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The Roman Hat Mystery (Ellery Queen Detective #1)

Ellery Queen

Start date: November 1, 2023

Finish date: November 30, 2023

Discussion: Group Challenges

Why we're reading this: This mystery set in the theatre is next in our Scenes of Classic Crime challenge
[close] This mystery set in the theatre is next in our Scenes of Classic Crime challenge

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Group Challenges

* Sept 25: The Mystery of the Blue Train (1928) by Agatha Christie
By Susan · 14 posts · 16 views

last updated Sep 02, 2025 12:08AM

* Sept 25: The Mystery of the Blue Train (1928) - SPOILER Thread
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last updated Sep 01, 2025 04:16PM

What Members Thought

Oct 23, 2023 Susan in NC rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook, library-book, detectives-23challenge

Enjoyable American Golden Age mystery. This one started slowly, with a man found dead in a crowded theater - the police arrive, try and restore order, then Inspector Richard Queen and his son Ellery arrive.

As GA British mysteries sometimes do, this author also treats their police inspector like a celebrity, feted by newspapers and the public. There is a cheesy preface where the writer talks about tracking the Queens down to their home in the Italian countryside, talking over old cases, getting E ...more

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Nov 09, 2018 Nanosynergy rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: series, mysteries-thrillers-espionage, fiction, fiction-1920s, 2018read

Ellery Queen is the pseudonym of cousins Frederic Dannay and Manfred Bennington Lee. Together they created and published this popular series. The Roman Hat Mystery was published in 1929 and is the first in the series. Inspector Richard Queen investigates the murder of an lawyer during a broadway show. His son, Ellery Queen, a book collector and author, assists his father throughout the investigation - and is who Inspector Queen credits for solving the murder. For this case, the key to the myster ...more

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Oct 11, 2022 Becky rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: 2022reviews

First sentence: The dramatic season of 192- began in a disconcerting manner. Eugene O'Neill had neglected to write a new play in time to secure the financial encouragement of the intelligentsia; and as for the "low-brows," having attended play after play without enthusiasm, they had deserted the legitimate theatre for the more ingenuous delights of the motion picture palaces.

Premise/plot: The Roman Hat Mystery--the first in the Ellery Queen series--stars a father and son. Inspector Queen is a po First sentence: The dramatic season of 192- began in a disconcerting manner. Eugene O'Neill had neglected to write a new play in time to secure the financial encouragement of the intelligentsia; and as for the "low-brows," having attended play after play without enthusiasm, they had deserted the legitimate theatre for the more ingenuous delights of the motion picture palaces.

Premise/plot: The Roman Hat Mystery--the first in the Ellery Queen series--stars a father and son. Inspector Queen is a police inspector. Ellory Queen, the son, is a mystery writer and amateur detective. The crime in this murder mystery takes place during a Broadway show. The only clue they really have to work with--their biggest clue--is that the murder victim's top hat is missing. Since they didn't find the hat on or near the victim, or even at the theatre, someone either wore it out of the theatre or carried it out of the theatre. The theory goes that if you can trace down what happened to the hat, you'll find the murderer.

My thoughts: I found The Roman Hat mystery to be incredibly dull. Perhaps methodical would be the best way to phrase it in polite terms? Perhaps investigations are truly tedious and lack dramatic interest. Perhaps it is just a ton of paperwork and matter of fact, ho-hum questioning. But it was just so much to get through. And the pay off--to me--didn't seem worth it. Dare I say you could read the first two or three chapters and jump straight to the last chapter without missing anything??? You wouldn't miss fleshing out of any characters, that's for sure. And I would even say that the father and son aren't all that fleshed out either. Perhaps they are in later books? Or at least the son?

The book was first published in 1929. Expect the morals and values of 1929. In other words, certain things have not aged well at all. Certain descriptions and plot points are just what most people would call backward. I didn't notice this so much in the dull-as-dirt middle but in the big reveal, it's hard to miss.

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Sep 24, 2011 Jan C rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012, mystery

This is the first of the Ellery Queen stories.

I enjoyed most of it.

However, it took far too long in the wrap-up where Inspector Queen was explaining the whole thing to his boss and the DA.

I suppose my view of the ending wasn't helped any because the day that I finished the book was one of those days where I just kept dozing off. Which includes the time that I was finishing the book.

Maybe it gets better with future books. ...more

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Sep 23, 2013 Carol Evans rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery, audio-book

I read a lot of "vintage" mysteries and enjoy them. The Roman Hat Mystery, however, was just not that good., but it's the first in the series, so I'm willing to give the Queens another chance. I liked Ellery, even if he is a bit in the background here, mostly observing, and his dad is an interesting man. One of the problems with this mystery is that it could only have taken place in the 20s, which is good and bad at the same time. It gives us a picture of a bygone era, complete with bootleg liqu ...more

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Oct 30, 2014 Ruskoley rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery, book-1

It's not that it is dated. Older stories are still easily read and valued - there's dozens of examples of that. The problem with this one is that the main character is a churlish s.o.b. who has somehow captured a teenager and forced him into some sort of servant role. The other characters are flat and/or annoying. Most of all: though this is an exercise in deduction and clue-work, it is also abusively slow and tedious. It really grinds along with nothing of interest for chapter after chapter. ...more

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Dec 09, 2020 Shabbeer Hassan rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook, murica, whodunit, 2020, police-procedural, 2024

The American answer to Peter Wimsey scores in the first book. The mystery wasn't too intriguing, but the atmosphere and characters seemed quiet alive, to begin with, and quite interesting rather!

An excellent beginning to what seems to be a long-running mystery series! The audio dramatization was neatly done.

My Rating - 3.5/5 ...more

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