The Tragedy of Errors and Others

Ellery Queen Detective #Short Stories 9

by Ellery Queen

“ELLERY QUEEN IS THE AMERICAN DETECTIVE STORY” So wrote the great critic Anthony Boucher about the contributions of Ellery Queen to the mystery story. Queen appeared in novels and short stories, in the movies and on television, on the radio and even in comic books. In honor of the seventieth anniversary of the first Ellery Queen novel, Crippen & Landru is proud to publish the first completely new Ellery Queen book in almost thirty years. “The Tragedy of Errors” is the lengthy and detailed plot outline for the final, but never published EQ novel, containing all the hallmarks of the greatest Queen novels—the dying message, the succession of false solutions before the astonishing truth is revealed, and scrupulous fairplay to the reader. And the theme is one that Queen had been developing for many the manipulation of events in a world going mad by people who aspire to the power of gods. The Tragedy of Errors and Others also contains the six hitherto uncollected Ellery Queen short stories, and a section of essays, tributes, and reminiscences of Ellery Queen, written by family members, friends, and some of the finest current mystery writers.

Genres: Mystery, Audiobook

299 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 1, 1999

About the author

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.

Reviews

[Gary Foster · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting, but . .

An interesting book for Ellery Queen enthusiasts, but abysmally formatted and proofed. My recommendation is for the content, not the presentation.

[Will Plunkett · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection was published for the 70th anniversary of the first EQ book, and I read it when EQ would now be 95 years old. Like many "new" items (which, since one of the authors had died prior to its completion, was mostly an outline in narration), it is bundled with older stuff; but about half the book are essays in praise of the authors or characters or plots or titles. It was fascinating to learn about the growth of Ellery Queen the fictional character who "wrote" those same mystery books, as well as the cousins' pen name persona. I even figured out a couple "Challenge to the Reader" clues before reading them; yay, me!

[Conni Wayne · Rating 5 out of 5]

A delightful collection of short stories that really show off Ellery Queen at his best (and weirdest). A perfect ending to my effort to read every Ellery Queen book (featuring, Ellery, not written by the Ellery Boys). Terror Town was fun, although I think Susie deserves to slap her beau maybe just once or twice, I love every time I get to see (hear) Ellery interact with the Puzzle Club, because they're fantastic, and by golly, in Wedding Anniversary, I have to say that I'm on the side of the poor, dead, Hester. She got 'em real good in the end.

[Robert A Keene · Rating 4 out of 5]

The full length stories were very good whodunits the short stories were not as good, I especially didn't like the mystery club idea where Ellery has to figure out by asking questions to the high class social elites and of course he asks just the perfect questions and everyone is astonished he is so smart.

[Juan Carlos · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is just a plot not a novel. Dannay wrote it but Lee never completed the novel since he died before doing it. The short stories are boring, the rest of the book just an anthology.

[Thea · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5⭐, rounded down.

[Jeff Hobbs]

Read so far (short stories only):

*Terror town (aka The motive)
The uncle from Australia--2
The three students
*The odd man
*The honest swindler
*The reindeer clue
*The wedding anniversary
***
*Murder without clues (aka The three widows)

[Riju Ganguly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Liked it, but found nothing to ga-ga over it.

[Jesse · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun, short mysteries very much in the vein of Agatha Christie, but with much more of a "solve it yourself" vibe. Kind of like Encyclopedia Brown all grown up.