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Drury Lane #3
The Tragedy of Z
The elderly detective Drury Lane is aided by Patience Thumm in the investigation of the mysterious death of a corrupt state senator
190 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1933
About the author
Barnaby Ross
12 books16 followersHouse pseudonym.
The Drury Lane mystery series was writen by Ellery Queen (Daniel Nathan and Manford Lepofsky).
The historical novels were ghosted by Don Tracy.
The Drury Lane mystery series was writen by Ellery Queen (Daniel Nathan and Manford Lepofsky).
The historical novels were ghosted by Don Tracy.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews
November 9, 2020
ENGLISH: A mystery novel whose narrator and detective is a young girl, assisted by Drury Lane, the deaf detective, retired actor, who only appears in four novels of which this one is the third.
I found Drury Lane's performance a bit disappointing. He cannot be compared with other famous detectives, among which Ellery Queen himself, who although a character, lent his name to be the pseudonym for the two authors of his novels.
ESPAÑOL: Novela policiaca cuya narradora y detective es una chica joven a la que ayuda Drury Lane, el detective sordo, actor retirado, que sólo aparece en cuatro novelas, de las que esta es la tercera.
La actuación de Drury Lane me ha resultado un poco decepcionante. No tiene punto de comparación con otros detectives famosos, entre los cuales está el propio Ellery Queen, que aunque es un personaje, prestó su nombre para servir de seudónimo a los dos autores de sus novelas.
I found Drury Lane's performance a bit disappointing. He cannot be compared with other famous detectives, among which Ellery Queen himself, who although a character, lent his name to be the pseudonym for the two authors of his novels.
ESPAÑOL: Novela policiaca cuya narradora y detective es una chica joven a la que ayuda Drury Lane, el detective sordo, actor retirado, que sólo aparece en cuatro novelas, de las que esta es la tercera.
La actuación de Drury Lane me ha resultado un poco decepcionante. No tiene punto de comparación con otros detectives famosos, entre los cuales está el propio Ellery Queen, que aunque es un personaje, prestó su nombre para servir de seudónimo a los dos autores de sus novelas.
July 30, 2019
Entretenida novela policial que nos presentan los autores que firman bajo el seudónimo de Ellery Queen.
En este caso, a falta de uno, hay tres detectives que colaboran en la investigación: Patience Thumm, una joven impulsiva, inteligente y con un gran poder de deducción, quien oficia de narradora en primera persona, su padre, un famoso ex policía devenido en investigador privado, que aporta su experiencia y su habilidad en los interrogatorios, y, Drury Lane, un anciano y pintoresco ex actor que padece sordera y que actúa como sagaz detective aficionado.
Entre los tres deben afrontar el asesinato de un corrupto senador, y tratar de salvar de la condena - en una carrera contra el reloj - , a un ex presidiario injustamente acusado del crimen.
Ambientada en una ciudad de provincia, aunque aparecen algunos estereotipos, - el joven y ambicioso fiscal de distrito más preocupado por su carrera política que por descubrir la verdad, el anciano y piadoso sacerdote, entre otros -, nos encontramos con una novela de plena acción y suspenso que además incluye, por ser parte importante de la trama el ámbito carcelario, muchas alusiones a la situación de los presos, opiniones sobre la pena de muerte, e incluso, una escalofriante descripción de una ejecución en la silla eléctrica.
En definitiva, una novela que, seguramente, no defraudará a los amantes del género.
https://sobrevolandolecturas.blogspot...
En este caso, a falta de uno, hay tres detectives que colaboran en la investigación: Patience Thumm, una joven impulsiva, inteligente y con un gran poder de deducción, quien oficia de narradora en primera persona, su padre, un famoso ex policía devenido en investigador privado, que aporta su experiencia y su habilidad en los interrogatorios, y, Drury Lane, un anciano y pintoresco ex actor que padece sordera y que actúa como sagaz detective aficionado.
Entre los tres deben afrontar el asesinato de un corrupto senador, y tratar de salvar de la condena - en una carrera contra el reloj - , a un ex presidiario injustamente acusado del crimen.
Ambientada en una ciudad de provincia, aunque aparecen algunos estereotipos, - el joven y ambicioso fiscal de distrito más preocupado por su carrera política que por descubrir la verdad, el anciano y piadoso sacerdote, entre otros -, nos encontramos con una novela de plena acción y suspenso que además incluye, por ser parte importante de la trama el ámbito carcelario, muchas alusiones a la situación de los presos, opiniones sobre la pena de muerte, e incluso, una escalofriante descripción de una ejecución en la silla eléctrica.
En definitiva, una novela que, seguramente, no defraudará a los amantes del género.
https://sobrevolandolecturas.blogspot...
May 15, 2022
I've enjoyed this series so far and this one wasn't bad. It just wasn't the same caliber as Tragedy of X and Tragedy of Y. It wasn't hat something was missing, it was that a lot of somethings were missing. I enjoyed Quacey's character and his contributions in Tragedy of X. He was less present in Y and pretty much non-existent in Z. And Lane was such a minor character until the very end of of Z. It was good reading about a female sleuth and maybe Ross (Ellery Queen) was looking to start a new series featuring Patience, but it appears that didn't happen. Of course I'll read the 4th book in this series because I do like the overall series. Since it's Lane's last case I do want to see what the authors do.
January 5, 2018
Cảm thấy chưa thỏa mãn so với 2 cuốn X và Y.
September 14, 2013
The third of the four Drury Lane detections written by "Ellery Queen" under Dannay/Lee's (far) lesser known pseudonym Barnaby Ross, and done in a different style from that they used in the first two, The Tragedy of X and The Tragedy of Y; possibly for that reason, but only possibly, this is the one I've liked the most of the trio. The mode of telling moves from omniscient third-person to first-person, our narrator being Patience Thumm, sassy daughter of NYPD's finest, the bull-headed Inspector Thumm, who was a central character to the earlier narratives. Thumm has now retired and in working as a PI; it's in that capacity that he's called to a small NY town by quarry-owner Elihu Clay, who's convinced his partner Ira Fawcett is using crooked means to gain marble contracts. After a visit to Thumm's old friend, the elderly, deaf retired actor Drury Lane, Patience becomes so enamored of her own ratiocinative powers that she tags along -- and indeed, in between removing from her person the hands of Elihu Clay's Lawrentian son Jeremy, proves herself invaluable as the powers-that-be attempt to solve the murder of Ira Fawcett's equally corrupt senatorial brother Joel.
Those powers-that-be, however, ignore the deductions of Patience and her father, instead arresting and convicting a just-released prisoner, Aaron Dow, for the killing; it's made uncomfortably plain that this rush to a conclusion by the local DA, John Hume, is to feed Hume's political ambitions rather than ensure justice is done. When Dow escapes prison and the other Fawcett brother, Ira, is murdered, there's a second trial, a second conviction, and this time a death sentence for Dow. By this time Drury Lane, equally convinced that Dow is being framed, has joined the Thumms both geographically and in the attempt to unmask the real killer -- in so doing revealing the horrible truth of an ancient crime . . .
This is a much more EQish novel than the other two: the artificiality of the crime (and its clues), the gratuitous erudition of phrase, the adroit mixing of lightheartedness with, sometimes, grimmer fare -- in this case a short chapter describing a man's execution in the electric chair that, while dispassionately written, is clearly designed to make even the most ghoulish 1930s reader think twice about the ethics of capital punishment. Although the mystery's solution came completely out of left field (at least for this reader), the clues were presented with complete fairness.
All in all, 3.5 stars -- and, I'd say, a must-read for Ellery aficionados.
July 5, 2015
I've read the original writing teams Ellery Queen series, featuring Ellery Queen. Then I found out they wrote a trilogy with another characters as the lead- Drury Lane. All three contain Drury Lane, Inspector Thumm and State Att. Bruno.
In the last story the narrative takes place a decade after many adventures had by Drury Lane (it was intimated in the book.) Here Lane is unwell and feeling a bit lost, when a new face is brought in to tell the story- Patience Thumm. Patience is the smart and lovely daughter of Thumm. Now the Inspector is retired and a private investigator. Bruno is the governor.
The mystery comes about when Thumm is called in by Clay to see if he can discover wrongdoing that he suspects his silent partner of doing. During this investigation, his silent partner's brother is murdered, a sawed off bit of a toy chest is found suggesting blackmail, a prisoner who is crippled and weak is immediately accused and brought in and tried.
Convinced of the prisoner innocence, Patience and Thumm bring in Drury Lane. We see the story mostly through Patience's eyes and do not get to see (as in previous stories) side investigations that Lane makes. However, everything that you see should tell you who the murderer is.
The story is filled with odd events and crazy stories but in the end... if you try to filter it through as Lane does- you will find get a good glimpse of who the murderer is.
The setting up of the storyline must have been inspired by some real life story that the Queen team picked up. Fun to read, and I would certainly have loved to have seen Mr. Lane solve more of the alphabet.
In the last story the narrative takes place a decade after many adventures had by Drury Lane (it was intimated in the book.) Here Lane is unwell and feeling a bit lost, when a new face is brought in to tell the story- Patience Thumm. Patience is the smart and lovely daughter of Thumm. Now the Inspector is retired and a private investigator. Bruno is the governor.
The mystery comes about when Thumm is called in by Clay to see if he can discover wrongdoing that he suspects his silent partner of doing. During this investigation, his silent partner's brother is murdered, a sawed off bit of a toy chest is found suggesting blackmail, a prisoner who is crippled and weak is immediately accused and brought in and tried.
Convinced of the prisoner innocence, Patience and Thumm bring in Drury Lane. We see the story mostly through Patience's eyes and do not get to see (as in previous stories) side investigations that Lane makes. However, everything that you see should tell you who the murderer is.
The story is filled with odd events and crazy stories but in the end... if you try to filter it through as Lane does- you will find get a good glimpse of who the murderer is.
The setting up of the storyline must have been inspired by some real life story that the Queen team picked up. Fun to read, and I would certainly have loved to have seen Mr. Lane solve more of the alphabet.
November 19, 2021
I have enjoyed several of Ellery Queen's novels (Ross is another pseudonym), but this one was terrible. Written--or more accurately, overwritten--in a morbidly melodramatic and pretentious prose, hobbled by both a lack of pace and crippling lack of credibility, its one redeeming feature is a closely reasoned explanation of the logic of the deduction of the killer's identity. The story is narrated by the daughter of a retired NYC police inspector, and it serves as a clear demonstration of the author's lack of understanding of women, while trying to ascribe deductive powers to her. Drury Lane is absent for much of the book, drafted in in the last quarter to supply an embarrassingly incredible soliloquy to an execution chamber in a prison. Really bad, and it pains me to say so. But it is truly awful.
September 3, 2021
Nếu không có nhân vật Patience dẫn truyện thì mình sẽ rate cuốn này 5 sao tương tự như X và Y vì vụ án vẫn xuất sắc tương tự, một vụ án rất điển hình của trinh thám cổ điển và là kiểu mình thích nhất: Các nhân vật có mối liên hệ loằng ngoằng rắc rối nhập nhằng rất thú vị, Lane phá giải nó nhờ một chi tiết nhỏ tí xíu đến mức mình hoàn toàn không có khái niệm gì về nó, đến khi Lane suy luận mình mới giật mình giở lại thì đúng là nó được nhắc đến cụ thể một cách bất thường. Tuy nhiên, Patience phá hỏng cảm hứng của mình rất nhiều lần bằng tính cách ngớ ngẩn, bốc đồng, ảo tưởng, ủ dột, mệt mỏi đáng ghét của cô ta.
January 8, 2019
...Không có trích dẫn nào cả....
-Thể loại: trinh thám cổ điển, suy luận Logic
- Chấm điểm: 7/10
10 năm sau Tấn bi kịch X và Y, Thanh tra Thumm giờ đã nghỉ hưu, bên cạnh ông xuất hiện thêm cô con gái rượu Patience, thông minh, xinh xắn, tò mò, hưởng nền giáo dục tân tiến với tư duy mới, khả năng quan sát tốt và liên kết các sự việc hơn bố. Với sự tò mò đó, sự việc thượng nghị sĩ Joel Fawcell bị giết hại, mọi chứng cứ đều dẫn đến thủ phạm là Tên tù mới được phóng thích Aaron Dow. Tuy nhiên, Patience không nghĩ vậy. Tìm mọi cách để chứng minh sự vô tội của Aaron, cha con Thanh tra Thumm lại phải viện đến sự trợ giúp của người bạn cũ Drury Lane. Chẳng ngờ trong quá trình đó, một án mạng khác liên quan đến nhà Fawcell lại xảy ra, mọi tình tiết vẫn đổ dồn vào Aaron Dow. Với tính cách của mình, Lane quyết tâm phải tìm ra thủ phạm với cách thức nguy hiểm nhất cho Aaron, dù tia hi vọng chỉ có 1%.
- Nhận xét:
+ Nội dung: Cá nhân đánh giá thì quyển này thua xa Y, mình không thẩm nổi nhân vật Patience, đúng kiểu thể loại con gái thừa tự tin thái quá. Dù cô có thể giỏi, xinh thật nhưng cái cách mỹ nhân kế rồi lắm điều là đã muốn pass hết tất cả đoạn có xuất hiện Patience trong đó. Đấy là chưa kể đôi khi mình thấy vì sự vội vàng non trẻ của cô mà đẩy tấn bi kịch Z đến kịch điểm. Lane thì vẫn xuất sắc, kín kẽ như mọi khi nên nếu không có Lane có khi đã không cố lết hết quyển. Kết chuyện có làm mình hơi không thích do đúng tính bi kịch quá. Nhưng về mặt logic nội dung của truyện đúng là vẫn không thể chê được. Điểm không thích nhất vẫn là lối kể lể miêu tả của Queen đôi khi quá dài dòng. Nhất là với Tấn bi kịch Z, sự xuất hiện của Patience làm mình không thể không liên tưởng đến Scarlett O'Hara, những đoạn miêu tả tình cảm suy nghĩ của Patience nó không khác gì nửa đầu Cuốn theo chiều gió (mình không thẩm nổi)
+ Bìa: Màu xanh ngọc, đẹp hơn mày đỏ và màu xanh của X và Y
+ Dịch: Chắc đây là bước lùi so với X Y, không thể hình dung một tác phẩm trinh thám cổ điển mà lại sử dụng những từ ngữ như "chém gió". Chưa kể lỗi chính tả, lỗi dấu câu nhiều hơn hẳn hai tác phẩm trước. Thôi cứ coi do tác phẩm gốc cũng được tiếng khô khan nên người dịch chắc cũng khó. Nhưng dù gì, sử dụng một từ ngữ của giới trẻ vào tác phẩm trinh thám cổ điển thì chả khác gì mặc đồ bơi 2 mảnh đi làm :v
-Thể loại: trinh thám cổ điển, suy luận Logic
- Chấm điểm: 7/10
10 năm sau Tấn bi kịch X và Y, Thanh tra Thumm giờ đã nghỉ hưu, bên cạnh ông xuất hiện thêm cô con gái rượu Patience, thông minh, xinh xắn, tò mò, hưởng nền giáo dục tân tiến với tư duy mới, khả năng quan sát tốt và liên kết các sự việc hơn bố. Với sự tò mò đó, sự việc thượng nghị sĩ Joel Fawcell bị giết hại, mọi chứng cứ đều dẫn đến thủ phạm là Tên tù mới được phóng thích Aaron Dow. Tuy nhiên, Patience không nghĩ vậy. Tìm mọi cách để chứng minh sự vô tội của Aaron, cha con Thanh tra Thumm lại phải viện đến sự trợ giúp của người bạn cũ Drury Lane. Chẳng ngờ trong quá trình đó, một án mạng khác liên quan đến nhà Fawcell lại xảy ra, mọi tình tiết vẫn đổ dồn vào Aaron Dow. Với tính cách của mình, Lane quyết tâm phải tìm ra thủ phạm với cách thức nguy hiểm nhất cho Aaron, dù tia hi vọng chỉ có 1%.
- Nhận xét:
+ Nội dung: Cá nhân đánh giá thì quyển này thua xa Y, mình không thẩm nổi nhân vật Patience, đúng kiểu thể loại con gái thừa tự tin thái quá. Dù cô có thể giỏi, xinh thật nhưng cái cách mỹ nhân kế rồi lắm điều là đã muốn pass hết tất cả đoạn có xuất hiện Patience trong đó. Đấy là chưa kể đôi khi mình thấy vì sự vội vàng non trẻ của cô mà đẩy tấn bi kịch Z đến kịch điểm. Lane thì vẫn xuất sắc, kín kẽ như mọi khi nên nếu không có Lane có khi đã không cố lết hết quyển. Kết chuyện có làm mình hơi không thích do đúng tính bi kịch quá. Nhưng về mặt logic nội dung của truyện đúng là vẫn không thể chê được. Điểm không thích nhất vẫn là lối kể lể miêu tả của Queen đôi khi quá dài dòng. Nhất là với Tấn bi kịch Z, sự xuất hiện của Patience làm mình không thể không liên tưởng đến Scarlett O'Hara, những đoạn miêu tả tình cảm suy nghĩ của Patience nó không khác gì nửa đầu Cuốn theo chiều gió (mình không thẩm nổi)
+ Bìa: Màu xanh ngọc, đẹp hơn mày đỏ và màu xanh của X và Y
+ Dịch: Chắc đây là bước lùi so với X Y, không thể hình dung một tác phẩm trinh thám cổ điển mà lại sử dụng những từ ngữ như "chém gió". Chưa kể lỗi chính tả, lỗi dấu câu nhiều hơn hẳn hai tác phẩm trước. Thôi cứ coi do tác phẩm gốc cũng được tiếng khô khan nên người dịch chắc cũng khó. Nhưng dù gì, sử dụng một từ ngữ của giới trẻ vào tác phẩm trinh thám cổ điển thì chả khác gì mặc đồ bơi 2 mảnh đi làm :v
November 11, 2018
TITLE: The Tragedy of Z
WHY I CHOSE THIS BOOK: It met my reading challenge being connected to the book before it, Gravity's Rainbow, same genre historical fiction
REVIEW: This was actual written by Ellery Queen. While I have been a fan of the Ellery Queen mystery magazine I had never read anything actually written by Ellery Queen. This seemed a good opportunity. The main character is a woman named patience, upper middle class, well educated and with a mind of her own during a time when women were not encouraged to think independently. This was an enjoyable enough mystery. I was invested in finding out the answer. But it wasn't anything exceptionally complex or involving deep psychology.
WHY I CHOSE THIS BOOK: It met my reading challenge being connected to the book before it, Gravity's Rainbow, same genre historical fiction
REVIEW: This was actual written by Ellery Queen. While I have been a fan of the Ellery Queen mystery magazine I had never read anything actually written by Ellery Queen. This seemed a good opportunity. The main character is a woman named patience, upper middle class, well educated and with a mind of her own during a time when women were not encouraged to think independently. This was an enjoyable enough mystery. I was invested in finding out the answer. But it wasn't anything exceptionally complex or involving deep psychology.
July 12, 2017
The third book in the "tragedy" series was half the length of the previous story. It is written through the eyes of Patience Thumm, daughter of Det. Thumm.....a budding "Watson" to Drury Lane's "Holmes"....well written, as they all have been....a detailed, involved plot....and yes, the solution was there if you meticulously kept track of every detail... Very clever regarding the titles of the trilogy... one more left as a closing to the Drury Lane series....sad to come to the end. Highly recommend them all!
April 8, 2019
I love the addition of Patience Thumm. I also know that the story suffered a little by waiting so many years to continue the Drury Lane mysteries. Drury Lane is supposed to be the main character and he was placed in almost a secondary role in this story. I still enjoyed the story but I think it could have been better.
I was intrigued and shocked that some of the book was about the death penalty. There was also a rather graphic description of an electrocution.
I was intrigued and shocked that some of the book was about the death penalty. There was also a rather graphic description of an electrocution.
December 2, 2021
Il terzo episodio della serie si è rivelato, almeno per me, quello finora meno interessante e, sebbene scorrevole e nel complesso godibile, meno riuscito rispetto agli altri. L'autore decide di cambiare l'impostazione, facendo narrare la storia a Patience Thumm (la figlia dell'ex ispettore, ora investigatore privato), ma questa soluzione non mi ha convinto molto e ha inciso sulla resa finale dell'opera. Ora sotto con l'ultimo capitolo della saga di Drury Lane.
November 30, 2025
艾勒里‧昆恩筆下的神探雷恩，很喜歡不厭其煩的做罪犯可能性的邏輯推演。其實，嚴格來說，這種貌似嚴謹的推演只是提供一種統計上的可能，而不是邏輯上的絕對。人的行為不像機器那般具有絕對的刺激─反應模式，不合理性的行為所在多有。所以，行文時應當多用「比較可能」、「可能性較高」的字眼，而不是「這只可能有一個解釋」這種說法。
再者，我認為本書有幾個地方比較不合情理(雖說也有可能)。例如，神探雷恩經由州長的配合，在最後一分鐘取消死刑的執行。作者認為，這種情況會導致犯罪者─典獄長情緒失控而露出馬腳。由讀者的角度來看，典獄長既能冷靜的做下沒有證據的罪案，又怎會如此輕易的就情緒失控？再如，原本就有殺人前科，不是好人的「證人」，在最後關頭，竟然會因為突然的「良心發現」，不忍心看到一個向他勒索的人，被冤枉處死，就甘冒被殺的危險而跑出來向州長求情？又如，一個眼看就要被處死的人，還有心情去勒索別人，而且直到坐上電椅，都還不肯拉人下水，把他要勒索的人的犯罪情節供出。
以上種種，我認為本書的合理性是要弱一些的。又或者是西式的煽情，西式的人情道德觀。
再者，我認為本書有幾個地方比較不合情理(雖說也有可能)。例如，神探雷恩經由州長的配合，在最後一分鐘取消死刑的執行。作者認為，這種情況會導致犯罪者─典獄長情緒失控而露出馬腳。由讀者的角度來看，典獄長既能冷靜的做下沒有證據的罪案，又怎會如此輕易的就情緒失控？再如，原本就有殺人前科，不是好人的「證人」，在最後關頭，竟然會因為突然的「良心發現」，不忍心看到一個向他勒索的人，被冤枉處死，就甘冒被殺的危險而跑出來向州長求情？又如，一個眼看就要被處死的人，還有心情去勒索別人，而且直到坐上電椅，都還不肯拉人下水，把他要勒索的人的犯罪情節供出。
以上種種，我認為本書的合理性是要弱一些的。又或者是西式的煽情，西式的人情道德觀。
March 17, 2020
Exciting at times, but once again, I guess I just don’t have much patience for the drawn out and exhaustive reveal of the murderer. What I did love was that the MC was a female, Patience “Pat” Thumm, who was pretty strong and smart. I enjoyed her POV, as well as meeting Drury Lane for the first time.
February 3, 2023
I do usually like an EQ novel, but felt this one was a bit odd, a bit sexist, and in the middle of the book the narrator/main character completely out of character sleeps with the bad guy in order to progress her investigation. And then Drury Lane is wheeled in to solve the murders after being who-knows-where for 80% of the book. 2/5.
February 9, 2023
Proving innocence
Patience and her former police inspector father get pulled into solving a murder. They turn to Drury Lane, a former thespian, for help. It is a complicated story involving an escaped con and numerous politicians . For me, it took too long. I had trouble relating to the characters.
Patience and her former police inspector father get pulled into solving a murder. They turn to Drury Lane, a former thespian, for help. It is a complicated story involving an escaped con and numerous politicians . For me, it took too long. I had trouble relating to the characters.
December 10, 2017
Truyện không thực sự hấp dẫn!
October 15, 2018
Ko hấp dẫn bằng 2 phần trước: nhiều hành động mà ít suy luận.
December 29, 2018
A decent mystery but not as famous as its predecessor in the series. The plot is also less complicated than its predecessors and feels lackluster in mystery compared to the predecessors.
February 1, 2019
Excellent as usual. Another Drury Lane mystery that can't stop reading.
June 16, 2022
Patience and Drury were a special treat together.
October 14, 2022
In this third of the four Drury Lane mysteries, a new character is introduced. She's Patience Thumm, the adventurous and thoroughly modern daughter of Lane's old police department buddy Inspector Thumm. The Inspector is now retired and has opened his own private detective agency, but of course it's Patience who dives head-first into the case, which involves a murdered senator whose brother may or may not be a criminal mastermind. Lane is invited into the thing about halfway through the book and is both enchanted with and complimentary of young Patience.
It's not an uninteresting story, and if I hadn't read the entire Agatha Christie oeuvre so recently I might have liked this more. The trouble is: Ellery Queen can't do peppy young lady dilettante crime solver nearly as well as Dame Agatha. So The Tragedy of Z, charming in its way as it is, suffers badly by comparison. The gents behind Ellery Queen really needed to stay focused on their male protagonists, in my opinion; they just don't get the ladies quite right.
It's not an uninteresting story, and if I hadn't read the entire Agatha Christie oeuvre so recently I might have liked this more. The trouble is: Ellery Queen can't do peppy young lady dilettante crime solver nearly as well as Dame Agatha. So The Tragedy of Z, charming in its way as it is, suffers badly by comparison. The gents behind Ellery Queen really needed to stay focused on their male protagonists, in my opinion; they just don't get the ladies quite right.
January 28, 2025
Decent…I actually don’t hate the new detective.
December 7, 2024
Synopsis: Elihu Clay is suspicious of his silent partner, Dr. Ira Fawcett; believing he is behind possible corruption in getting state contracts for materials from his quarry. Clay hires private investigator Thumm to look into it. Thumm and his daughter, Patience (our narrator) travel to the Clay mansion in Leeds, NY.
Soon after their arrival, Senator Joel Fawcett is found stabbed to death in his library. He had been receiving threats from prisoner Aaron Dow, who had been released earlier that same day. Dow is arrested for the crime. Drury Lane is consulted and proclaims him innocent. Despite this, Dow is convicted on circumstantial evidence and sentenced to life imprisonment.
Dow is placed on an outside work detail, and escapes. While on the run, Dr. Ira Fawcett is murdered. Dow is captured. Again, Drury Lane proclaims him innocent. He is sentenced to death.
Review: It is refreshing to have a woman narrator appear - Patience Thumm. Her point of view adds a new element to the series. Drury Lane does not even appear until about halfway through the book. Lane assures us the obvious suspect is innocent, so we know right away who is not the murderer. Lane discovers the obscure motive, much like in The Tragedy of X. Another good Barnaby Ross read. It would have been good for the series to have more titles.
In the Author's Note, it is poignant to read the teaser "In the intervening period [between Tragedy of Y and Tragedy of Z] Drury Lane solved many strange and perplexing cases, the more interesting of which will be recorded at some future time." It is sad that prediction did not come to pass, and we must be content with only four titles in the series.
Soon after their arrival, Senator Joel Fawcett is found stabbed to death in his library. He had been receiving threats from prisoner Aaron Dow, who had been released earlier that same day. Dow is arrested for the crime. Drury Lane is consulted and proclaims him innocent. Despite this, Dow is convicted on circumstantial evidence and sentenced to life imprisonment.
Dow is placed on an outside work detail, and escapes. While on the run, Dr. Ira Fawcett is murdered. Dow is captured. Again, Drury Lane proclaims him innocent. He is sentenced to death.
Review: It is refreshing to have a woman narrator appear - Patience Thumm. Her point of view adds a new element to the series. Drury Lane does not even appear until about halfway through the book. Lane assures us the obvious suspect is innocent, so we know right away who is not the murderer. Lane discovers the obscure motive, much like in The Tragedy of X. Another good Barnaby Ross read. It would have been good for the series to have more titles.
In the Author's Note, it is poignant to read the teaser "In the intervening period [between Tragedy of Y and Tragedy of Z] Drury Lane solved many strange and perplexing cases, the more interesting of which will be recorded at some future time." It is sad that prediction did not come to pass, and we must be content with only four titles in the series.
November 8, 2012
To Barnaby Ross αποτελεί ψευδώνυμο που χρησιμοποιήθηκε από το συγγραφικό δίδυμο Frederick Dannay (άλλως Daniel Nathan) και Manfred Bennington Lee (άλλως Manford [Emanuel] Lepofsky) (δύο ξαδέλφια που υπέγραφαν με ψευδώνυμο πάλι, ως Ellery Queen). Είναι το τρίτο μέρος μιας τριλογίας (The Tragedy of X- The Tragedy of Y – The Tragedy of Z) που περιγράφει τις περιπέτειες του Drury Lane, ενός συνταξιούχου ηθοποιού του θεάτρου που εξιχνιάζει εγκλήματα με τρόπο που θυμίζει ελαφρώς τις μεθόδους του Sherlock Holmes. Δεν είχα την τύχη να βρω τους δύο πρώτους τόμους αλλά μετά την ανάγνωση αυτού του τρίτου μέρους θα φροντίσω για αυτό, καθώς από τις πρώτες κιόλας γραμμές του αντιλαμβάνεται κανείς ότι αποτελεί προϊόν συγγραφέων με μεγάλη δεξιοτεχνία και εμπειρία στο είδος. Δύο φόνοι, δύο ξύλινα κουτιά, ένας πατέρας και μία κόρη που ερευνούν μαζί με τον Lane, δύο διεφθαρμένα αδέλφια, συνθέτουν μια ιστορία που διαβάζεται με αμείωτο ενδιαφέρον έως το τέλος.
August 17, 2014
La tragedia di Z è il terzo romanzo che vede come protagonista la figura dell’anziano attore Drury Lane anche se in questa storia il suo personaggio è meno presente e leggermente messo in ombra dalla presenza di Patiente Thumm, figlia dell’ispettore Thumm.
La prima parte del romanzo scorre piuttosto lentamente ed è tutta concentrata su un'unica deduzione volta non a trovare l’assassino ma a scagionare l’accusato; purtroppo però sembra solo un’operazione logica fine a se stessa e non inserita nel contesto più ampio di ciò che a portato al delitto. Solo nella seconda parte (quando entra in scena attivamente Drury Lane) la storia entra nel vivo ed è possibile farsi un’idea di cosa è successo.
Come al solito la logica la fa da padrona nel trovare la soluzione al delitto.
Un bel giallo classico tipico della scuola di Ellery Queen.
La prima parte del romanzo scorre piuttosto lentamente ed è tutta concentrata su un'unica deduzione volta non a trovare l’assassino ma a scagionare l’accusato; purtroppo però sembra solo un’operazione logica fine a se stessa e non inserita nel contesto più ampio di ciò che a portato al delitto. Solo nella seconda parte (quando entra in scena attivamente Drury Lane) la storia entra nel vivo ed è possibile farsi un’idea di cosa è successo.
Come al solito la logica la fa da padrona nel trovare la soluzione al delitto.
Un bel giallo classico tipico della scuola di Ellery Queen.
June 11, 2026
The only first-person book written by the Queen duo, narrated by Patience Thumm, also known as Ellery-in-drag. She's quite a fun narrator, so it's a shame that the mystery isn't that eye-catching like the poisoning in the streetcar in X or the madness of the Hatters in Y, being a bit more mundane, so the book never really kindled any interest in me. Still, I like the character of Aaron Dow, the falsely accused prisoner, who is treated so callously by the narrative that I felt really bad for him, and any scenes where he was a focal character were some of my favourites, such as his trial. And obviously, the highlight of the book is the denouement, especially where the denouement is (I would sell my soul just to get a drury lane adaptation and see this adapted), it's such a powerful scene, and the actual logic is quite clever.
August 18, 2016
When retired Inspector Thumm and his daughter Patience, the narrator, go to a venal upstate New York village to investigate financial misdoings, they don't expect to get involved in the murder of a corrupt state senator. Patience is sure, and convinces her father, that the newly-released convict Aaron Dow is not the murderer. But the local district attorney, running for the dead man's senate seat, will not listen to their theories, so they call on Thumm's old friend the deaf actor Drury Lane. To some extent, I think the impetus for this book came partly from the Queens' desire to try a feminine voice (which is passable, for the most part), and partly from the urge to expound on capital punishment and, indeed, the whole penal system, both of which are presented in the blackest light.
October 17, 2012
This is the third in the Drury Lane series (the Tragedies of X,Y &Z). Drury Lane is a blind, retired stage actor and a good friend of (the fictional) Ellery Queen. This was published in 1933, is melodramatic but oh-so-elegant.
The mystery is fairly clued, but very difficult. I don’t think I’ve ever solved a novel-length Ellery Queen. 3½ stars
The mystery is fairly clued, but very difficult. I don’t think I’ve ever solved a novel-length Ellery Queen. 3½ stars
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