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The Killer Touch and the Devil's Cook
Book by Queen, Ellery
153 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published February 2, 1982
10 people want to read
About the author
Ellery Queen
1,801 books492 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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January 24, 2020DNF
By Did Not Finished I mean, I read the first half (The Killer Touch) and once my curiosity (the only thing driving me to read as far as I did) was fulfilled, I couldn't bring myself to pick it back up.
I went in zero expectations. It's an old detective book. That was all I knew. And honestly I got the barest minimum of it. There's a detective, whose on "vacation" and there is a crime afoot, but there's no mystery.
The cast of characters are such thing cardboard cut outs they could be summed up in a sentence. And they are! At the start of the story there's a cast list, describing each character in a sentence. Peeking at the other story in the book, it follows that. You're not even given a chance to try to read more into the characters. Nope, one's a drunk, ones s sociopath, one's an underage girl who's physical development gets mentioned every time she appears (and my guess is so we can see that our MC is such a wonderful man when he denies her her crush on him each time, which also gets thrown in there), another is s hooker/stripper man hater, and so on and so on.
Add to that, our main Character is such a goody too shoes idiot, that it's his obsession with a small mystery not yet crime (that escalates of course) that's get people hurt and killed.
And I get it, it's a product of it's time. It's a fun quick read for people that enjoy this flat stuff. So maybe I'm spoiled by better mystery/detective books. Maybe I'm sensitive, cuz one of the major factors was the casual racism that bugged me. Yes a product of it's time but don't mean I gotta like it. The Islanders aren't really treated so well, let's day that (even being the casualties of the trouble) but one bit that had me not return to it was how in order for a dark skinned girl to not be seen, gets naked in the dead of night. Cool she's invisible, whatever there's been iffy stuff before this moment. And then she smiles and that's how he sees her. Am I too sensitive? Being unfair? Fuck if I know. But I didn't finish it, didn't even start the other story. So I won't rate it.
By Did Not Finished I mean, I read the first half (The Killer Touch) and once my curiosity (the only thing driving me to read as far as I did) was fulfilled, I couldn't bring myself to pick it back up.
I went in zero expectations. It's an old detective book. That was all I knew. And honestly I got the barest minimum of it. There's a detective, whose on "vacation" and there is a crime afoot, but there's no mystery.
The cast of characters are such thing cardboard cut outs they could be summed up in a sentence. And they are! At the start of the story there's a cast list, describing each character in a sentence. Peeking at the other story in the book, it follows that. You're not even given a chance to try to read more into the characters. Nope, one's a drunk, ones s sociopath, one's an underage girl who's physical development gets mentioned every time she appears (and my guess is so we can see that our MC is such a wonderful man when he denies her her crush on him each time, which also gets thrown in there), another is s hooker/stripper man hater, and so on and so on.
Add to that, our main Character is such a goody too shoes idiot, that it's his obsession with a small mystery not yet crime (that escalates of course) that's get people hurt and killed.
And I get it, it's a product of it's time. It's a fun quick read for people that enjoy this flat stuff. So maybe I'm spoiled by better mystery/detective books. Maybe I'm sensitive, cuz one of the major factors was the casual racism that bugged me. Yes a product of it's time but don't mean I gotta like it. The Islanders aren't really treated so well, let's day that (even being the casualties of the trouble) but one bit that had me not return to it was how in order for a dark skinned girl to not be seen, gets naked in the dead of night. Cool she's invisible, whatever there's been iffy stuff before this moment. And then she smiles and that's how he sees her. Am I too sensitive? Being unfair? Fuck if I know. But I didn't finish it, didn't even start the other story. So I won't rate it.
Displaying 1 of 1 review