الری کوئین کار نویسندگی را در 1929 زمانی که تب رمانهای پلیسی همه گیر شده بود آغاز کرد او در قدم نخست در صف مقدم نویسندگان پلیسی جای گرفت از 1938 تغییراتی در کار کوئین پدید آمد این کتاب یکی از آثار خوب اوست، در این داستان او به کمک روانکاوی کانون قدرتهای اجتماعی ناخودآگاه را در تغییر انگیزه ی شخصیت های داستان باز می نمایاند و از این طریق به رمان پلیسی چیزی می افزاید که تا آن زمان وجود نداشته است
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.
E' bravo Ellery Queen e mette il lettore nella condizione di investigare insieme a lui: le informazioni, gli indizi, le descrizioni dei personaggi sono completi e tutti disponibili. Arriviamo anche a conoscere i pensieri di Ellery, i dubbi che gli vengono in mente mentre parla con gli altri personaggi. E' bravo Ellery Queen perché nonostante tutto, alla fine arriva a sorprenderti con un finale davvero "particolare". Peccato solo che in questo romanzo, l'ultima parte, quella in cui Ellery smaschera il colpevole esponendogli tutto il piano per filo e per segno, è troppo lunga e monocorde: non c'è dialogo fra i due personaggi. Sembra una lezioncina da cattedra e si perde quindi il collegamento emotivo necessario a elaborare la reazione finale.
Once again Ellery is in Wrightsville, an old acquaintance is suffering from amnesiac attacks and asks for Ellery's aid. Over the course of 9 days Ellery finds himself dragged unwillingly into a messy family situation. And on the 10th day .....
Eh...once again, a Wrightsville Ellery Queen didn't really work for me. At this point, they're reasonably entertaining popcorn affairs but nowhere within the same atmosphere of early Queen.
A book that I did not like in my youth, but one that I have grown to appreciate as I get older, this is as much a family drama as it is truly inspired mystery.
Ein junger Mann aus gutem Hause, Howard Van Horn, leidet unter rätselhaften Amnesie-Attacken. Weit von zu Hause entfernt erwacht er an unbekannten Orten ohne zu wissen, wie er dahingekommen ist. Die gegenwärtige Station seines nicht enden wollenden Alptraums ist New York City. Wie gut, dass der Privatdetektiv Ellery Queen hier residiert, denn Howard ist mit Mr. Ellery Queen befreundet, das heißt sie waren für kurze Zeit befreundet. Vor zehn Jahren begegneten sie sich in Paris. Damals, 1938, am Vorabend des 2. Weltkrieges trafen sich, der ein Studium der Bildhauerei verfolgende, Howard und Ellery in der französischen Hauptstadt, verloren sich aber schon bald wieder aus den Augen. Nun wendet sich Howard in seiner Verzweiflung an seinen alten Bekannten. Keiner der Ärzte, die er bisher aufsuchte, konnten ihm helfen, und auch bei Ellery bedarf es einer gewissen Überredung. Aber Ellery merkt schnell, dass Howard am Rande der Verzweiflung steht, er befürchtet, irgendein furchtbares Verbrechen begangen zu haben, an welches er sich nicht mehr erinnern kann. Schließlich stellt sich sogar heraus, dass Howard aus dem kleinen Ort Wrightsville stammt, der Ellery noch aus seinem vorigen Fall in Erinnerung ist (hier sei auch darauf hingewiesen, dass dieser Roman die Lösung eben dieses älteren Falles aufgreift und etwaige Spoiler beinhaltet). Dort residiert sein steinreicher Vater, der sich eine wesentlich jüngere und bemerkenswert attraktive Frau angelacht hat, noch dazu ist dieser Diedrich Van Horn ein großer Fan des Detektivs, er besitzt sämtliche Fälle Ellery Queens (die dieser ja stets selbst aufzeichnet und in Romanform gießt) und scheint dem Fremden großes Vertrauen entgegenzubringen. Also quartiert sich der Detektiv im Palast der Van Horns ein, um ein Auge auf Howard zu haben. Ich nehme vermutlich nichts vorweg, wenn ich verrate, dass dessen Attacken sich fortsetzen und sogar in handfeste Verbrechen münden und am Ende kommt es sogar zu einem Mord.
Was zunächst auffällt ist, wie wunderbar Am zehnten Tage geschrieben ist:
„Im Anfang war es noch ohne Form; Finsternis, ein Dunkel, das sich Tänzern gleich rhythmisch hin und her wiegte. Irgendwo in der Ferne war auch Musik; leise, heiter, rätselhaft; plötzlich rauschte sie auf einen zu und schwoll zu einem solch ohrenbetäubenden Brausen an, dass man sich vorkam wie eine Mücke im Windkanal. Dann war sie auch schon vorbeigerauscht, schwoll ab, verlor sich leise spielend in der weiterhin schaukelnden Finsternis.
Alles schwankte. Er fühlte sich seekrank.
Das mochte der Nachthimmel über dem Atlantik sein da droben, mit einem schattenhaften Wolkenschleier und zittrigen Tupfern anstelle von Sternen. Die Musik war das Pfeifen des Windes auf dem Vorderdeck oder das Rauschen von Kielwasser. Er wusste, dass es wirklich war; denn wenn er die Augen schloss, blendeten sich Wolkenschleier und Sterne aus, obwohl das Schaukeln blieb – und auch die Musik. Er nahm Fischgeruch wahr und hatte einen Geschmack auf der Zunge, der in sich widersprüchlich war, etwa wie der sauren Honigs.
Es war interessant: Obwohl ihm dies alles nur Kopfzerbrechen bereitete, war es geradezu so, als gäbe die Gelegenheit, über das nachzugrübeln, was er sah, hörte, roch und schmeckte, seiner Person neues Gewicht; ja, es war, als wäre zuvor nie etwas gewesen. Es war, wie geboren zu werden. Es war, wie auf einem Schiff geboren zu werden. Man lag in dem Schiff; das Schiff schaukelte, man schaukelte mit ihm in der schaukelnden Nacht und schaute zum Himmelszelt auf.“
Zugegeben, dieser Anfang wirkt auf den Leser zunächst etwas desorientierend, gibt aber gerade dadurch perfekt das Gefühl eines Menschen wieder, der sich in einem solch ungewöhnlichen psychischen Zustand befindet. Man hat selbst keine Ahnung, wo genau man sich befindet und vermag Howard Van Horn dadurch sehr gut zu verstehen.
Das Autorenduo Ellery Queen bietet hier zumindest stilistisch ein sehr hohes Niveau, wie man es heutzutage kaum noch in Kriminalromanen findet. Umso enttäuschender fällt aus, wie trivial und überholt die Handlung anmutet, wobei dies tatsächlich erst im Finale klar wird, bis dahin wiegt man sich als Leser in der Hoffnung, all dies würde irgendwann zu einer überwältigenden, zutiefst überraschenden Auflösung führen.
Im Nachwort wird der französische Regisseur Claude Chabrol zitiert, welcher den Roman mit einer Starbesetzung (u.a. Anthony Perkins und Orson Welles) verfilmte: „Einer der besten Detektivromane, die je geschrieben wurden, weil in ihm auf wunderbare Weise die Erklärung des Geheimnisses faszinierender ist als das Geheimnis selbst – sie gibt dem Werk eine völlig neue Dimension.“
Nun ja, für den Leser des Jahres 1948 (in welchem der Roman ursprünglich erschien) mag dies ja der Höhepunkt wendungsreicher Krimikunst gewesen sein, für den Konsumenten von Kriminalliteratur indes, der das Unglück hat im 21. Jahrhundert zu existieren (im Zeitalter des abgedroschenen und bereits dagewesenen) ist die Handlung nur ein alter Hut. Egal wie fabelhaft der Plot auch erzählt wird, das Ende nötigte mir nicht viel mehr als ein müdes Schulterzucken ab.
Der Detektiv dagegen beißt sich fast die Zähne aus an diesem nicht sonderlich komplexen Rätsel. Es ist schon erstaunlich, wie lange Ellery braucht, um hinter die Wahrheit zu kommen. Zunächst scheitert er sogar, und erst ein Jahr später gelingt es ihm die Lösung zu finden. Das hätte jeder herkömmliche Krimileser von heute wesentlich schneller austüfteln können. Zumal die Zahl der Verdächtigen doch äußerst begrenzt ist: Gerade mal vier Hauptfiguren gibt es, von denen am Ende auch noch zwei tot sind. Und ja, selbst das Motiv dieses Übeltäters ist letztendlich so etwas von banal, da fragt man sich: hat es dazu wirklich einen ganzen Roman gebraucht, um solch eine jämmerliche Story zu erzählen? (Über die zahlreichen schreienden Logiklöcher will ich gnädig hinwegsehen.) Nein, Am zehnten Tage ist nicht so sehr klassisch, wie viel mehr antiquiert, und so leid es mir auch tut, mein lieber Ellery, ein Detektiv, der etwas auf sich gibt, sollte sich keine solchen Patzer erlauben.
This is some of the most bonkers nonsense I think I've ever read. Ellery's first explanation for the crime is ludicrous. The actual twist explanation is nothing if not more preposterous.
This is pure Gothic soap opera. The first half of the book, prior to the murder is actually a fun romp with some ridiculously over the top characters and actions. Once the murder must occur (as per Ellery) things go insane. Ellery's aside are preposterous, his actions are inconceivable and his "understanding" of psychology makes me question the popularity of his novels.
Leggo in giro opinioni contrastanti su questo romanzo di Ellery Queen. A caldo, dopo averlo letto tutto di un fiato (secondo me, questo è il tipo di romanzo che va letto dall'inizio alla fine senza interruzioni), la mia opinione è netta: nel suo genere, è un capolavoro.
La soluzione finale è completamente assurda e inverosimile e, per me, questo è un pregio nei gialli classici. Io voglio delitti pazzeschi e dinamiche praticamente impossibili nella realtà, e più sono assurdi e meglio è, purché siano coerenti e spiegabili nel contesto narrativo (requisito rispettato a pieno in questo romanzo).
L'unico difetto, a mio parere, è il suo essere fin troppo incentrato sulla psicologia dei personaggi e poco sugli indizi. La dinamica dell'investigazione e della scoperta della verità da parte del protagonista è un po' deludente e stiracchiata, a mio parere. Ma è un difetto trascurabile.
La tensione è alta dall'inizio fino alla rivelazione finale, e la storia narrata è cupa e drammatica, oserei dire "malata". A differenza di altri romanzi di Ellery Queen, più leggeri e sereni, qui c'è poco umorismo e tanta inquietudine. Nonostante Ellery Queen sia, dal punto di vista della qualità letteraria, uno scrittore mediocre, riesce a tirare fuori una storia affascinante e disturbante partendo da dei clichè molto vecchi. Penso che sia un risultato notevole e penso che non dimenticherò facilmente questa storia e questi personaggi.
Este livro tem as doses certas de mistério, personagens enigmáticas, um detetive perspicaz, uma investigação lógica e, finalmente, um desfecho inesperado.
Portanto é muito propenso que fiquem agarrados a este livro constantemente, de modo a perceber como a história se desenrola. Porém aviso, não tiverem conclusões precipitadas porque vão-se arrepender!
“Dez Dias de Mistério” retrata dez dias que decorrem desde a estadia de Ellery Queen na casa dos Van Horn, depois de um pedido de ajuda de Howard, para que ele ficasse nos seus aposentos a vigiá-lo de possíveis estados de amnésia e ações que não se recorda de fazer. No decorrer destes dias Ellery depara-se com segredos desta família e, consequentemente, envolve-se neles até fazer parte do dito crime.
Um policial, sem sombras para dúvidas, recheado de um bom plot twist, que nos faz repensar em toda a narrativa de forma a encontrar todas as ligações e resolver estes dez dias de mistério.
Un caso anomalo per Ellery Queen: nessun omicidio, non ancora per lo meno. Solo una vecchia conoscenza, lo scultore Howard Van Horn, che chiede al famoso detective di risolvere il mistero che si cela dietro i suoi episodi di amnesia e gli incomprensibili gesti che compie durante essi. Ellery si ritroverà così in viaggio verso Wrightsville ignaro dei dieci "incredibili" giorni che si ritroverà a vivere. Non il mio romanzo preferito, ma decisamente un ottimo libro di Ellery Queen! I capitoli finali mi hanno lasciato a bocca aperta, come sempre del resto! Lo consiglio a tutti gli amanti del genere e soprattutto ai lettori più fedeli di Ellery Queen!
Um regresso à juventude: ao romance policial clássico (ai a coleção vampiro, de bolso ou em gigante!) com um fiel companheiro de muitas horas - Ellery Queen. Uma boa história típica da época, meados do séc XX, para quem aprecia os policiais clássicos (como eu) de leitura fácil, fluida e, aqui e ali, desafiantes na lógica.
A spectacularly implausible plot, but so cleverly conceived that you can't help but admire it. And just when you think it's over - it's not.
The original Ellery Queen mysteries were written by two cousins and I can only imagine the fun they must have had putting this one together. And all the hard work.
, famoso anche per il film di Chabrol (che curiosamente non prevede fra i personaggi proprio Ellery Queen. Come del resto in molte trasposizioni teatrali di romanzi con Poirot manca proprio Poirot) Dieci incredibili giorni. Ricordo che mi imposi di leggerlo in dieci giorni seguendo la scansione temporale degli eventi come raccontata La trama: Ellery Queen incontra un conoscente che non incontrava da parecchio tempo, Howard Van Horn, che soffre di amnesie e teme di aver commesso un omicidio durante queste amnesie. Seppur riluttante, Ellery Queen accetta di seguirlo a Wrightsville, dove incontra i vari componenti della famiglia Van Horn e impara a conoscere le relazioni complesse e cariche di tensione che li legano uno all’altro. Non dico altro per non rovinare la sorpresa. Un Ellery Queen diverso dalle sue prime esperienze, meno quiz enigmistico e più romanzo psicologico, con una tensione che ti prende dalla prima pagina e dura fino all’ultima, e con una soluzione memorabile.
My favorite Ellery Queen novel--it's the one in which the cousins who wrote these books wage open warfare against each other--the puzzlemaster vs. the psychoanalyst. I'm not sure that anyone who hasn't read all their books would appreciate it. It doesn't seem much different than all the other highly-contrived, ridiculously-patterned mysteries they created--except that Ellery is really the villain of this one. For anyone who's ever made a fatal mistake in their job, or accidentally caused major damage without even knowing it. Or played God.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
At the time this was written the psychological aspect was probably pretty revolutionary, so I can forgive much. I am a fan of early Queen mysteries. This one just didn't grab me.
کسی که فیلم "هفت" دیوید فینچر رو دیده باشه و دوست داشته باشه، با خوندن این کتاب متوجه میشه که چنین داستانهایی رو میتوان به مراتب هوشمندانهتر و زیباتر و عمیقتر روایت کرد!!!
I think I enjoyed this (audio)book. Sometimes it's hard to tell. The first 5 hours were fun, but I felt like I was just waiting for the shoe to drop, waiting for . Once we got to that point, it felt fun again, though I couldn't figure out why there was so much book left after the climax. The twist was, as always, very fun and very twisty, and I didn't figure it out until almost just before it was revealed. I always like when I don't guess the ending too far in advance.
In fact, I'll say the last three hours were entirely fun, and those 3 hours alone would have given this book a 5/5 stars, if the last 15 minutes hadn't happened. I liked the final reveal, the final confrontation, but I take personal affront at the I don't know. Leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
Ellery Queen was said to be Agatha Christie's favorite American writer(s). The pair of cousins, Daniel Nathan and Emmanuel Lepofsky, combined to create the fictional writer/detective, Ellery Queen, and together produced more than 30 novels, created a mystery magazine, and their fictional hero was also the subject of numerous movie and TV shows. "Ten Days Wonder" is the 19th of Queen's adventures and is one of his most complex, creative and convoluted exercises in criminal detection. It is also the third return to the imagined township of Wrightsville, even though the only recurring character is Queen, himself. The writing itself is again, wonderful, and not the sedate and sophisticated musings of Hercule Poirot, it is quintessentially an American flavored novel. A bit more action, a hint of moral naughtiness and the heroic doings of an independent main character. Not the hard boiled detective of Dashiell Hammett, which is of the same relative era, Ellery Queen is more of a thinking man's character, perhaps an active, mobile Nero Wolfe. In any case (forgive the pun), Ellery Queen will always be an American literary mainstay and "Ten Days Wonder" is proof that he will always be a good read.
Per 150 pagine su 200, prive di omicidi, sembra di trovarsi dinnanzi al più sobrio Ellery Queen di sempre (parliamo dell'autore, non del personaggio: mai così emotivo, al punto da imbarcarsi in una serie di errori e gaffe): un susseguirsi di ricatti, tradimenti e sottaciuti segreti familiari più vicini al tipico ritratto di borghesia in nero che al giallo. Poi qualcuno muore, e la spiegazione di tutto ciò giunge curiosa, ma prolissa e un po' strampalata, facendo dimenticare l'equilibrio e la leggerezza di quanto precede. Il finalissimo, con colpo di scena, risulta troppo diluito, oltre che penalizzato da un numero limitatissimo di possibili colpevoli. In definitiva si tratta, pur al netto dei citati difetti, di un prodotto curioso, che si inserisce nel genere giallo con qualche - non sempre riuscitissimo - elemento di originalità.
**!
Letto in: ed. Mondadori, I classici del giallo, 1972, titolo: "Dieci incredibili giorni"
An artist who suffers bouts of amnesia comes to Ellery for help, but Ellery finds himself mixed up instead with a blackmail scheme and a pattern of other events that hints at something even more sinister. Like so many Ellery Queen stories, the set-up and the crime itself are wildly incredible, this one more than most due mainly to its reliance on people knowing in advance how other people will act in circumstances that are new to them. I also found it unlikely that Ellery would not look at the back of a note passed to him until a year later. Much is made of the fact that the town it is set in, Wrightsville, was the setting for two earlier Queen cases, but to no narrative end. The twist at the end is clever, but uncomfortable, and then ending seemed cowardly.
کتاب را در طول یک سفر طولانی با قطار خواندم. داستان گیرایی داشت و اواسط سفر ت��ام شد. از آن رمانهای پلیسی- معمایی است که انگلیسیها در نوشتنش استاد هستند. خود جناب نویسنده هم گویا از دوستداران اگاتا کریستی است. داستان در شهری خیالی در شرق آمریکا میگذرد و کارگاه-نویسنده داستان که خود جناب الری کوئین است، با تحلیلهای روانشناسانه و استدلال منطقی به دنبال سر در آوردن از جنایتی است که معلوم نیست رخ داده یا قرار است رخ دهد. از این جهت برگردان آمریکایی این ژانر کلاسیک انگلیسی تا حدی با نمونههای اصلی ژانر متفاوت است. خواندش رابه علاقهمندان رمانهای معمایی توصیه میکنم هرچند شاید خوانندههایی که بیشتر دل در گروی داستانهای کاراگاهی آمریکایی (هاردبویل) دارند، چندان جذبش نشوند.
Excellent. Interesting set up, sparky dialogue, great atmosphere and a denouement which, if preposterous, is so well unravelled that it privides a lot of satisfaction. No wonder Chabrol saw its cinematic potentials. The structure of the plot with a short part after the first climax tells us pretty much immediately which way the story is going to go but that didn't seem to matter. Queen helps a friend suffering attacks of amnesia and goes to stay in a house with him and his relations - the godlike philanthropist, his young bride, timid sculptor son, curmudgeonly brother and religious fanatic mother. The murder comes late but the plot starts twisting early on.
I started reading the Ellery Queen books for the meticulous way the character went about solving the murders and the back and forth between father and son. And I liked it. But now... the father seems present in the stories in name only, it takes forever for a murder to occur and the resolution to the crimes are getting more and more convoluted and preposterous... I do realise these stories were written in a different time and a different part of the world than when and where I live, but even then it all comes across as not just a little far fetched
This one ended like one of Agatha Christie's less-than-best mysteries. What I normally like about Ellery Queen novels is that, though their endings might be slightly traumatic or uncomfortably tense, they usually conclude with a sliver of hope and optimism. By the end of the book, good has risen above evil. Not so with this one. Aside from this objection, it simply dragged on a bit toward the end.