "put the screws" on. And then they grab the cop's kid. I hate books that put children in danger or where children are killed. I just can't take it--I'm too sensitive on that issue.
The plot works and the action is well-done. I just don't appreciate the harsher side of detective novels. Give me a good ol' British cozy. May have to take a break and read an Agatha Christie just to settle my mind. One star out of five.
You have your hard-nosed, small-time gangster types. Trying to be tough and throwing their weight around with the cop that they've "put the screws" on. And then they grab the cop's kid. I hate books that put children in danger or where children are killed. I just can't take it--I'm too sensitive on that issue.
The plot works and the action is well-done. I just don't appreciate the harsher side of detective novels. Give me a good ol' British cozy. May have to take a break and read an Agatha Christie just to settle my mind. One star out of five.
August 22, 2025
I was at first disappointed that this wasn't an Ellery Queen case.... as in he wasn't in it. However, the case did catch me. Payroll robbery starts with a double cross, and a murder that makes escape impossible. What follows is a bit of a roller coaster ride as the baddies try to think their way out (hindered by being crooks of very little brains), and an 'average Joe' cop tries to figure his way out of the bind they put him in while keeping his wife and child safe.
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October 21, 2008M Que
June 26, 2012
not so great
September 12, 2013
This is quite a tough book, with more violence than a lot of Ellery Queen, but I quite enjoyed it
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews