Blow Hot, Blow Cold

by Ellery Queen

There is an epidemic of death in the town. Lila Connor, neighborhood flirt and sex goddess, lay dead in her home, victim of an ill-placed letter opener. Larry Connor, successful accountant and distraught husband, lay dead in his office, slain by the giant Mickey Finn. And at Shady Acres, Nancy Howell is crazy wondering who killed Lila and Larry. Is a killer even now hidden in Shady Acres, waiting for a chance to slay again?

Genres: Mystery, Murder Mystery

Audio CD

First published January 1, 1964

About the author

aka 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.

Reviews

[Josh Hitch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably closer to a 3.5. It is a decent enough read. All the characters are unlikeable other than the detective though he is at times as well. Though I figure they are suppose to be. Its four couples living on the same section of a street and are friends to a degree. They get together for gatherings and the like anyway. When one of the women turns up dead and her husband is found later as an obvious suicide, well easy case. However it isnt since it doesnt quite seem right to one detective.

Not sure I would recommend, its good enough but nothing really stands out about it. Its not all that clever and again the characters are mainly unlikeable. Though at the same time Im not sorry I read it, decent time waster. Not read much from the Ellery Queen team, will read more though.

[Kati · Rating 2 out of 5]

A pretty straightforward mystery. But the characters didn't really click with me. The way the detective behaved, I feared that any minute, he would start sniffing Nancy's crotch, there were moments when he behaved like a randy dog.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad, especially the first three-quarters. The book nevertheless has an unburnished polish feel, although the characters are drawn well.

[Rob Smith, Jr. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A mostly well written mystery that has very very 1960s characters and a great character of Lietenant Masters.

The story starts off badly and plods on with a wonder if there will be murder will happen soon and particularly to the set of characters introduced. I found the set annoying. Lieutenant Masters shows up and the story finally gets moving.

The characters are well written. So much so, that I didn't like many. The setting is also well written.

Bottom line: I recommend this book. 6 out of ten points.

[Juan Carlos · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good mystery !!! Easy to read, not fair play.

[Scott Drake · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not one of the better EQ mysteries. With limited characters and galf of thrm killed ...

[Mrtn52752 · Rating 4 out of 5]

el libro fue muy interesante, aunque al principio no parece muy entretenido, con el paso de las paginas va poniéndose mejor hasta el punto de no poder soltarlo hasta terminarlo.

[Saul Souto · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Barbacoa sangrienta" en español. Medio entretenido, nada más. No lo volvería a leer.

[karla · Rating 1 out of 5]

es taaaaaaaan malazo, y terrible además para ser misterio, supongo que la única forma y momento en que funcionó fue cuando se publicó y nomas porque la gente no veía capaz a una mujer de hacer algo pero no podía estar más obvio y más mal escrito q esto. igual sí es medio entretenido y ligero.

[Nerea · Rating 3 out of 5]

I give it 3.5 stars instead of 4. This is the first novel by these authors that I read. I have to admit that at first I had to adjust to the way this novel is written, and I’m not only referring to the writing style, but also to certain remarks, descriptions and thoughts of the characters that today would be unconceivable by being considered tastelessness. That being said, when I got used to it (and having in mind that this novel was written in the 60s so those things weren’t so out of place), I quite enjoyed the story. I think that the whole wealthy American suburb creates the perfect atmosphere for a crime story since there are always so many schemes and rumours involved and in between its residents. Maybe the story was a bit slow at the beginning, but in the last pages it acquires a maddening speed that left me wishing there were more pages. This novel got me intrigued; I may check other novels by these authors, maybe the ones centered on the same detective.