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Murder With a Past
Ellery Queen classics. Except for normal age tanning, book is like new. No creases or marks. New Dell Publishing Co. Inc. 1965. First Edition Thus. Paperback. DELL # 2140 ; 256 pages.
261 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1963
About the author
Ellery Queen
1,793 books515 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 - 11 of 11 reviews
April 10, 2017
It's been a long, long time since I've read an Ellery Queen mystery. I'm waiting for a much-anticipated audio book to be offered to me from my library wait list and I needed something short and sweet in case the other comes available, and this little 5-hour mystery fit the bill. I have to say....it was pretty cheesy! Written in 1963, it had all the hallmarks of a "private eye" mystery of that time with the characters portraying a "type" (tough guy, sexy dame, young rich know-it-all, cagey cop, etc) Think olde tyme comic books with "BIFF!" and "BAM!"...that's kind of what this was like. In fact, I laughed many times in places where I'm pretty sure I wasn't supposed to laugh. That doesn't mean it wasn't a good story...just terribly dated and predictable. It made a nice change of pace, I have to say!
June 21, 2023
This is so dated it is funny!
November 9, 2025
Contenta di aver rispolverato questi autori, era da un po' che non leggevo un loro giallo, anche se questo non fa parte della serie con l'investigatore omonimo Ellery Queen. La sua età si è sentita pienamente, il giallo è scritto in modo semplice, la storia banale e prevedibile, come il finale; per fortuna i personaggi non erano molti così da poterli inquadrare rapidamente e poi le frasi ed i capitoli brevi hanno fatto scorrere la lettura velocemente. Comunque un buon intrattenimento.
Tre stelle e mezzo
Tre stelle e mezzo
September 13, 2018
I read better stories by Ellery Queen. It lacks the detective work the way Queen presents it. Obviously a ghost written book.
May 1, 2021
Audio
This was an ok book. Very blast from the past, when men were men and women were broads.
This was an ok book. Very blast from the past, when men were men and women were broads.
Did Not Finish
October 5, 2026Not my style
September 3, 2018
Waar het bij sommige boeken van Ellery Queen een tijd duurt om in het verhaal komen, werd ik bij dit boek gelijk gegrepen. Spannend!
April 25, 2012
Murder With a Past by Ellery Queen. One of the few Queen novels I've read that has not starred Ellery Queen, mystery author and amateur detective, and his father Inspector Queen. In this novel Dave Tully comes home from a business trip to find his house dark and his wife gone. Not exactly a panic moment--but highly unusual. Ruth is rarely not home to greet him. He's just mulling over whether it's her bridge night and perhaps she's stayed for "just one more hand" when his friend Lt. Julian Smith, a local policeman, pulls up.
That's when the panic sets in. Because Ruth is missing and there is a dead man named Crandall Cox. Cox's body has been found at a nearby hotel--with Tully's gun beside him and having shouted out "Ruth" before he died. All the evidence points to a clandestine meeting in a cheap hotel gone bad. And all that evidence seems to point towards his missing wife. But Tully refuses to believe that his wife is a cold-blooded killer and sets out to prove the evidence wrong. But if Ruth didn't do, then where is she? Why doesn't she come home?
As mentioned, this is one of the few (four to date, I think) non-Ellery Queen centered stories I've read by the writing duo of Frederic Danny and Manfred Lee (under the name of Ellery Queen). And, I'm coming to conclusion that I'm not a big fan of the non-Ellery books. It's meant to be an entertaining thriller with all the suspense of the man sure of innocence--this time of his wife rather than himself--taking on the world to vindicate her. The further he digs, the more evidence seems to pile up against the missing woman. There is the whole race against time element which goes further than him trying to find the answer before the police find her (I won't spoil the twist and tell you what other race is going on). Admittedly, there are moments. But, overall, the mystery seems rather pedestrian. There is a slight twist at the end--which was probably a bit more effective at the time (or would be more effective for someone who has read less detective fiction). But too many crime novels have gone by for me to be overly impressed. More connection with the characters would have gone a long way towards upping the impression factor. Two stars out of five.
{This review is mine and the original material posted at http://myreadersblock.blogspot.com/20.... Please request permission to repost any part of it. Thank you.}
That's when the panic sets in. Because Ruth is missing and there is a dead man named Crandall Cox. Cox's body has been found at a nearby hotel--with Tully's gun beside him and having shouted out "Ruth" before he died. All the evidence points to a clandestine meeting in a cheap hotel gone bad. And all that evidence seems to point towards his missing wife. But Tully refuses to believe that his wife is a cold-blooded killer and sets out to prove the evidence wrong. But if Ruth didn't do, then where is she? Why doesn't she come home?
As mentioned, this is one of the few (four to date, I think) non-Ellery Queen centered stories I've read by the writing duo of Frederic Danny and Manfred Lee (under the name of Ellery Queen). And, I'm coming to conclusion that I'm not a big fan of the non-Ellery books. It's meant to be an entertaining thriller with all the suspense of the man sure of innocence--this time of his wife rather than himself--taking on the world to vindicate her. The further he digs, the more evidence seems to pile up against the missing woman. There is the whole race against time element which goes further than him trying to find the answer before the police find her (I won't spoil the twist and tell you what other race is going on). Admittedly, there are moments. But, overall, the mystery seems rather pedestrian. There is a slight twist at the end--which was probably a bit more effective at the time (or would be more effective for someone who has read less detective fiction). But too many crime novels have gone by for me to be overly impressed. More connection with the characters would have gone a long way towards upping the impression factor. Two stars out of five.
{This review is mine and the original material posted at http://myreadersblock.blogspot.com/20.... Please request permission to repost any part of it. Thank you.}
May 23, 2009
An entertaining thriller with only a few, but intense, characters. The plot meanders along until the denouement, which comes as a big surprise. So suspense is upheld until the close of the book.
March 7, 2011
( Um Crime do Passado )
June 8, 2018
A nice, short mystery novel by Ellery Queen that didn't feature Ellery Queen.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews