A unique collection of the finest Golden Age mysteries – puzzling whodunnits that have entertained and delighted readers for centuries.With Edgar Award-winning Otto Penzler as guide, delve into an irresistible collection of the finest Golden Age American whodunits, including household names and master storytellers, such as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ellery Queen and Mary Roberts Rinehart, as well as

Curl up by the fire this Christmas with the masters of cosy and seasonal crime fiction – the perfect stocking-filler for fans of Agatha Christie and the British Library Crime Classics!A collection of Christmas-themed mysteries, written by some of the greatest Golden Age authors, including Ellery Queen, Mary Roberts Rinehart, John D. MacDonald, and John Dickson Carr, as well as such undiscovered writers as Norvell Page, Meredith Nicholson, and Pat F...

World War II hero Davy Fox has returned to his New England hometown of Wrightsville a changed man. When his wife Linda wakes up to find Davy's hands squeezed around her neck, it takes all of her strength to get away. But Davy is more than shellshocked from the war. He's haunted by events of twelve years before, when his mother was murdered by his father, Bayard, who is serving life in prison and had always insisted that he was not the one who killed his wife.Linda hopes that if Dav...

A gang of young sleuths and a trusty terrier put their noses to a bank robbers' trailEllery Queen's young apprentice, Djuna, is preparing for an afternoon of fishing when a stranger leans out of his car window and asks for directions to Canada. A few minutes later, Djuna watches as the man's friends come running out of the local bank and into the getaway car, guns blazing, before taking off for the Canadian border.It is a mystery that could baffle even Djuna...

At the tail end of the Roaring Twenties, a birthday bash for publishing heir John Sebastian, Jr., perfectly coincides with the twelve days of Christmas. Among the twelve invited guests is Ellery Queen, a newly published mystery writer planning to enjoy every last minute. But when an uninvited Santa Claus shows up on Christmas Eve and then mysteriously goes missing, the party takes a disturbing turn. Threatening clues masked as gifts begin to appear under the tree, and Queen - a novice crim...

First published in 1944, this is an anthology of parodies and pastiches, and comprises of a collection of more than 30 stories—written by detective story writers, famous literary figures, humorists and others—of burlesques and pastiches of the famous detective that represent the highlights of character, style, idiosyncrasies, deduction associated with Sherlock Holmes.Barrie, O'Henry, Clendening, Agatha Christie, Anthony Berkeley are but a few of the others, out of print or collector...

Lew Bascom is an idea man, and he has quite an idea. To put his career on the fast track, Bascom plans to pen a film about Hollywood's longest-running theatrical feud—Blythe Stewart and her daughter Bonnie's rivalry with Jack Royale and his son Ty. The twist? Bascom wants the four actors to play themselves in the film.The film's producer insists on bringing Ellery Queen, a successful New York writer, out to Hollywood to help close the deal. Only problem is that Bascom - a notorious...

Illustrated Edition with 20 detailed illustrationsIncludes a complete story summaryFeatures a helpful characters listContains an engaging author biographyStep into the dazzling world of Golden Age detective fiction with The Roman Hat Mystery, the groundbreaking debut that introduced readers to one of literature’s most brilliant minds—Ellery Queen.Wh...

When the play they are attending is interrupted by a policeman yelling at everyone to stay where they are and not get out of their seat, most of the audience in the Roman Theater think nothing of it. After all, the play is about the underworld and the police, and has been full of the sounds of sensationalized criminal society. But this policeman isn't part of the play; someone in the audience has been murdered.Inspector Richard Queen soon arrives on the scene, closely followed by h...

We rely on your support to help us keep producing beautiful, free, and unrestricted editions of literature for the digital age. Will you support our efforts with a donation ? When the play they are attending is interrupted by a policeman yelling at everyone to stay where they are and not get out of their seat, most of the audience in the Roman Theater think nothing of it. After all, the play is about the underworld and the police, and has been full of the sounds of sensationalized criminal...

A collection more than half a century in the making!The discerning reader will recall that the two cousins who wrote as Ellery Queen published five short stories about the Puzzle Club and its newest member, Ellery Queen himself, in the 1960s and '70s. Fifty years later, Josh Pachter picked up the gauntlet and gave us five more tales of the Puzzle Club, each as baffling as the original five, each with an introduction by a family member, friend, or aficionado of Mr. Queen....

This time, we have a pair of novels. First up is Ellery Queen’s The Roman Hat Mystery, originally published in 1929. It made quite an impact upon publication and launched the career of an iconic sleuth. While not quite on par with Sherlock Holmes, Ellery is certainly one of the great American fictional detectives, up there with Nero Wolfe, Nick Carter, and Philo Vance (and arguable at the head of the crowd). Our second novel is the first volume of Lin Carter’s epic Gondwane saga, ...