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Ellery Queen Detective #1
O Mistério do Chapéu Romano
A fine silk custom top-hat is missing from a crooked lawyer, poisoned by lead alcohol, in the Roman theater at the close of the second act 9:55 pm. Inspector Richard Q, sneezing snuff, thin multi-faced small "Old Man" and large writer son Ellery puffing cigarettes investigate, starting with maps of theater, victim's bedroom, and list of names appended with flavorful commentary: finder of the body "cranially a brachycephalic", honest former partner "What do you make of him?", and dolly "a lady of reputation". The flavor of 1929 costume and culture, with evening attire de rigeur, and hip flasks full of bootleg liquor. A mystery dependent on the year, a fascinating look back.
Cover artist: A. Pedro
Cover artist: A. Pedro
324 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published June 7, 1929
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3563 people want to read
About the author
Ellery Queen
1,757 books480 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 - 30 of 439 reviews
January 19, 2020
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 but not cozy enough to warrant 5 stars. It doesn't have that type of pull on you.
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 but not cozy enough to warrant 5 stars. It doesn't have that type of pull on you.
June 18, 2022
Es la primera lectura que hago de Ellery Queen.
Me ha gustado aunque me esperaba más.
El inspector Richard Queen y su hijo, Ellery, escritor de novelas de detectives, deben desentrañar el asesinato del abogado Monte Field.
El método deductivo que usan los protagonistas no está mal y quiere ser similar al de Sherlock Holmes, que, por otra parte, es nombrado en bastantes ocasiones.
La resolución del caso es bastante buena. Durante toda la novela están buscando un sombrero que se supone que debe ser importante para la resolución del asesinato.
Hacen interrogatorios, buscan el sombrero y reconstruyen la escena del asesinato a través de los personajes secundarios que intervienen.
La trama es buena, pero le falta tensión narrativa.
------------------------
This is my first reading of Ellery Queen.
I liked it although I expected more.
Inspector Richard Queen and his son, Ellery, a detective writer, must unravel the murder of lawyer Monte Field.
The deductive method used by the protagonists is not bad and is intended to be similar to that of Sherlock Holmes, who, on the other hand, is mentioned on quite a few occasions.
The resolution of the case is quite good. Throughout the novel they are looking for a hat that is supposed to be important in solving the murder.
They conduct interrogations, search for the hat and reconstruct the murder scene through the secondary characters involved.
The plot is good, but it lacks narrative tension.
Me ha gustado aunque me esperaba más.
El inspector Richard Queen y su hijo, Ellery, escritor de novelas de detectives, deben desentrañar el asesinato del abogado Monte Field.
El método deductivo que usan los protagonistas no está mal y quiere ser similar al de Sherlock Holmes, que, por otra parte, es nombrado en bastantes ocasiones.
La resolución del caso es bastante buena. Durante toda la novela están buscando un sombrero que se supone que debe ser importante para la resolución del asesinato.
Hacen interrogatorios, buscan el sombrero y reconstruyen la escena del asesinato a través de los personajes secundarios que intervienen.
La trama es buena, pero le falta tensión narrativa.
------------------------
This is my first reading of Ellery Queen.
I liked it although I expected more.
Inspector Richard Queen and his son, Ellery, a detective writer, must unravel the murder of lawyer Monte Field.
The deductive method used by the protagonists is not bad and is intended to be similar to that of Sherlock Holmes, who, on the other hand, is mentioned on quite a few occasions.
The resolution of the case is quite good. Throughout the novel they are looking for a hat that is supposed to be important in solving the murder.
They conduct interrogations, search for the hat and reconstruct the murder scene through the secondary characters involved.
The plot is good, but it lacks narrative tension.
February 1, 2017
My goodness the a lot of people reviewing this know very little about the golden age of detective fiction or indeed, history.
Firstly, no chit there is a lot about a hat in it. For that young lady who did not understand why they focused on it so much - everyone wore hats in that era, a missing hat would be as incongruous then as a missing wallet would be to us today.
Secondly, educated people in America in the late 1920s spoke and behaved like that, rating a book low because of it speaks volumes.
Thirdly, they repeat themselves? Gadzooks, avoid Sayers if that's a complaint.
Lastly. Removing the racism from old books is called "white washing" and it's wrong. Racism was the norm back then, especially in the days of segregated America. Removing it from books would be as nuts as Germany removing all references to the war because it makes them feel uncomfortable. Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it.
It's clearly the genesis of American detective fiction, in that context it's genius, easy to say it's not as good as the ones which came later, and you can say that of all the greats, but at the time of writing they had very few peers to use as reference. Yes Christie had been published a few years earlier but it was in 1935 when penguin published her books at an affordable price for everyone that she really gained in popularity.
Anyway, it reads like a play, I would guess that was the reason it was set in a theatre. Very fast paced with very few wasted words. If this is considered the worst one in the series then I'm very much looking forward to reading the rest.
Firstly, no chit there is a lot about a hat in it. For that young lady who did not understand why they focused on it so much - everyone wore hats in that era, a missing hat would be as incongruous then as a missing wallet would be to us today.
Secondly, educated people in America in the late 1920s spoke and behaved like that, rating a book low because of it speaks volumes.
Thirdly, they repeat themselves? Gadzooks, avoid Sayers if that's a complaint.
Lastly. Removing the racism from old books is called "white washing" and it's wrong. Racism was the norm back then, especially in the days of segregated America. Removing it from books would be as nuts as Germany removing all references to the war because it makes them feel uncomfortable. Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it.
It's clearly the genesis of American detective fiction, in that context it's genius, easy to say it's not as good as the ones which came later, and you can say that of all the greats, but at the time of writing they had very few peers to use as reference. Yes Christie had been published a few years earlier but it was in 1935 when penguin published her books at an affordable price for everyone that she really gained in popularity.
Anyway, it reads like a play, I would guess that was the reason it was set in a theatre. Very fast paced with very few wasted words. If this is considered the worst one in the series then I'm very much looking forward to reading the rest.
June 12, 2022
No!
No!
No, l did not like The Roman Hat Mystery. Was very disappointed.
Not only because I figured out the guilty party almost immediately. It was just too obvious.
But I also didn’t like the book because I thought it was redundant.
They could have told a better story with forty less pages.
Deserves one star.
No!
No, l did not like The Roman Hat Mystery. Was very disappointed.
Not only because I figured out the guilty party almost immediately. It was just too obvious.
But I also didn’t like the book because I thought it was redundant.
They could have told a better story with forty less pages.
Deserves one star.
February 19, 2018
A man is found dead in a theatre during a play and the police are called in. Inspector Richard Queen shows up with his son Ellery, and thus begins the story of the first Ellery Queen novel. The plot starkly brings out its setting in the 1920s since the mystery basically hinges around a missing top hat. The victim's hat is missing and no one went out of the theatre with two hats. Where is the missing hat and what is its significance? The plot is well-constructed and hangs together remarkably well.
But nevertheless, I was not overly impressed by this first effort of Messrs. Daniel Nathan and Manford Lepofsky. What could have been a great read was rendered mediocre because the authors chose to follow the police action and hide everything of interest from the reader till the last chapter. The narrative hinges around the missing hat to such an extent that it takes up the bulk of the book. Without character development, we don't get a sense of the various characters, not even as seen through the eyes of Queen. The narrative gets stuck in finding the hat and apart from a couple of interactions with the suspects, the dialogues are mostly the Queens and the policemen discussing the case among themselves, which was not sufficient to retain interest. The narrative is also repetitive with the same thing being rehashed over and over again.
Ellery was a vague character throughout the book and in the second half, he just disappears. Inspector Queen seems to be suffering some sort of personality disorder since he consistently changes mood, even within the same scene. One moment he is bright and cheerful and the next, he is bawling out at people. He also has a creepy dependency on his son and goes into depression when Ellery so much as goes for a vacation! However, this is the one character who is fully fleshed out in the book.
There is some racism in the book as well, but that's to be expected. Still, it hits you rather hard when the black houseboy of Queen is consistently compared to a monkey, and leaves a bad taste in the mouth. It's rather hard to take even taking the times into account. The motive for the crime is also slightly racist but it appeared realistic and interesting because it fit the period.
The book is certainly of historical interest and to mystery lovers, it's the first of an important series of golden age mysteries that defined the genre. So it must always be of interest to some of us. But taken purely as a novel, it does not stand up very well.
But nevertheless, I was not overly impressed by this first effort of Messrs. Daniel Nathan and Manford Lepofsky. What could have been a great read was rendered mediocre because the authors chose to follow the police action and hide everything of interest from the reader till the last chapter. The narrative hinges around the missing hat to such an extent that it takes up the bulk of the book. Without character development, we don't get a sense of the various characters, not even as seen through the eyes of Queen. The narrative gets stuck in finding the hat and apart from a couple of interactions with the suspects, the dialogues are mostly the Queens and the policemen discussing the case among themselves, which was not sufficient to retain interest. The narrative is also repetitive with the same thing being rehashed over and over again.
Ellery was a vague character throughout the book and in the second half, he just disappears. Inspector Queen seems to be suffering some sort of personality disorder since he consistently changes mood, even within the same scene. One moment he is bright and cheerful and the next, he is bawling out at people. He also has a creepy dependency on his son and goes into depression when Ellery so much as goes for a vacation! However, this is the one character who is fully fleshed out in the book.
There is some racism in the book as well, but that's to be expected. Still, it hits you rather hard when the black houseboy of Queen is consistently compared to a monkey, and leaves a bad taste in the mouth. It's rather hard to take even taking the times into account. The motive for the crime is also slightly racist but it appeared realistic and interesting because it fit the period.
The book is certainly of historical interest and to mystery lovers, it's the first of an important series of golden age mysteries that defined the genre. So it must always be of interest to some of us. But taken purely as a novel, it does not stand up very well.
August 20, 2025
Years ago, my husband and I subscribed to Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. We enjoyed having the opportunity to dive into short crime fiction stories on a monthly basis. It is now a bi-monthly magazine published six times a year.
While reading the stories from the magazine, together aloud, we wondered if in the reading, we might be able to predict the offender before it is revealed to readers.
The magazine was started in 1941, with the intention of showcasing ‘modern crime’ and mystery with literary quality. Often times featuring many well-known authors of the day.
This story begins with a 6-page foreword by an individual who claims not to be a publisher or author. His foreword was written in the same year this book was published, 1929. He goes on to share his admiration of Inspector Richard Queen, Ellery’s father, and Ellery, a crime-fiction writer who is seen often getting involved in helping to solve his father’s cases. But in truth, Ellery Queen is a pseudonym created in 1928 by American detective fiction writers Frederic Dannay and Bennington Lee.
As we continue along with this book, we are greeted with the following note by Ellery:
“The complete list of individuals, male and female, brought into the story of Monte Field’s murder and appended below is given solely for the convenience of the reader. It is intended to simplify rather than mystify.”
The chart the author refers to is covered in the next 2 pages which is a list of the many characters who will be presented within this story. Readers are then given a map of the Roman Theatre and an explanation of A-Q on the map.
With all these tools in place, readers should feel ready to now tackle the story of Monte Field’s murder.
As mentioned, the story was published in 1929, thus giving readers a police procedural that is rooted in keen investigative skills of the time, before leading to the final explanation of the who-dunnit and why. And, of course, readers getting to witness the acute observation, deductive reasoning and attentiveness of Ellery as he once again works to help solve one of his father’s cases.
But will this story be easy to follow? Appreciate?
This is the first novel in the Ellery Queen series that just happens to feature a locked-room mystery.
As much as I love a good classic mystery, this one dragged on a bit. And, it didn’t help having such an abundant cast of characters.
Perhaps the dual writing for this first novel was giving the author’s a start for what would come, but it took a while to go with the flow and eventually get there. And, when it takes the last part of the novel to explain things, well, that isn’t a very good sign of what it took to get there.
Also, because of the times (1929), readers might wince at the racist connotations. Then again look at how far we haven’t come, in 2025…unfortunately. 🥲
Still, for anyone who loves timeless classics, it was somewhat engaging to read. I recommend Ellery Queen magazine for anyone who is a fan of short story mystery fiction.
While reading the stories from the magazine, together aloud, we wondered if in the reading, we might be able to predict the offender before it is revealed to readers.
The magazine was started in 1941, with the intention of showcasing ‘modern crime’ and mystery with literary quality. Often times featuring many well-known authors of the day.
This story begins with a 6-page foreword by an individual who claims not to be a publisher or author. His foreword was written in the same year this book was published, 1929. He goes on to share his admiration of Inspector Richard Queen, Ellery’s father, and Ellery, a crime-fiction writer who is seen often getting involved in helping to solve his father’s cases. But in truth, Ellery Queen is a pseudonym created in 1928 by American detective fiction writers Frederic Dannay and Bennington Lee.
As we continue along with this book, we are greeted with the following note by Ellery:
“The complete list of individuals, male and female, brought into the story of Monte Field’s murder and appended below is given solely for the convenience of the reader. It is intended to simplify rather than mystify.”
The chart the author refers to is covered in the next 2 pages which is a list of the many characters who will be presented within this story. Readers are then given a map of the Roman Theatre and an explanation of A-Q on the map.
With all these tools in place, readers should feel ready to now tackle the story of Monte Field’s murder.
As mentioned, the story was published in 1929, thus giving readers a police procedural that is rooted in keen investigative skills of the time, before leading to the final explanation of the who-dunnit and why. And, of course, readers getting to witness the acute observation, deductive reasoning and attentiveness of Ellery as he once again works to help solve one of his father’s cases.
But will this story be easy to follow? Appreciate?
This is the first novel in the Ellery Queen series that just happens to feature a locked-room mystery.
As much as I love a good classic mystery, this one dragged on a bit. And, it didn’t help having such an abundant cast of characters.
Perhaps the dual writing for this first novel was giving the author’s a start for what would come, but it took a while to go with the flow and eventually get there. And, when it takes the last part of the novel to explain things, well, that isn’t a very good sign of what it took to get there.
Also, because of the times (1929), readers might wince at the racist connotations. Then again look at how far we haven’t come, in 2025…unfortunately. 🥲
Still, for anyone who loves timeless classics, it was somewhat engaging to read. I recommend Ellery Queen magazine for anyone who is a fan of short story mystery fiction.
December 16, 2021
I gave up when there were 40 pages to go. I was bored out of my mind.
August 22, 2022
I struggled to finish “The Roman Hat Mystery”! Being as tactful as I can, given how much I hated this novel, I am going to allow myself uncensored frankness explaining why. I was eager to acquaint pioneers of the detective crime branch of the mystery genre. Crime-based adventures are my least favourite but I thought it would be like acquainting Chuck Berry, a legend preceding my decade's music favourites. I liked a parent and son team. Richard deferred to Ellery even though he was not in law enforcement. It takes a long time to be clear he is an author. It takes 90 pages to end this story's first problem. It was boring! In that time, we don't leave the first location! When we enter their home, I thought “Maybe I can enjoy it”. What do we find?
A Turkish boy supposedly taken-in as a second son is grabbed by the neck, called a monkey, pulled from bed because those jerks can't get themselves breakfast, and called “the station mascot”. Police roughness for hesitating to answer questions was absurd. It's as if they strove to write the most stereotyped detectives. Was the plotting good? I can praise that. A missing tophat of a victim became the premise for a well-woven trail. However, I have remarked time and again that interesting content tanks if the writing sucks. I consider softening words like “absently”, “lazily” as annoying as redundant. The only thing I loathe more is using these words on incongruous things! I nearly threw away the book when the throat of the victim was actually described as “gone over by a gentle blowtorch”! What the F!? Drug-addicted Richard “sneezed joyously” from snuff. Who describes a sneeze like that!?! I hated every inch of the writing.
We constantly read that Richard was slim. Even when I tried to ignore the gratuitous adjectives and adverbs to appreciate the deducting process, it was nothing but lectures and speeches. Don't get me started about daring to joke about vivisection, experimenting on the living! Was the denouement exciting? There is a mistake. It was not explained how anything could be blackmail fodder for someone a key character had no reason to know. If you don't give a fig about writing, animal and human rights, can get through speeches, and stagnate in one location for 90 pages; the plotting and ruses employed to reach the conclusion were good.
Come off it: 1929 is no excuse. Wrong is wrong. I have an anthology with poems hundreds of years old in which animals are beloved across all time. I will sell the other 24 Ellery Queen novels. I usually cut a first novel a break. Maybe these guys upgraded their morality. However if I can't stand their maddening writing, we have far better books I would much rather read.
A Turkish boy supposedly taken-in as a second son is grabbed by the neck, called a monkey, pulled from bed because those jerks can't get themselves breakfast, and called “the station mascot”. Police roughness for hesitating to answer questions was absurd. It's as if they strove to write the most stereotyped detectives. Was the plotting good? I can praise that. A missing tophat of a victim became the premise for a well-woven trail. However, I have remarked time and again that interesting content tanks if the writing sucks. I consider softening words like “absently”, “lazily” as annoying as redundant. The only thing I loathe more is using these words on incongruous things! I nearly threw away the book when the throat of the victim was actually described as “gone over by a gentle blowtorch”! What the F!? Drug-addicted Richard “sneezed joyously” from snuff. Who describes a sneeze like that!?! I hated every inch of the writing.
We constantly read that Richard was slim. Even when I tried to ignore the gratuitous adjectives and adverbs to appreciate the deducting process, it was nothing but lectures and speeches. Don't get me started about daring to joke about vivisection, experimenting on the living! Was the denouement exciting? There is a mistake. It was not explained how anything could be blackmail fodder for someone a key character had no reason to know. If you don't give a fig about writing, animal and human rights, can get through speeches, and stagnate in one location for 90 pages; the plotting and ruses employed to reach the conclusion were good.
Come off it: 1929 is no excuse. Wrong is wrong. I have an anthology with poems hundreds of years old in which animals are beloved across all time. I will sell the other 24 Ellery Queen novels. I usually cut a first novel a break. Maybe these guys upgraded their morality. However if I can't stand their maddening writing, we have far better books I would much rather read.
June 27, 2021
Can't rate this one higher because the baked in racism just curled my hair.
February 4, 2022
Monte Field, a lawyer, is found dead during the second act of a play in New York City's Roman Theater. The police are called to investigate the possible poisoning of this crooked lawyer who has many enemies, some attending the performance of the play. Inspector Richard Queen of the Homicide Division heads the investigation. His son, Ellery, tags along and offers comments about the case. Ellery is a mystery writer and an erudite bibliophile who loves to quote famous authors.
This is a locked room police procedural since everyone in the theater was detained. The title comes from the fact that Monte Field's black top hat was missing, although he was in formal evening dress. The crowded theater provides plenty of possible suspects and witnesses. The 1920s atmosphere and New York vibe were enjoyable.
The book could have been edited down a bit. Although it was an interesting mystery, there were many recaps of the evidence that weren't always necessary. While it was a product of a different time (1929), it was uncomfortable to read the (supposedly funny) racist comments made about Djuna, the Queen's swarthy houseboy of Romany origin.
"The Roman Hat Mystery" is the first of a series of novels written by Ellery Queen, the pen name for two cousins, Frederic Dannay and Manfred B Lee. The Ellery Queen books are traditional puzzle-solving detective novels, and were popular for decades.
This is a locked room police procedural since everyone in the theater was detained. The title comes from the fact that Monte Field's black top hat was missing, although he was in formal evening dress. The crowded theater provides plenty of possible suspects and witnesses. The 1920s atmosphere and New York vibe were enjoyable.
The book could have been edited down a bit. Although it was an interesting mystery, there were many recaps of the evidence that weren't always necessary. While it was a product of a different time (1929), it was uncomfortable to read the (supposedly funny) racist comments made about Djuna, the Queen's swarthy houseboy of Romany origin.
"The Roman Hat Mystery" is the first of a series of novels written by Ellery Queen, the pen name for two cousins, Frederic Dannay and Manfred B Lee. The Ellery Queen books are traditional puzzle-solving detective novels, and were popular for decades.
July 26, 2021
Meet Queen and Queen—a father son detective duo cira 1930s New York, New York.
Richard Queen, the father, an inspector for the police and charmer of middle aged ladies. Ellery, the son, who mooches off his father and gets dragged along on police business for no official reason (where his personality consists of sassy literary statements and random expostulations: 'You didn't tell us about the time...YOU WENT TO PRISON!' *gasp* 'How did you know??' He didn't. He just guessed and it worked. Every time.)
I've fallen hard for both men. They just crack me and up and their dynamic is both original and fun. This isn't Holmes and Watson. These two stand on an equal playing field and their banter as they try and one up one another keeps the otherwise straightforward clues funny.
This is just a fun novel in general. Characters all talk like they walked straight out of a gangster movie. It is over the top drama and I can't wait to read the next one in the series.
Richard Queen, the father, an inspector for the police and charmer of middle aged ladies. Ellery, the son, who mooches off his father and gets dragged along on police business for no official reason (where his personality consists of sassy literary statements and random expostulations: 'You didn't tell us about the time...YOU WENT TO PRISON!' *gasp* 'How did you know??' He didn't. He just guessed and it worked. Every time.)
I've fallen hard for both men. They just crack me and up and their dynamic is both original and fun. This isn't Holmes and Watson. These two stand on an equal playing field and their banter as they try and one up one another keeps the otherwise straightforward clues funny.
This is just a fun novel in general. Characters all talk like they walked straight out of a gangster movie. It is over the top drama and I can't wait to read the next one in the series.
August 3, 2021
My first Ellery Queen book and thoroughly enjoyable. The narrator is best heard at 1.1 speed.
First published in 1929, this book is naturally dated in some of its social attitudes, particularly with respect to the Queens' servant. It does not bother me, but others may disagree.
Queen's books are neat logic puzzles, and there is a point in the book where the narrator announces that all of the clues have been disclosed that should enable the reader to identify the murder. Of course, I couldn't, but that's part of the fun.
AudibleUS has lots of Queen titles in their Plus Catalog, which means for a free listen to subscribers. And so, I will continue on my Golden Age kick.
First published in 1929, this book is naturally dated in some of its social attitudes, particularly with respect to the Queens' servant. It does not bother me, but others may disagree.
Queen's books are neat logic puzzles, and there is a point in the book where the narrator announces that all of the clues have been disclosed that should enable the reader to identify the murder. Of course, I couldn't, but that's part of the fun.
AudibleUS has lots of Queen titles in their Plus Catalog, which means for a free listen to subscribers. And so, I will continue on my Golden Age kick.
January 10, 2025
A Dud of a Series Start
A review of the Mysterious Press/Open Road eBook edition (October 11, 2013) of the original Frederick A. Stokes hardcover (June 7, 1929).
This was the first Ellery Queen novel. I decided to read this after enjoying The Adventures of Ellery Queen (1934) which was a collection of short stories mostly written for magazines in 1933-34. Much of the enjoyment in the EQ stories came from the allusions and homage to Arthur Conan Doyle and his Sherlock Holmes / Dr. Watson detective duo. This first novel though was a chore to get through and contains some disturbing issues for readers a century later.
The pacing here is at a snail's pace, with the investigators going around in circles for the longest time. Shockingly, the Kindle edition I read is listed at 648 pages on GR, although the page count on my device comes in at 619 pages (the later pages being just advertising for other EQ books). Regardless, it is a crawl to get through most of it.
The cover of the original Frederick A. Stokes hardcover (1929). Image sourced from Goodreads.
This is the debut of NYC Police Inspector Richard Queen and his detective son Ellery Queen. You can expect some initial fumbling in a freshman effort, but often the action and dialogue reads very cringey. The elder Queen is rather stolid and constantly partakes in snuff after which he sneezes "his habitual joyful sneeze." The younger Queen lurks around the crime scene with his pince-nez glasses, smoking cigarets (sic) and makes "witty" asides which often make reference to classical literature, as if he is above it all. The elder is the main character but it is left to the younger to make the breakthrough deductions which help solve the case.
More disturbing though is the introduction of their "houseboy" Djuna, a character whose exact ethnic origins are not detailed but who is presumably of African or Middle Eastern origin based on the name. This character does the housework and cooking for the Queens at their NYC apartment. What is shocking is that Djuna apparently regularly sits or curls up on the floor in the corner of the apartment ("his favorite attitude"), and is referred to as an "imp" a "monkey" and "a rascal" by others. The elder Queen at one point strokes the hair of Djuna, when the latter reclines on the floor by his lap. It is as if the character is treated as a house pet.
The above scenes are short and are a distraction from the case itself, which involves a poisoning murder which occurs during a theatrical show at the Roman Theater in NYC. The victim is a well-known criminal attorney who serves rather unsavory clientele. The major clue in the case is that the victim was dressed in evening formal wear including a top hat. However, the hat has disappeared from the scene when the victim's body is found in his theater seat. The eventual resolution of the case introduces a racist element as well when a character who was "passing" is revealed.
The dated references and treatments are brief, but disturbing nevertheless. What dooms the book from being an enjoyable read is the glacial pacing. The combination means that this doesn't rise to a GR 3 "Like" or even a GR 2 "OK." It becomes a GR 1 "Did Not Like."
Trivia and Links
It is not often that you can get a Rembrandt image into a book review, so I couldn't resist including this. At one point EQ refers to the Aramaic saying mene mene tekel upharsin written on the wall during Belshazzar's Feast in Daniel 5:25-28. Our modern day saying of "the writing's on the wall" alluding to a forecasted ending comes from this reference.
Rembrandt's painting "Belshazzar's Feast" (c1635-1638). Image sourced from Wikipedia.
The fictional detective Ellery Queen was both the story protagonist and the writing pseudonym of cousins Frederic Dannay (1905-1982) and Manfred B. Lee (1905-1971). They wrote over 40 novels and short story collections under that name. After Lee's passing in 1971, Dannay retired from writing the series. The series has been adapted several times for radio and television. A mystery stories magazine in the same name was founded in 1941 and continues to this day as the bi-monthly Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine.
There is an Ellery Queen specialist site which provides extended information about the editions of The Roman Hat Mystery and includes some detailed story discussions (Note: Some spoilers included). You can read it at Queen.Spaceports.com.
A review of the Mysterious Press/Open Road eBook edition (October 11, 2013) of the original Frederick A. Stokes hardcover (June 7, 1929).
This was the first Ellery Queen novel. I decided to read this after enjoying The Adventures of Ellery Queen (1934) which was a collection of short stories mostly written for magazines in 1933-34. Much of the enjoyment in the EQ stories came from the allusions and homage to Arthur Conan Doyle and his Sherlock Holmes / Dr. Watson detective duo. This first novel though was a chore to get through and contains some disturbing issues for readers a century later.
The pacing here is at a snail's pace, with the investigators going around in circles for the longest time. Shockingly, the Kindle edition I read is listed at 648 pages on GR, although the page count on my device comes in at 619 pages (the later pages being just advertising for other EQ books). Regardless, it is a crawl to get through most of it.
The cover of the original Frederick A. Stokes hardcover (1929). Image sourced from Goodreads.
This is the debut of NYC Police Inspector Richard Queen and his detective son Ellery Queen. You can expect some initial fumbling in a freshman effort, but often the action and dialogue reads very cringey. The elder Queen is rather stolid and constantly partakes in snuff after which he sneezes "his habitual joyful sneeze." The younger Queen lurks around the crime scene with his pince-nez glasses, smoking cigarets (sic) and makes "witty" asides which often make reference to classical literature, as if he is above it all. The elder is the main character but it is left to the younger to make the breakthrough deductions which help solve the case.
More disturbing though is the introduction of their "houseboy" Djuna, a character whose exact ethnic origins are not detailed but who is presumably of African or Middle Eastern origin based on the name. This character does the housework and cooking for the Queens at their NYC apartment. What is shocking is that Djuna apparently regularly sits or curls up on the floor in the corner of the apartment ("his favorite attitude"), and is referred to as an "imp" a "monkey" and "a rascal" by others. The elder Queen at one point strokes the hair of Djuna, when the latter reclines on the floor by his lap. It is as if the character is treated as a house pet.
The above scenes are short and are a distraction from the case itself, which involves a poisoning murder which occurs during a theatrical show at the Roman Theater in NYC. The victim is a well-known criminal attorney who serves rather unsavory clientele. The major clue in the case is that the victim was dressed in evening formal wear including a top hat. However, the hat has disappeared from the scene when the victim's body is found in his theater seat. The eventual resolution of the case introduces a racist element as well when a character who was "passing" is revealed.
The dated references and treatments are brief, but disturbing nevertheless. What dooms the book from being an enjoyable read is the glacial pacing. The combination means that this doesn't rise to a GR 3 "Like" or even a GR 2 "OK." It becomes a GR 1 "Did Not Like."
Trivia and Links
It is not often that you can get a Rembrandt image into a book review, so I couldn't resist including this. At one point EQ refers to the Aramaic saying mene mene tekel upharsin written on the wall during Belshazzar's Feast in Daniel 5:25-28. Our modern day saying of "the writing's on the wall" alluding to a forecasted ending comes from this reference.
Rembrandt's painting "Belshazzar's Feast" (c1635-1638). Image sourced from Wikipedia.
The fictional detective Ellery Queen was both the story protagonist and the writing pseudonym of cousins Frederic Dannay (1905-1982) and Manfred B. Lee (1905-1971). They wrote over 40 novels and short story collections under that name. After Lee's passing in 1971, Dannay retired from writing the series. The series has been adapted several times for radio and television. A mystery stories magazine in the same name was founded in 1941 and continues to this day as the bi-monthly Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine.
There is an Ellery Queen specialist site which provides extended information about the editions of The Roman Hat Mystery and includes some detailed story discussions (Note: Some spoilers included). You can read it at Queen.Spaceports.com.
January 12, 2019
An unflattering remark about this novel the other day by a crime blogger whose judgments I generally enjoy reminded me I should read the book again: it's been a very long time indeed since last I did so, my copy then being one of those old Victor Gollancz yellow-jackets (borrowed from the St. Bride Library, just off Fleet Street, London, if you need the full particulars). I don't know if it was the very first Ellery Queen novel I read, but it must have been close to it; although my love affair with Queen's work really began some years later, when I came across Calamity Town in a secondhand bookshop in Edinburgh (see? extraneous details -- I gottem!, it was one of these early outings by the cousins that got the ball rolling for me.
In the middle of a performance of the latest Broadway sensation, Gunplay!, a man is found murdered in the auditorium, and Inspector Richard Queen of the NYPD is called in to investigate. He brings to the case with him his affected detective-novelist son Ellery, and it's no surprise to learn that between them they crack it -- most of the essential ratiocination being Ellery's, as you'd expect.
The dead man proves to have been crooked lawyer Monte Field, and there's no shortage of suspects. Leaving aside his dubious legal career, Field was also a blackmailer, one who believed in sucking his victims drier than dry.
The plethora of people with a motive for knocking off the appalling little rat is just one of the problems facing the Queens. The poison that was injected into Field proves to have been tetra ethyl lead, which can be easily extracted from leaded gasoline -- in other words, there's no chance of tracing its source. The only real clue the Queens have is that Field's top hat is missing: apparently, any man going to the theater in the late 1920s who lacked a top hat to accompany his evening dress would have stood out a mile, so there's no possibility Field simply came without one. And how could the murderer have left with two top hats?
Ellery and the Inspector reckon that, if they can only work out why the hat was stolen and how it was smuggled out of the theater, they'll be well on the way to solving the murder.
Toward the end of the novel there's a Challenge to the Reader, in which we're told we're now in possession of all the information that should enable us to solve the mystery. In fact, as we later learn, we aren't in possession of all the facts: some of them the Queens have been keeping to themselves, via occasional muttered asides to each other to which we've not been privy. This annoyed me less than it might have, since I had a reasonable notion of what had gone down in the Roman Theatre: there's one very obvious way Field's top hat could have been gotten off the premises, and once you realize that a lot else becomes clearer.
Earlier on, there's another, similar instance of something pretty obvious being treated as if it were super-mysterious, demanding all Ellery's intellectual powers to crack. (Where did the dead man hide the documents that were the basis for his blackmailing activities? No one thought to look in one of the very first places I would have checked!) This tallies with the way the Inspector, right from the outset, keeps telling us the case is perhaps the most confounding he's ever faced in all his long and distinguished career, yadee yada. To which all one can say is: Pull yourself together, man. Yes, it's something of a puzzler, but it's nothing like as complex as some of the others that you and Ellery will soon be tackling.
Part of the solution to the mystery relies on the perception that 1920s America is an endemically racist society. From everything I know, that was then a perfectly legitimate assumption (we still have a long way to go), and there's no sense in which the Queens -- either the characters or the authors -- seem particularly happy with the situation: it was just the way it was, however depressing the attitude might seem to us reading about it ninety years later. But there's a sort of casual racism that's less easy to dismiss in the characters' and the authors' treatment of Djuna, the Queens' manservant. I'm not quite certain of Djuna's ethnicity, but it's clear he is of color. The way he's regarded and described because of this latter characteristic leaves -- although I'm sure the authors thought they were being magnanimously liberal in their approach -- a nasty taste in the mouth.
I came away from The Roman Hat Mystery with mixed feelings. Ellery is a bit of a fop, but he's by no means the Philo Vance clone I'd dimly remembered; get rid of the bloody pince-nez and he'd be by and large okay. The book has far too many characters, many of them being rentacops I couldn't tell one from the other (and it didn't matter that I couldn't); Dannay and Lee would soon enough get past this beginners' error. As noted, despite a lot of puffing about how fair-play the mystery is, it isn't, really. The writing's a bit florid, as if someone was determined their expensive education shouldn't go to waste. The treatment's a bit heavy-handed in places . . .
On the other hand, I never lost interest and the pages kept turning. So, overall, while this isn't a novel I could get enthusiastic about, I can quite see why I continued to read whatever EQ I came across until, in due course, I hit the really good stuff.
In the middle of a performance of the latest Broadway sensation, Gunplay!, a man is found murdered in the auditorium, and Inspector Richard Queen of the NYPD is called in to investigate. He brings to the case with him his affected detective-novelist son Ellery, and it's no surprise to learn that between them they crack it -- most of the essential ratiocination being Ellery's, as you'd expect.
The dead man proves to have been crooked lawyer Monte Field, and there's no shortage of suspects. Leaving aside his dubious legal career, Field was also a blackmailer, one who believed in sucking his victims drier than dry.
The plethora of people with a motive for knocking off the appalling little rat is just one of the problems facing the Queens. The poison that was injected into Field proves to have been tetra ethyl lead, which can be easily extracted from leaded gasoline -- in other words, there's no chance of tracing its source. The only real clue the Queens have is that Field's top hat is missing: apparently, any man going to the theater in the late 1920s who lacked a top hat to accompany his evening dress would have stood out a mile, so there's no possibility Field simply came without one. And how could the murderer have left with two top hats?
Ellery and the Inspector reckon that, if they can only work out why the hat was stolen and how it was smuggled out of the theater, they'll be well on the way to solving the murder.
Toward the end of the novel there's a Challenge to the Reader, in which we're told we're now in possession of all the information that should enable us to solve the mystery. In fact, as we later learn, we aren't in possession of all the facts: some of them the Queens have been keeping to themselves, via occasional muttered asides to each other to which we've not been privy. This annoyed me less than it might have, since I had a reasonable notion of what had gone down in the Roman Theatre: there's one very obvious way Field's top hat could have been gotten off the premises, and once you realize that a lot else becomes clearer.
Earlier on, there's another, similar instance of something pretty obvious being treated as if it were super-mysterious, demanding all Ellery's intellectual powers to crack. (Where did the dead man hide the documents that were the basis for his blackmailing activities? No one thought to look in one of the very first places I would have checked!) This tallies with the way the Inspector, right from the outset, keeps telling us the case is perhaps the most confounding he's ever faced in all his long and distinguished career, yadee yada. To which all one can say is: Pull yourself together, man. Yes, it's something of a puzzler, but it's nothing like as complex as some of the others that you and Ellery will soon be tackling.
Part of the solution to the mystery relies on the perception that 1920s America is an endemically racist society. From everything I know, that was then a perfectly legitimate assumption (we still have a long way to go), and there's no sense in which the Queens -- either the characters or the authors -- seem particularly happy with the situation: it was just the way it was, however depressing the attitude might seem to us reading about it ninety years later. But there's a sort of casual racism that's less easy to dismiss in the characters' and the authors' treatment of Djuna, the Queens' manservant. I'm not quite certain of Djuna's ethnicity, but it's clear he is of color. The way he's regarded and described because of this latter characteristic leaves -- although I'm sure the authors thought they were being magnanimously liberal in their approach -- a nasty taste in the mouth.
I came away from The Roman Hat Mystery with mixed feelings. Ellery is a bit of a fop, but he's by no means the Philo Vance clone I'd dimly remembered; get rid of the bloody pince-nez and he'd be by and large okay. The book has far too many characters, many of them being rentacops I couldn't tell one from the other (and it didn't matter that I couldn't); Dannay and Lee would soon enough get past this beginners' error. As noted, despite a lot of puffing about how fair-play the mystery is, it isn't, really. The writing's a bit florid, as if someone was determined their expensive education shouldn't go to waste. The treatment's a bit heavy-handed in places . . .
On the other hand, I never lost interest and the pages kept turning. So, overall, while this isn't a novel I could get enthusiastic about, I can quite see why I continued to read whatever EQ I came across until, in due course, I hit the really good stuff.
October 20, 2020
"Il perfetto criminale è un superuomo. Deve essere meticoloso nelle sue tecniche: sfuggente, invisibile, un lupo solitario. Non deve avere né amici né persone che dipendano da lui."
Un classico del giallo, dove la coppia di investigatori formata da un ispettore di polizia di New York e suo figlio, scrittore di libri gialli, appunto Ellery Queen, provano a risolvere l'enigma di un omicidio avvenuto a teatro. Il romanzo risente dell'età e del fatto di essere il primo scritto dagli autori che si firmano con lo pseudonimo Ellery Queen.
Un classico del giallo, dove la coppia di investigatori formata da un ispettore di polizia di New York e suo figlio, scrittore di libri gialli, appunto Ellery Queen, provano a risolvere l'enigma di un omicidio avvenuto a teatro. Il romanzo risente dell'età e del fatto di essere il primo scritto dagli autori che si firmano con lo pseudonimo Ellery Queen.
December 31, 2021
This is the first Ellery Queen mystery and I was a little bit surprised that Ellery was only a supporting character in the story—THE supporting character as it turns out, but not the person whom we follow throughout the case. The mystery is top notch—a murder happens in the middle of a theatrical performance and Ellery’s father, Inspector Queen, has to figure out who committed the crime. The biggest clue, as suggested by the title, is a missing top hat, but how it is supposed to lead to the culprit is by no means obvious.
The first fifth of the story sets up the crime and provides the boundaries of the investigation in a very enjoyable fashion. Then we get down to brass tacks and try to figure out who killed a lawyer with an increasingly bad reputation. Lots of people hated the man and as the Queens discover, lots had reasons to fear him.
The gimmick of the Ellery Queen mysteries is that each book carefully provides all the clues needed to solve the crime—who done it and why? I figured out the “who” in this one, but not because of the clues. I figured it out by thinking about how mystery writers plot stories and using this totally unfair technique I correctly identified the culprit—but now how the murderer committed the act. As the Queens narrowed in on the culprit, I went a step further and figured out how the hat was gotten out of the theater (that was done fairly) but I couldn’t have explained anything else. Yet, when the Queens explained it, I felt that I had been given every chance to solve the crime.
One additional thing needs to be mentioned, This book was published in 1929 and reflects the prejudices of the 1920s. At times, interactions and other facets of the story will make a modern reader cringe as I’m sure we would do nearly constantly if we ever traveled in time back to the Roaring Twenties.
If you liked this review, you can find more at www.gilbertstack.com/reviews.
The first fifth of the story sets up the crime and provides the boundaries of the investigation in a very enjoyable fashion. Then we get down to brass tacks and try to figure out who killed a lawyer with an increasingly bad reputation. Lots of people hated the man and as the Queens discover, lots had reasons to fear him.
The gimmick of the Ellery Queen mysteries is that each book carefully provides all the clues needed to solve the crime—who done it and why? I figured out the “who” in this one, but not because of the clues. I figured it out by thinking about how mystery writers plot stories and using this totally unfair technique I correctly identified the culprit—but now how the murderer committed the act. As the Queens narrowed in on the culprit, I went a step further and figured out how the hat was gotten out of the theater (that was done fairly) but I couldn’t have explained anything else. Yet, when the Queens explained it, I felt that I had been given every chance to solve the crime.
One additional thing needs to be mentioned, This book was published in 1929 and reflects the prejudices of the 1920s. At times, interactions and other facets of the story will make a modern reader cringe as I’m sure we would do nearly constantly if we ever traveled in time back to the Roaring Twenties.
If you liked this review, you can find more at www.gilbertstack.com/reviews.
October 17, 2010
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 that sets the stage for a very successful character who lived on in books, radio, movies and television.
The Queen series improved over the years and should be read chronologically to enjoy the changes that take place as the characters find their personalities.
The Queen series improved over the years and should be read chronologically to enjoy the changes that take place as the characters find their personalities.
December 7, 2017
I would not bother with any more of these. While Ellery Queen was a name I'd heard and known for a long time, I'd never read any of their work. This one, published in 1929, has not aged well at all. I don't understand why these authors gained any reputation with this debut novel. It's clunky and hard to follow - and not in the way you want a mystery to mystify you, but in the way a bad plot can mystify you. Much of the action, deduction, and sleuthing take place off to the side, and the reader has to wait for Inspector Queen to later explain it in long, dreary monologue. He also seems to have an unhealthy attachment to his son, Ellery. A lot of it doesnt' make sense, and then it's capped off in the end with a surprise bit of racial blackmail, described in a way that's quite racist. I know, what did I expect from 1929. Still...I read books that are much older and much, much better, so I wouldn't have assumed this was going to be so awful based on publication date. It has not aged well.
October 5, 2016
I am not huge on making reviews, but I have to say I believe this book gets a bad rap... so many 2 stars? crazy...
I thoroughly enjoyed it! I enjoyed how the book was written, and the crime being solved by deductive reasoning. The step into the past, and the feel for the time period. Even though there wasn't a bunch of "action", my interest was kept. I listened to this book on my audible, and to me it was a wonderful "who-done-it" logic puzzle. I plan on reading the next in the series!
I thoroughly enjoyed it! I enjoyed how the book was written, and the crime being solved by deductive reasoning. The step into the past, and the feel for the time period. Even though there wasn't a bunch of "action", my interest was kept. I listened to this book on my audible, and to me it was a wonderful "who-done-it" logic puzzle. I plan on reading the next in the series!
January 4, 2021
Più di 90 anni, ma ancora godibilissimo. Un libro corto che si legge quasi d'un fiato, mentre i due protagonisti (padre e figlio) snocciolano i vari indizi portandoti verso la soluzione del caso. A due terzi del libro capisci chi è il colpevole, ma devi attendere che l'autore tiri fuori tutti i pezzi per risolvere il puzzle (e il caso, con il suo movente!).
October 16, 2021
An ingenious mystery, but ploddingly told. That's what I get for trying out Ellery Queen with the first novel. I will try so something from further along next to give the style a chance to catch up with the plotting. The narration was top-notch.
June 13, 2025
🕵️♂️ The Roman Hat Mystery
Ellery Queen #1
⭐⭐⭐⭐ – “You dirty rat… murdered him right in the middle of Act II?!”
Picture this: it’s 1979. I’m on the living room floor, elbows propped on shag carpet, TV glowing like the eye of God, and there’s Jim Hutton as Ellery Queen—typewriter clacking, clues swirling, everyone suspicious. Mom’s yelling “turn it down,” but I’m locked in. It’s polite murder! Intellectual sleuthing! A man solving crimes in a sweater vest!
Flash forward 45 years, a few VHS tapes and a thousand murders later, and I finally crack open The Roman Hat Mystery. The very first Ellery Queen novel. And let me tell you, it is not what I expected.
It’s better.
🕵️♂️ The Plot (No Spoilers… Well, Maybe Just a Fedora's Worth)
Broadway. The Roman Theater. A full house, a second-rate melodrama, and a top-rate corpse. Lawyer Monte Field drops dead mid-performance—not from boredom, mind you, but from poisoning. Oddly, the one thing missing from the crime scene isn’t a clue—it’s the dead man’s top hat. That hat is the holy grail, the golden snitch, the MacGuffin of the piece. Cue our bespectacled sleuth, Ellery Queen, and his more grounded father, Inspector Richard Queen.
From cloakrooms to crooked clients, the investigation sprawls like a gangster movie in slow motion.
And let’s just say, if you're expecting high-octane chases or Poirot-level moustache-stroking drama, you’ll need to readjust your monocle. This one’s all about clues, logic, and watching the detective turn the plot inside out.
👓 Ellery Queen: The Human Crossword Puzzle
Book Ellery isn’t quite the cardigan-clad charmer I remember from TV. No, this Ellery is equal parts savant and smugness. He hovers around crime scenes like a socially distant bat, making logic leaps the rest of us need a diagram to follow.
He rarely emotes, almost never touches anything, and reacts to murder the way most of us react to long division: cold fascination.
He's brilliant, though, and he makes the book hum with intellectual energy, except instead of car chases, we get timelines, diagrams, and stern lectures about circumstantial evidence.
🚬 Inspector Richard Queen: The Dad We All Deserve
Inspector Queen, on the other hand, is a grizzled gem. He’s part Edward G. Robinson, part your cranky uncle who still calls the TV remote a “clicker.”
He doesn’t care about philosophy, he cares about results. He wants that hat, he wants that suspect, and by God, he wants lunch. But beneath the growl is genuine affection for his brainiac son, even if he doesn’t understand 90% of what comes out of his mouth.
Their relationship is less “heartwarming” and more “please stop correcting your father in front of the suspect,” but it works.
👤 The Supporting Cast – All Hats, No Filler
The suspects are a rogues’ gallery of prohibition-era eccentrics. There’s the scheming actress, the shady partner, the suspiciously silent usher. You get the sense every one of them has committed some crime—just maybe not this one.
But the real character here is 1929 New York: a city of flophouses, flappers, and theatre lobbies reeking of cigars and suppressed secrets. Reading this felt like sliding into a black-and-white gangster film where the gun is a poison vial.
🖋️ Writing Style: Brainy, Brisk, and Bone-Dry
Let’s be honest—this is not a book for vibes. It’s for people who want to play detective alongside the sleuth. The prose is clinical, the pacing methodical, and the logic airtight. You’ll feel like you're being tested… and that’s kind of the fun.
There’s even a “Challenge to the Reader” near the end, where Ellery basically leans over the fourth wall and says, “Well? Think you’re clever? Prove it.”
It’s arrogant. It’s dated. It’s… oddly delightful.
🧢 Historical Flavor: Fedora-Crushingly Fun
This book smells like mothballs and pipe smoke. You can hear the clack of typewriters and the rustle of trench coats. It’s an old-school mystery soaked in early 20th-century urban Americana—where everyone has secrets, everyone smokes, and hats are basically currency.
It’s so vintage, James Cagney could’ve played every single role. And I mean every. single. one.
🪞The Uncomfortable Truth: Djuna and the Racism in the Room
But now, we need to talk about Djuna—the Queen family’s live-in servant, or as he’s bafflingly called, their “houseboy.”
Djuna’s ethnicity is never clarified, but his name and the descriptions (from others and the narrator) imply he is likely of African or Middle Eastern descent. He’s depicted as servile, childlike, and—deep breath here—he curls up at the feet of his masters like a house pet, sometimes being patted or called a “rascal,” “monkey,” or “imp.”
It’s jarring. It’s dehumanizing. And yes, it’s a stark reminder of how deeply baked racism was into early 20th-century American culture—even in something as seemingly “harmless” as a mystery novel.
Djuna is not a villain. He’s not even much of a character. But the way he is presented and positioned in the narrative—as lovable furniture—is inexcusable, even for 1929.
Reading this in 2025 is uncomfortable, and it should be. This isn’t just a flaw in the text; it’s a teaching moment. It shows us how easy it was for popular media to normalize inequality, how quiet racism crept in through passive character design, and how this still reverberates today.
There’s no getting around it. If you read this book, you will enjoy the mystery—and then feel the gut-punch of cultural dissonance when Djuna slides onto the floor like a well-trained poodle.
🧢 Final Thoughts: Hat’s Off to a Brilliant Start
The Roman Hat Mystery isn’t cozy, but it is cozy-adjacent for crossword fanatics. It doesn’t have Christie’s warmth or twisty flair—but it’s leagues ahead of the other “Queens of Crime” in terms of sheer puzzle precision.
Is Ellery likable? Not really. Is the mystery fair? Painfully so.
Did I enjoy every logic-laced, pipe-smoke-scented moment? Absolutely.
Four nostalgic, hatless stars.
One for the classic murder puzzle, one for the brilliant dad-son dynamic, one for 1920s ambiance, and one for baby me watching TV, yelling “I bet the hat did it!”
Ellery Queen #1
⭐⭐⭐⭐ – “You dirty rat… murdered him right in the middle of Act II?!”
Picture this: it’s 1979. I’m on the living room floor, elbows propped on shag carpet, TV glowing like the eye of God, and there’s Jim Hutton as Ellery Queen—typewriter clacking, clues swirling, everyone suspicious. Mom’s yelling “turn it down,” but I’m locked in. It’s polite murder! Intellectual sleuthing! A man solving crimes in a sweater vest!
Flash forward 45 years, a few VHS tapes and a thousand murders later, and I finally crack open The Roman Hat Mystery. The very first Ellery Queen novel. And let me tell you, it is not what I expected.
It’s better.
🕵️♂️ The Plot (No Spoilers… Well, Maybe Just a Fedora's Worth)
Broadway. The Roman Theater. A full house, a second-rate melodrama, and a top-rate corpse. Lawyer Monte Field drops dead mid-performance—not from boredom, mind you, but from poisoning. Oddly, the one thing missing from the crime scene isn’t a clue—it’s the dead man’s top hat. That hat is the holy grail, the golden snitch, the MacGuffin of the piece. Cue our bespectacled sleuth, Ellery Queen, and his more grounded father, Inspector Richard Queen.
From cloakrooms to crooked clients, the investigation sprawls like a gangster movie in slow motion.
And let’s just say, if you're expecting high-octane chases or Poirot-level moustache-stroking drama, you’ll need to readjust your monocle. This one’s all about clues, logic, and watching the detective turn the plot inside out.
👓 Ellery Queen: The Human Crossword Puzzle
Book Ellery isn’t quite the cardigan-clad charmer I remember from TV. No, this Ellery is equal parts savant and smugness. He hovers around crime scenes like a socially distant bat, making logic leaps the rest of us need a diagram to follow.
He rarely emotes, almost never touches anything, and reacts to murder the way most of us react to long division: cold fascination.
He's brilliant, though, and he makes the book hum with intellectual energy, except instead of car chases, we get timelines, diagrams, and stern lectures about circumstantial evidence.
🚬 Inspector Richard Queen: The Dad We All Deserve
Inspector Queen, on the other hand, is a grizzled gem. He’s part Edward G. Robinson, part your cranky uncle who still calls the TV remote a “clicker.”
He doesn’t care about philosophy, he cares about results. He wants that hat, he wants that suspect, and by God, he wants lunch. But beneath the growl is genuine affection for his brainiac son, even if he doesn’t understand 90% of what comes out of his mouth.
Their relationship is less “heartwarming” and more “please stop correcting your father in front of the suspect,” but it works.
👤 The Supporting Cast – All Hats, No Filler
The suspects are a rogues’ gallery of prohibition-era eccentrics. There’s the scheming actress, the shady partner, the suspiciously silent usher. You get the sense every one of them has committed some crime—just maybe not this one.
But the real character here is 1929 New York: a city of flophouses, flappers, and theatre lobbies reeking of cigars and suppressed secrets. Reading this felt like sliding into a black-and-white gangster film where the gun is a poison vial.
🖋️ Writing Style: Brainy, Brisk, and Bone-Dry
Let’s be honest—this is not a book for vibes. It’s for people who want to play detective alongside the sleuth. The prose is clinical, the pacing methodical, and the logic airtight. You’ll feel like you're being tested… and that’s kind of the fun.
There’s even a “Challenge to the Reader” near the end, where Ellery basically leans over the fourth wall and says, “Well? Think you’re clever? Prove it.”
It’s arrogant. It’s dated. It’s… oddly delightful.
🧢 Historical Flavor: Fedora-Crushingly Fun
This book smells like mothballs and pipe smoke. You can hear the clack of typewriters and the rustle of trench coats. It’s an old-school mystery soaked in early 20th-century urban Americana—where everyone has secrets, everyone smokes, and hats are basically currency.
It’s so vintage, James Cagney could’ve played every single role. And I mean every. single. one.
🪞The Uncomfortable Truth: Djuna and the Racism in the Room
But now, we need to talk about Djuna—the Queen family’s live-in servant, or as he’s bafflingly called, their “houseboy.”
Djuna’s ethnicity is never clarified, but his name and the descriptions (from others and the narrator) imply he is likely of African or Middle Eastern descent. He’s depicted as servile, childlike, and—deep breath here—he curls up at the feet of his masters like a house pet, sometimes being patted or called a “rascal,” “monkey,” or “imp.”
It’s jarring. It’s dehumanizing. And yes, it’s a stark reminder of how deeply baked racism was into early 20th-century American culture—even in something as seemingly “harmless” as a mystery novel.
Djuna is not a villain. He’s not even much of a character. But the way he is presented and positioned in the narrative—as lovable furniture—is inexcusable, even for 1929.
Reading this in 2025 is uncomfortable, and it should be. This isn’t just a flaw in the text; it’s a teaching moment. It shows us how easy it was for popular media to normalize inequality, how quiet racism crept in through passive character design, and how this still reverberates today.
There’s no getting around it. If you read this book, you will enjoy the mystery—and then feel the gut-punch of cultural dissonance when Djuna slides onto the floor like a well-trained poodle.
🧢 Final Thoughts: Hat’s Off to a Brilliant Start
The Roman Hat Mystery isn’t cozy, but it is cozy-adjacent for crossword fanatics. It doesn’t have Christie’s warmth or twisty flair—but it’s leagues ahead of the other “Queens of Crime” in terms of sheer puzzle precision.
Is Ellery likable? Not really. Is the mystery fair? Painfully so.
Did I enjoy every logic-laced, pipe-smoke-scented moment? Absolutely.
Four nostalgic, hatless stars.
One for the classic murder puzzle, one for the brilliant dad-son dynamic, one for 1920s ambiance, and one for baby me watching TV, yelling “I bet the hat did it!”
April 24, 2021
Major characters:
Monte Field - the victim
William Pusak - clerk
Louis Panzer - theatre manager
Harry Neilson - theatre publicity agent
James Peale - lead actor
Stephen Barry - actor
Eve Ellis
In the audience:
Frances Ives-Pope
Benjamin Morgan
"Parson Johnny" Cazzanelli
Madge O'Connell
Dr. Stuttgard
Locale: New York City
The play "Gunplay" is playing to packed houses at the Roman Theatre on Broadway. Sometime in the second act, Monte Field is found dead in the last row of the audience. Cause of death is found to be an obscure poison. An odd aspect is that his top hat is missing. (Remember, this is 1929, and top hats are de rigeur for men at the theatre). The murderer must have been someone in the theatre. Field is found to have been a blackmailer, with a multitude of people having a motive to do away with him. But where has he stashed his blackmail evidence? And where is his hat?
This is the first Ellery Queen novel, and provides the pattern for most of those to follow. It contains a listing of the characters, a map of the crime scene, and an intermission which contains a challenge to the reader - stating all facts have now been presented, and can the reader determine who the killer is?
The character list and the map provide a handy reference while reading. The search for the hat becomes a shell game as more hats pile up. It seems a distraction, yet turns out to be vital to the plot, so pay attention to the hats.
Some cringe-worthy elements are the houseboy Djuna, who seems more a pet than a servant; and an explanation of the motive at the end which reveals the blatant racism extant at the time. There are some loose ends left dangling at the end, but still a satisfying read.
Monte Field - the victim
William Pusak - clerk
Louis Panzer - theatre manager
Harry Neilson - theatre publicity agent
James Peale - lead actor
Stephen Barry - actor
Eve Ellis
In the audience:
Frances Ives-Pope
Benjamin Morgan
"Parson Johnny" Cazzanelli
Madge O'Connell
Dr. Stuttgard
Locale: New York City
The play "Gunplay" is playing to packed houses at the Roman Theatre on Broadway. Sometime in the second act, Monte Field is found dead in the last row of the audience. Cause of death is found to be an obscure poison. An odd aspect is that his top hat is missing. (Remember, this is 1929, and top hats are de rigeur for men at the theatre). The murderer must have been someone in the theatre. Field is found to have been a blackmailer, with a multitude of people having a motive to do away with him. But where has he stashed his blackmail evidence? And where is his hat?
This is the first Ellery Queen novel, and provides the pattern for most of those to follow. It contains a listing of the characters, a map of the crime scene, and an intermission which contains a challenge to the reader - stating all facts have now been presented, and can the reader determine who the killer is?
The character list and the map provide a handy reference while reading. The search for the hat becomes a shell game as more hats pile up. It seems a distraction, yet turns out to be vital to the plot, so pay attention to the hats.
Some cringe-worthy elements are the houseboy Djuna, who seems more a pet than a servant; and an explanation of the motive at the end which reveals the blatant racism extant at the time. There are some loose ends left dangling at the end, but still a satisfying read.
June 24, 2010
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) are obvious with incidents of casual gender, class, education and race biases cropping up throughout. The continuous discussion in the book about the difficulty of solving such a mysterious crime hides the fact that answer to "who was the murderer" is fairly obvious and the most important clue would have been found within hours of the murder had the police been even minimally competent.
In addition it is hard, when reading this first Ellery Queen novel, to shake off the impressions left by reading Ellery Queens written half a century later and even more, it is almost impossible not to see Jim Hutton in the mind's eye whenever Ellery comes into a room.
In addition it is hard, when reading this first Ellery Queen novel, to shake off the impressions left by reading Ellery Queens written half a century later and even more, it is almost impossible not to see Jim Hutton in the mind's eye whenever Ellery comes into a room.
January 18, 2019
I read this book in annotated form as included in Classic American Crime Fiction of the 1920s
edited by Leslie S. Klinger.
Thus far in this collection, I've read the first books about Charlie Chan and Philo Vance. Both had issues, from my modern perspective--a painfully slow start and barely any Charlie Chan in the first, and the rambling, annoying presence of Philo Vance in the second. But in this, the first Ellery Queen novel, I finally encountered a 1920s mystery I absolutely loved. The writing is fantastic from page one, the mystery utterly intriguing, and the cast of characters diverse and amusing. I could see myself reading and enjoying more Ellery Queen novels.
edited by Leslie S. Klinger.
Thus far in this collection, I've read the first books about Charlie Chan and Philo Vance. Both had issues, from my modern perspective--a painfully slow start and barely any Charlie Chan in the first, and the rambling, annoying presence of Philo Vance in the second. But in this, the first Ellery Queen novel, I finally encountered a 1920s mystery I absolutely loved. The writing is fantastic from page one, the mystery utterly intriguing, and the cast of characters diverse and amusing. I could see myself reading and enjoying more Ellery Queen novels.
June 7, 2012
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.
October 6, 2018
Redundant
I don’t get to give out many one star rating, but The Roman Hat Mystery deserves it. Many pages of the book are redundant, which makes the book much too long.
I don’t get to give out many one star rating, but The Roman Hat Mystery deserves it. Many pages of the book are redundant, which makes the book much too long.
Read
October 31, 2019Probably never gonna finish this.
December 9, 2023
Ellery Queen and his father Inspector Richard Queen investigate a mysterious death at the Roman theatre, which centres around a missing top hat. So that answered my first question - what on earth is a Roman Hat?!
This was an ingenious mystery that was rather let down by the ponderous and repetitive writing style. I found it hard to get into, then it grabbed my interest as the suspects came to life and the Queens began eliminating them, then I flagged during the epilogue where every detail was repeated and explained. And don’t get me started on the need to know every time Queen senior takes snuff or Ellery polishes his pince-nez!
Nevertheless, this was an interesting example of how the early Golden Age mystery developed in the US, with its hints of Prohibition and a wicked lady straight out of a noir novel, plus high society families and crooked lawyers - and an age where people wore evening dress to the theatre and the lack of a top hat would draw unwanted attention. The setting was great, there were interesting characters, and the plot was clever if rather convoluted. Intriguing for sure, but I would have preferred snappier prose and switching more sharply between the characters.
This was an ingenious mystery that was rather let down by the ponderous and repetitive writing style. I found it hard to get into, then it grabbed my interest as the suspects came to life and the Queens began eliminating them, then I flagged during the epilogue where every detail was repeated and explained. And don’t get me started on the need to know every time Queen senior takes snuff or Ellery polishes his pince-nez!
Nevertheless, this was an interesting example of how the early Golden Age mystery developed in the US, with its hints of Prohibition and a wicked lady straight out of a noir novel, plus high society families and crooked lawyers - and an age where people wore evening dress to the theatre and the lack of a top hat would draw unwanted attention. The setting was great, there were interesting characters, and the plot was clever if rather convoluted. Intriguing for sure, but I would have preferred snappier prose and switching more sharply between the characters.
March 16, 2025
The first and my first Ellery Queen. our detective/novelist arrives fully firmed as far as I can tell in his first outing (with his father of course). This was old-school procedural with every interview every decision, every though process laid out before the reader for our consideration. One of the great Queen conceits which I vaguely remembered from the 1970s TV series was breaking the 4th wall to ask the audience if they have managed to work out whodunnit based on the evidence. I have another of these all ready to go and I will have to decide after that if I want to persist. This one could have been 25% shorter, but it was a fun read nonetheless.
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