Who is the most famous detective of all time?  Sherlock Holmes comes immediately to mind with good reason.  Another might offer Hercule Poirot.  Miss Marple?  But if someone asked who the most famous American detective was, you might be surprised by the answer.  Dashiell Hammett’s Spam Spade?  Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe?  No, certainly these characters are important and popular, but as Anthony Boucher, esteemed editor and critic said, “Ellery Queen is  the American detective story.”

 Even though Ellery Queen has sold over 150, 000, 000 copies world-wide in every major language (except Chinese and Russian) he remains a cult figure, known and loved by those “in-the-know” but not the archetypal figure that is Sam Spade.  All this, despitethe fact that no other author or character is more responsible for the preservation of the non-hard boiled mystery in North America.  Without Queen, there would only be the tough guys, a wonderful genre, but a limited one.  Ellery Queen did for the predominantly English mystery what no one else dared, he transferred it from the quiet English cottage town to the urban world of America.  Unlike Hammett, Daly and Chandler, he didn’t require the guise of the existential PI, caught between crime and corrupt officials, but retained the English quality of detective on the side of Order.  The police are not corrupt in Ellery Queen’s world, in fact, his father is Chief Inspector Richard Queen.  The wealthy are not by necessity evil, just as the poor are not always down-trodden.  It is a vision of the detective’s world which has endured on television with characters like Peter Falk’s Columbo and Dennis Weaver’s McLeod, detectives working within society, eccentric perhaps but not outside the mores of modern society.

 Ellery Queen (the character) is a based originally not on Holmes, but S. S. van Dine’s Philo Vance.  Like Vance, Ellery began as a literary type with eccentric behaviors and acute mental processes.  In the Queen story “The Lamp of God” the author(s) describe the workings of his mind.  “Now.however disorderly Mr. Ellery Queen may be by habit, mentally he is an orderly person.  His neckties and shoes might be strewn about his bedroom helter-skelter, but inside his skull hums a perfectly oiled machine, functioning as neatly and inexorably as the planetary system.”

 Living in Manhattan, the character is an author of mystery stories.  Leading the quiet literary life, it is necessary for Richard Queen, Ellery’s father, room-mate, and Chief Inspector of the Homicide Department to draw the mental giant into the different cases which baffled New York’s Best.

 Some of the other regulars in the cast of characters are Sergeant Velie, who often provides the muscle for the quiet Ellery, Djuna, Ellery’s factotum, and Nikki Porter, Ellery’s steady girlfriend after 1938, when her character was created for The Adventures of Ellery Queen  radio show.  Nikki Porter is the vivacious gal who drags Ellery to parties, gets him into some trouble of his own.  No matter where Queen goes, like all good detectives, murder is sure to follow.

 Ellery Queen, the author, was actually two cousins, Frederic Dannay(1905-1982)(real name: Daniel Nathan) and Manfred B. Lee(1905-1971) (Manford Lepofsky) who grew up together in Brooklyn, and started writing together in the 1920’s.  Their first influence from boyhood was Sherlock Holmes.  Young Nathan, home sick with an ear infection, discovered homes in his local library.  Emulating Doyle and other British (“Cozy”) writers in particular S. S. van Dine, Dannay and Lee wrote the traditional style of mystery but set in their own New York City, a land without Manor houses and tea gardens.

 While holding regular jobs the two men wrote the first Queen novel,The Roman Hat Mystery, for a contest sponsored by McClures’ Magazine  and the Frederick A. Stokes Co.  The rules of the contest required the contestants to use pseudonyms.  Dannay and Lee knew that detectives are better remembered than their authors so the name Ellery Queen was attributed to both author and character, a character who happens to be an author of mystery stories.  Another ear-mark of the Queen series, yet unborn, was the way in which the character turned to his readers and asked them to solve the mystery, before he revealed the final solution.  This famous “challenge” was later used in both the radio show, comic books and television shows.

 The Roman Hat Mystery  won the enormous $7500 prize but was never awarded the money because McClures  folded into bankruptcy.  Smart Set Magazine  stepped in and chose another contestant.  All was not lost, Stokes published the book for a smaller advance of $2000.  With their first success, a mystery legend was born.

 The cousins wrote two more EQ books, The The French Powder Mystery  and The Dutch Shoe Mystery  and continued to work at their regular jobs until 1932.  That year the duo went professional with The Greek Coffin Mystery.  They also wrote a quartet of novels featuring the actor-sleuth, Drury Lane, under the name of Barnaby Ross (a name culled from the pages of Queen’s first adventure).  Since the Queen novels sold better, they dropped Lane to devote their time fully to Ellery and his father.

 To promote their books, the authors donned domino masks and appeared in public as Ellery Queen and Barnaby Ross.  Each claiming to be the better detective, the two engaged in mock verbal battle, well-orchestrated and rehearsed, before hundreds of people in their successful lecturing tour.

 The novels of EQ can be roughly divided up into four periods (according to Francis M. Nevins Jr., EQ’s greatest critic and historian), starting with the first nine Queen novels, The Roman Hat Mystery  to The Spanish Cape Mystery  and the four Drury Lane books.  The novels of this initial period are all masterful gems, innovative, particularly in the field of “dying message” mysteries which Queen utilized in new and interesting ways.

 The second group of novels, the period from 1936 to 1940, is largely influenced by Hollywood, suffers when compared with the first.  These novels are the works of professional men earning a living.  The Dannay-Lee duo wrote the EQ radio show at this time, often adapting material for print in magazines.

 The third period begins a welcome change in Ellery.  Probably the most productive and innovative span in terms of expanding Ellery Queen beyond the traditional mystery.  It is to this phase, 1942 to 1958 that EQ produced twelve novels, four of which constitute a mini-series of their own, the Wrightsville novels: Calamity Town, The Murderer Is a Fox, Ten Days Wonder  and Double, Double.

 In 1958, the writing team of EQ went into retirement.  The name of Ellery Queen did not.  Another two dozen books were published with the EQ name on the cover.  None of these were not written by Dannay and Lee, but ghosted by other writers working with Manfred Lee as editor.  Dannay chose not to be invovled with the books, having his Ellery Queen Magazine  to edit.  These novels aren’t entirely bad since many of the men who ghosted the books are all master writers, Theodore Sturgeon, Avram Davidson and Jack Vance and Edward D. Hoch all produced high quality editions to the series, adding new dimensions to Ellery’s character and experiences.

 The final novel to bear the name Ellery Queen was the The Blue Movie Murders (1972) written by Edward D. Hoch, a famous mystery writer in his own right.  The initial outline had been approved by Lee, who died before the book was written.  Dannay agreed to let Hoch finish the book, making it the last of the ghost-written, or that matter, any EQ novels.

 In the 1930’s Ellery Queen came to radio.  The Adventures of Ellery Queen  ran from 1939 until 1948, dying with radio shows in general with the advent of television.  The show was written initially by Dannay and Lee for only $25.00 an episode since executives consider the detective story an unknown quantity for radio.  A fortuitous power failure cemented Queen’s popularity, when the loss of power ended an episode mid-way.  The station’s switchboard was jammed with calls well into the night from listeners who wanted to know the ending of the story.

 It would be the work of Dannay and Lee in radio that would pave the way for the later, great detectives and adventurers like THE SHADOW, DOC SAVAGE, THE SPIDER, THE OCTOPUS and dozens more.  In 1945, the Mystery Writers of America awarded Dannay and Lee a coveted Edgar for “The Best Radio Program”.

 The Queen duo saw the potential in the children’s market for a detective of younger age.  Thus Dannay and Lee created the Ellery Queen Jr series.  The youth novels feature Ellery’s nephew, Gulliver “Gully” Queen.  The series is well written juvenile mystery, but doesn’t seem to have had the tenancity of the Nancy Drew or Hardy Boys series.  Gully Queen has become little more than a footnote in Ellery’s history.
 

 The Ellery Queen authors have received many awards over the years.  They won five Edgars (the top award from the Mystery Writers of America) as well as a prestigious Raven (also MWA), which is a Grand Master acknowledgement.  In 1969, The MWA awarded Dannay and Lee special gold cuff-links to commemorate the 40th Anniversary of their first book, The Roman Hat Mystery.

 In addition to MWA awards, Queen also received 1951 Special Book Award, The Pocket Book  Silver Gertrude for 1 million copies sold and the gold Gertrude for 5 million copies sold, the Japanese gold-and onyx Edgar Allan Poe cameo ring,(awarded to only five non-Japanese writers world-wide), the 1968 Iona College Columbia Prize, and TV Guide’s  “Mystery Show of the Year” for 1950.

 The greatest achievement of Ellery Queen, Frederick Dannay in particular, was the establishing of a magazine that would become the  prestige magazine amongst mystery writers.  Born in an age of pulp, when the competitors numbered in the dozens, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine  was based on an ideal which has since become the standard by which all mystery fiction is judged.  Dannay wanted to publish fiction that played fair with the reader, allowed him or her to play detective at the same time as the fictional investigator.  To do this writers had to follow certain rules, rules which many writers in the plethora of forgettable pulp did not.

 The writers found little encouragement for their new magazine, approaching publisher after publisher until they found Lawrence E. Spivak, who never had cause to worry, since the magazine was a hit from its first issue.  The high quality of the issues won an Edgar in 1949.

 The end of the pulp era marked the death of 99 per cent of the pulps, but EQMM  survives today.  Dannay edited the magazine from its beginning in 1941 up until his death in 1982. After this time, Eleanor Sullivan carried on in Dannay’s footsteps until 1991.  Now, under Janet Hutchings, it thrives to this day with its 609th issue in February of 1993.

 Dannay and Lee edited anthologies of fiction from 1941 on.  During 1947-50 they had the special Queen Awards.  Since 1960 EQMM  has also published anthologies of the stories from their magazine.  The first of these were annual but went bi-annual in the 70’s.  .  The other anthologies edited by Dannay and Lee, and later by the editors of the magazine after the duo’s deaths, bore titles which reflected the theme of the collection.

 Like most mystery characters, Queen has been translated to film, -- nine times -- though Ellery never had a Humphrey Bogart to permanently cement an image of his character into the public mind as did Chandler and Hammett.  In fact, Ralph Bellamy, who portrayed him the second time, made the name EQ synonymous with stupidity, playing him for laughs as Hollywood had Dr. Watson (Nigel Bruce) in the Sherlock Holmes films of the same era.

 The earliest Queen films were made by Republic Pictures and featured Donald Cook and then Eddie Quinlan as Ellery. The two films Republic made were The Spanish Cape Mystery (1935) and The Mandarin Mystery (1937)  Neither did well.

 In the 1940’s the Queen property went to Columbia who casted Frank Bellamy as the eccentric detective.  In the supporting cast were Charles Grapewin as Richard Queen and Margaret Lindsay as Nikki Porter.  Some of the guest stars like Anna May Wong and Eduardo Ciannelli are good but wasted in bad roles.  Bellamy’s portrayal of Queen is that of a bumbler and a stooge.  Mystery is superseded by comedy which make these four films slow and tedious with too much talk and not enough intrigue.

 In 1942, Columbia switched Bellamy for William Gargan without much improvement.  The suspects in the Gargan films are so obvious that the films drag like molasses.  No films have been attempted, except on television since the 40’s.
 

 Ellery Queen has been adapted for television four times.  The first time was in 1950 by Dumont Pictures.  The following year ABC picked up the show for a season.  It tried one last time in syndication in 1954.  The casting of the thirty minute show changed with each new season, with Richard Hart , Lee Bowman and Hugh Marlowe all giving it a try.  This instability may account for the show’s final desmise, which is sad since the original season showed great promise, even winning TV Guide’s  gold medal award as “Mystery Show of the Year”.  Unlike Ellery Queens to come, EQ is portrayed as a rugged, cynical and suave character, though incorruptible.  Not the buffoon of the films or the later laid-back Jim Hutton of the 70’s, Ellery is a typical 50’s tv hero.

 The second attempt at a television production picks up where the first began with The Further Adventures of Ellery Queen  in 1958.  Still a suave rogue, the second try at EQ is as unsuccessful at retaining as star.  First George Nader, then Lee Philips portrayed the New York sleuth, this time for NBC in a sixty minute format.

 The third incarnation of EQ was a pilot for a series that never happened.  Ellery Queen: Don’t Look Behind You  aired in November of 1971, with Peter Lawford as the writer-detective.  The screen-play is based, loosely, on the Queen novel Cat of Many Tails (1949).  The production is entertaining but not very hard-hitting and ultimately forgettable.  The relationship between Ellery and his father, played by veteran Harry Morgan, starts of well but fades into the background as the show progresses.  In the end, it is not surprising that NBC didn’t jump at this two hour tele-film, though it may be responsible for the later series starring Jim Hutton.

 In 1975, Ellery Queen came to television.for the fourth and last  time, lasting only the year.  The actor cast to play Ellery was the soft spoken Jim Hutton.  His father was played by elderly David Wayne.  The series can be seen now, from a distance, as both a success and a failure.  Entrenched in a time that called for car chases and gun battles, the series was not renewed by NBC for lack of audience response.  As a commercial venture the series was a failure.

 Richard Levinson and William Link in their retrospective book Stay Tuned , give us the show’s philosophy and the reasons for Queen’s demise:

 “The Ellery Queen  pilot sold, and as executive producers we spent most of the following season guiding the series, aided by  the invaluable Peter Fischer as our producer.  Again, even  though we were doing a murder mystery, we kept the level of  violence to a bare minimum.  The crimes were bloodless and  took place for the most part off-stage.  Perhaps, as a result,  the ratings hovered just below a 30 share, not quite sufficient  for renewal.  An NBC research amn, brushing away an alligator  tear, remarked on the day of our cancellation: “Too bad -- you  were just a few share-points away from a four-year run.”  He  neglected to mention that his network had shifted us in  midseason to a time-slot opposite the newly reunited  Sonny and Cher ... and pretty much swamped us in the ratings."

 The production is typical of the 70’s with costumes that reflect the disco-era more than the 1940’s, but this is minor.  The writers try to place the show in a past context that either works for you or doesn’t, with references to past presidents, baseball and music (the Elmer Bernstein Queen theme is a classic!).  This kind of historical drama is secondary and not traditionally well done by American companies.

 Again, Levinson and  Link explain the visual choices for EQ :

 "We decided to create a valentine to the old-fashioned  whodunnit, and so we set the show in a 1940’s time frame and  borrowed shamelessly from the film techniques of the period:  the back-lot look, the optical 'wipes' from scene to scene,  even the hoary devuce of pages blowing on a calendar to  indicate the passage of time."

 The sixty minute detective show featured Ellery and his father, Inspector Richard Queen  The show was good detective fiction, playing by the rules of fair play, often clever and entertaining.  In our age of Murder, She Wrote,  this show would have be a refreshing change.  From a fairness point-of-view, Ellery Queen gets full marks.  The first and only season starts with energy but fizzles out slowly.  Like most tv series, not every episode is a gem, with about half of the year proving disappointing.  Cancellation is not a surprise.

 One interesting feature of the series was the Queen challenge, that famous ear-mark, when Ellery would turn to the audience after all the clues and characters were presented and ask us if we knew who the killer was?  This technique at the time was new on television and film (maybe only Woody Allen had done it before) and hadn’t become the hack gimmick it became after Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.   “We deliberately imitated the old Queen radio show by halting our story just before the climax and having Ellery challenge the audience to solve the crime.” The producers explain in Stay Tuned.

 The show ran for 26 episodes, and re-run on A&E’s Mystery Theater.

 Ellery Queen has appeared six times in comic form though he never had a long-running comic book.  He has been featured once or twice in comics of his own but more often in other titles.  The artists and writers were often never credited.  Their work ranges from acceptable to obscure.

 Ellery’s first appearance was a comic version of “The Adventure of the Secret Partner”(1940) in Gulf Funny Weekly , a gasoline freebee.  The script was probably adapted by the writers themselves.  The art was acceptable and uncredited.

 The next adaptation was featured in the final issues of Crackajack Funnies  an anthology comic.  The Adventures of Ellery Queen ran from 1940-1942.  Again, the Queen duo were probably involved, and the artist may even be the same one who did “The Adventure of the Secret Partner”.

 Queen finally got a comic bearing his own name with Ellery Queen  which ran from May to November of 1949, bi-monthly for four issues   The cases were named in true EQ style, with titles like “Rest(less) in Peace” and “The Turbulent Tomb!”.  The characterization was not very faithful to EQ’s originators.

 Ellery Queen  had a second chance in 1952. These Ziff-Davis issues, featuring “The Corpse That Killed” and “The Chain-Letter Murders”  were published with pulpy, lurid covers.  The second issue with the maid in bondage is a true collector’s item.  Ziff-Davis would later become publisher of EQMM  for a time.

 1960-1 brought Ellery to another anthology comic, Four Color.   This time the art was credited, to Mike Sekowsky   These Dell  episodes were often cast in the ghost-breaker mode with supernatural titles like “The Mummy’s Curse”, “The Witch’s Victim”, “The VooDoo Victim” and “The Curse of Kane”

 The most recent adaptation is perhaps the most unusual, for Ellery guest-stars in another characters’ book, Maze Agency No. 9  (1990)  Written by Mike Barr, an old Ellery Queen comic fan and collector, Ellery is teamed up with the Maze gang in “The English Channeler Mystery”.

 Merchandizing is always a big part of any successful character’s exploitation.  EQ was no exception.  Bettye B. released many tv games, including Ellery Queen’s “Trapped”  in 1956, shortly after the original television series.  In 1975, IDEAL used Ellery for a game called The Case of the Missing Assassin , which had nothing to do with the television show of that year.

 In 1985, Mayfair games marketed a role-playing game based on EQ.  The ad reads

   “The signs are there, but you have to recognize them to solve the mysteries in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine Game.  The streets of Manhatten are littered with clues.  The once quiet lanes of the village, Bromlee Station, whisper with intrigue.  You must play your role./Play it alone./Play it with friends ... or against them./Play out the crimes you mastermind./Month after month, new cases will be released.”

 Sadly enough, the game never seems to have made it in the brutal world of role-playing games.  I have never seen a copy of the game or a supplement.  Very likely, it never made it out of the distributor’s warehouses.  Sad, indeed.

 Ellery Queen is an odd bird.  Of all the many things about him only the magazine truly remains well-known.  The short stories continue to be reprinted often but without causing any stir in public interest.  The novels, so famous in the 1930’s, are largely out-of-print, the radio-plays lost and their history obscure, the films a mere footnote in the career of Ralph Bellamy, the tv shows re-run without any following, the comics known only to a few collectors..  Ellery Queen, America’s most famous detective is a forgotten master, and one deserving of much more attention.
 

First Period
1. The Roman Hat Mystery (1929)
2. The French Powder Mystery (1930)
3. The Dutch Shoe Mystery (1931)
4. The Greek Coffin Mystery (1932)
5. The Egyptian Cross Mystery (1932)
6. The Tragedy of X (1932) as Barnaby Ross
7. The Tragedy of Y (1932) as Barnaby Ross
8. The American Gun Mystery (1933) a: Death at the Rodeo (1951)
9. The Siamese Twin Mystery (1933)
10. The Tragedy of Z (1933) as Barnaby Ross
11. Drury Lane’s Last Case (1933) as Barnaby Ross
12. The Chinese Orange Mystery (1934)
13. The Spanish Cape Mystery (1935)

Second Period
14. Halfway House (1936)
15. The Door Between (1937)
16. The Devil to Pay (1938)
17. The Four of Hearts (1938)
18. The Dragon’s Teeth (1939) a: The Virgin Heiresses (1954)

Third Period
19. Calamity Town (1942)
20. There Was an Old Woman (1943) a: The Quick and the Dead (1956)
21. The Murderer Is a Fox (1945)
22. Ten Days’ Wonder (1948)
23. Cat of Many Tails (1949)
24. Double, Double (1950) a: The Case of the Seven Murders (1958)
25. The Origin of Evil (1951)
26. The King Is Dead (1952)
27. The Scarlet Letters (1953)
28. The Glass Village (1954)
29. Inspector Queen’s Own Case (1956)
30. The Hollywood Murders (1957)
31. The Finishing Stroke (1958)

Fourth Period
32. Dead Man’s Tale (1961)
33. Death Spins the Platter (1962)
34. The Player On the Other Side (1963) *written by Theodore Sturgeon
35. Kill as Directed (1963)
36 Murder With a Past (1963)
37. And On the Eighth Day (1964) written by Avram Davidson
38. Four Men Called John (1964) written by Jack Vance a: The Four Johns
39. The Last Score (1964)
40. Blow Hot, Blow Cold (1964)
41. The Golden Goose (1964)
42. The Fourth Side of the Triangle (1965) written by Avram Davidson
43. The Copper Frame (1965)
44. The Madman Theory (1965) written by Jack Vance
45. A Room To Die In (1965) written by Jack Vance
46. Beware the Young Stranger (1965)
47. The Killer Touch (1965)
48. The Devil’s Cook (1966)
49. Wife or Death (1966)
50. A Study in Terror (1966) a: Sherlock Holmes vs. Jack the Ripper (1967)
51. Face to Face (1967)
52. The House of Brass (1968)
53. Cop Out (1969)
54. The Last Woman in His Life (1970)
55. A Fine and Private Place (1971)
56. The Blue Movie Murders (1972) by Edward D. Hoch
 

TAB Books

1. The Golden Eagle Mystery (1942) Illustrated by Charles Beck
2. The Green Turtle Mystery (1944) Illustrated by Jerry Robinson
3. The White Elephant Mystery
4. The Yellow Cat Mystery
5. The Black Dog Mystery
6. The Red Chipmunk Mystery
7. The Blue Herring Mystery
8. The Brown Fox Mystery

Golden Griffin

9. The Mystery of the Vanished Victim (1962) Pocket Books.
10. The Mystery of the Merry Magician
 

Collections

1. The Adventures of Ellery Queen (1934)
2. The New Adventures of Ellery Queen (1940)
3. More Adventures of Ellery Queen (1940)
4. The Casebook of Ellery Queen (1945)
5. Calendar of Crime (1952)
6. QBI: Queen’s Bureau of Investigation (1955)
7. Queens Full (1965)
8. QED: Queen’s Experiments in Detection (1968)

Stories

1.“The Adventure of the One-Penny Black”(April 1933) a: “The One-Penny Black”
2. “The Adventure of the Glass-Domed Clock”(October 1933)
3. “The Adventure of the African Traveller”(1934)
4. “The Adventure of the Hanging Acrobat”(May 1934) a: “The Girl on the Trapeze”
5. “The Adventure of the Bearded Lady”(August 1934) a: “The Sinister Beard”
6. “Long Shot”(September 1934)
7. “The Adventure of the Mad Tea-Party”(October 1934) a: “The Adventure of the Seven Black Cats” and “The
      Black Cats Vanished”
8. “The Adventure of the Hollow Dragon”(December 1934) a: “The Hollow Dragon”
9. “The Adventure of the House of Darkness”(February 1935)
10. “House of Haunts”(November 1935) a: “The Lap of God”
11. “Man Bites Dog”(June 1939)
12. “Mind Over Matter”(October 1939)
13. “Trojan Horse”(December 1939)
14. “The Adventure of the Mark of Cain”(1942)
15. “The Adventure of the Mouse’s Blood”(September 1942)
16. “The Adventure of the Good Samaritan”(November 1942)
17. “The Disappearance of Mr. James Phillamore”(January 1943)
18. “The Adventure of the Man Who Could Double the Size of Diamonds”(May 1943)
19. “The Adventure of the Murdered Ship”(July 1943)
20. “Caveat Lector”(1946)
21. “The Adventure of the Three R’s”(September 1946)
22. “The Adventure of the Dead Cat”(October 1946) a: “The Halloween Mystery”
23. “The Adventure of the Tell-Tale Bottle”(November 1946) a: “The Tell-Tale Bottle”
24. “The Adventure of the Inner Circle”(January 1947) a: “The Inner Circle”
25. “The Adventure of the President’s Half Disme”(February 1947)
26. “The Ides of Michael Magoon”(March 1947)
27. “The Adventure of the Dauphin’s Doll”(December 1948) a: “The Dauphin’s Doll
28. “The Lady Couldn’t Explain”(December 1949) a: “The Lonely Bride”
29. “Murder Without Clues”(January 1950) a: “The Three Widows”
30. “Money Talks”(April 1950) a: “The Sound of Blackmail”
31. “A Lump of Sugar”(July 1950) a: “The Mystery of the Three Dawn Riders”
32. “The Witch of Times Square”(November 1950)
33. “The Gambler’s Club”(January 1951)
34. “Driver’s Seat”(March 1951) a: “Lady, You’re Dead!”
35. “The Emperor’s Dice”(April 1951)
36. “The Adventure of the Gettysburg Bugle”(May 1951) a: “As Simple as ABC”
37. “The Medical Finger”(June 1951)
38. “Child Missing”(July 1951) a: “Kidnapped!”
39. “The Needle’s Eye”(August 1951)
40. “Double Your Money”(September 1951) a: “The Vanishing Wizard”
41. “The Black Ledger”(January 1952) a: “The Mysterious Black Ledger”
42. “Cold Money”(March 1952)
43. “The Phantom Train”(August 1952) a: “Snowball in July”
44. “Cut, Cut, Cut!”(December 1952) a: “The Myna Bird Mystery”
45. “The Accused”(February 1953)
46. “My Queer Dean!”(March 1953)
47. “A Matter of Seconds”(August 1953)
48. “A Question of Honor”(September 1953)
49. “G. I. Story”(August 1954)
50. “Diamonds in Paradise”(September 1954)
51. “The Wrightsville Heirs”(January 1955)
52. “Bride in Danger”(August 1955)
53. “The Blackboard Gangsters”(September 1955) a: “Kid Stuff” and “Object Lesson”
54. “No Parking”(March 1956) a: “Terror in a Penthouse”
55. “The Man They All Hated”(June 1956) a: “No Place to Live”
56. “The Motive”(August 1956) a: “Terror Town”
57. “Miracles Do Happen”(July 1957)
58. “The Case Against Carroll”(September 1958)
59. “Enter Ellery Queen”(June 1960) a: “The Mystery at the Library of Congress”
60. “E=Murder”(August 1960)
61. “The Death of Don Juan”(May 1962)
62. “The Broken T”(July 1963) a:”Mystery in Neon Red”
63. “Half A Clue”(August 1963) a: Half a Clue to Murder” and “Murder Dept.: Half a Clue”
64. “Last Man to Die”(November 1963)
65. “Crime Syndicate Payoff”(August 1964) a: “Payoff”
66. “The Little Spy”(January 1963)
67. “Dead Ringer”(March 1965) a: “Uncle From Australia”
68. “The Adventure of Abraham Lincoln’s Clue”(June 1965) a: “Abraham Lincoln’s Clue”
69. “The President Regrets”(September 1965)
70. “Mum Is the Word”(April 1966)
71. “Wedding Anniversary”(September 1967)
72. “The Three Students”(March 1971)
73. “The Adventure of the Honest Swindler”(Summer 1971) a: “The Honest Swindler”
74. “The Odd Man”(June 1971)
75. “Death of a Pawn Broker”(November 1971) a: “Miser’s Gold” and
76. “Love Hunts a Hidden Treasure”
77. “The Reindeer Clue”(December 1975) ghosted by Edward D. Hoch
 

1. The Detective Story: A Bibliography (1942)
2. Queen’s Quorum: A History of the Detective-Crime Story As Revealed by the 100 Most Important Books Published in This Field Since 1845. (1951)
3. The Golden Summer (1953) autobiographical novel by Dannay published under his real name, Daniel Nathan
4. In the Queen’s Parlor and Other Leaves From the Editor’s Desk (1957
 

1. 101 Years’ Entertainment (1941)
2. The Female of the Species (1943)
3. Best Stories From Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine (1944)
4. The Misadventures of Sherlock Holmes (1944)
5. The Queen Awards 1 (1946)
6. Ladies in Crime (1947)
7. The Queen Awards 2 (1947)
8. The Queen Awards 3 (1948)
9. The Queen Awards 4 1949)

10. The Queen Awards 5 (1950)

11. Ellery Queen 1961 Anthology (1960)
12. Ellery Queen 1962 Anthology (1961)
13. Ellery Queen 1963 Anthology (1962)
14. Ellery Queen 1964 Anthology (1963)
15. Ellery Queen 1965 Anthology (1964)
16. Twentieth Century Detective Stories (1964)
17. Ellery Queen 1966 Anthology (1965)
18. 1965 Mid-Year Ellery Queen Anthology (1965)
19. Ellery Queen 1967 Anthology (1966)
20. 1966 Mid-Year Ellery Queen Anthology (1966)
21. Ellery Queen 1968 Anthology (1967)
22. Ellery Queen’s All-Star Line-up (1967)
23. Ellery Queen’s Poetic Justice (1967)
24. Ellery Queen’s Mystery Parade (1968)
25. 1968 Mid-Year Ellery Queen Anthology (1968)
26. Ellery Queen 1970 Anthology (1969)
27. 1969 Mid-Year Ellery Queen Anthology (1969)

28. Ellery Queen 1971 Anthology (1970)
29. 1970 Mid-Year Ellery Queen Anthology (1970)
30. Ellery Queen’s Golden Thirteen (1970)
31. Ellery Queen Spring-Summer 1971 Anthology (1971)
32. Ellery Queen Fall-Winter 1971 Anthology (1971)
33. Ellery Queen Spring-Summer 1972 Anthology (1972)
34. Ellery Queen Fall-Winter 1972 Anthology (1972)
35. Ellery Queen’s Mystery Bag (1972)
36. Ellery Queen Spring-Summer 1973 Anthology (1973)
37. Ellery Queen Fall-Winter 1973 Anthology (1973)
38. Ellery Queen Spring-Summer 1974 Anthology (1974)
39. Ellery Queen Fall-Winter 1974 Anthology (1974)
40. Ellery Queen’s Crookbook (1974)
41. Ellery Queen Spring-Summer 1975 Anthology (1975)
42. Ellery Queen Fall-Winter 1975 Anthology (1975)
43. Ellery Queen’s Murdercade (1975)
44. Ellery Queen Spring-Summer 1976 Anthology (1976)
45. Ellery Queen Fall-Winter 1976 Anthology (1976)
46. Masters of Mystery: The Grand Masters (1976)
47. Masters of Mystery: The Prizewinners (1976)
48. Masters of Mystery: The Supersleuths (1976)
49. Ellery Queen’s Crime Wave (1976)
50. Ellery Queen Spring-Summer 1977 Anthology (1977)
51. Ellery Queen Fall-Winter 1977 Anthology (1977)
52. Ellery Queen’s Searches and Seizures (1977)
53. Masters of Mystery: Detective Directory Part 1 (1977)
54. Masters of Mystery: The Golden Age Part 1 (1977)
55. Masters of Mystery: Amateurs and Professionals Part 1(1977)
56. Ellery Queen Spring-Summer 1978 Anthology (1978)
57. Ellery Queen Fall-Winter 1978 Anthology (1978)
58. Masters of Mystery: Amateurs and Professionals Part 2 (1978)
59. Masters of Mystery: Blue Ribbon Specials (1978)
60. Masters of Mystery: Cherished Classics (1978)
61. Masters of Mystery: Detective Directory Part 2 (1978)
62. Masters of Mystery: Stories Not To Be Missed (1978)
63. Masters of Mystery: The 40’s (1978)
64. Masters of Mystery: The 50’s (1978)
65. Masters of Mystery: The 60’s (1978)
66. Masters of Mystery: The Old Masters (1978)
67. Ellery Queen’s A Multitude of Sins (1978)
68. Ellery Queen’s Masks of Mystery (1978)
69. Ellery Queen Spring-Summer 1979 Anthology (1979)
70. Ellery Queen Fall-Winter 1979 Anthology (1979)
71. Masters of Mystery: Choice Cuts (1979)
72. Masters of Mystery: More of The 60’s (1979)
73. Masters of Mystery: The Grand Masters Up to Date (1979)
74. Masters of Mystery: The 70’s (1979)
75. Masters of Mystery: The Supersleuths Revisited (1979)
76. Ellery Queen’s Scene of the Crime (1979)

77. Ellery Queen Spring-Summer 1980 Anthology (1980)
78. Ellery Queen Fall-Winter 1980 Anthology (1980)
79. Ellery Queen’s Circumstantial Evidence (1980)
80. Ellery Queen Spring-Summer 1981 Anthology (1981)
81. Ellery Queen Fall-Winter 1981 Anthology (1981)
82. Ellery Queen’s Crime Cruise Round the World (1981)
83. Ellery Queen Spring-Summer 1982 Anthology (1982)
84. Ellery Queen’s Eye Witnesses (1982)
85. Ellery Queen’s Mazes of Mystery (1982)
86. Ellery Queen’s More Eye Witnesses (1982)
87. Ellery Queen’s Lost Ladies (1983)
88. Ellery Queen’s Prime Crimes 1 (1983)
89. The Best of Ellery Queen #2 (1984)
90. Ellery Queen’s Circumstantial Evidence 2 (1984)
91. Ellery Queen’s Prime Crimes 2 (1984)
92. Ellery Queen’s More Lost Ladies and Lost Men Anthology 1 (1985)
93. Ellery Queen’s Champions of Mystery (1987)
94. Ellery Queen’s Secrets of Mystery Anthology 1  (1987)
95. Ellery Queen’s Bad Scenes (1989)
96. Murder on Cue
97. More Murder on Cue (1990)
98. Fifty Years of the Best From Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine (1991)
 

A millionaire is murdered at a health spa.
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4. Ellery Queen’s Penthouse Mystery (1941) Columbia  Directed by James Hogan
Starred Ralph Bellamy/Margaret Lindsay/Charles Grapewin/Anna May Wong/James Burke/Eduardo Ciannelli/Russell Hicks/Tom Dugan/Mantan Moreland.

A Chinese entertainer, who also smuggles jewels, is murdered.
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5. Ellery Queen and the Perfect Crime (1941) Columbia
Starred Ralph Bellamy/Margaret Lindsay/Charles Grapewin
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6. Ellery Queen and the Murder Ring (1941) Columbia  Directed by James Hogan
Starred Ralph Bellamy/Margaret Lindsay/Charles Grapewin/Mona Barrie/Paul Hurst/James Burke/Blanche Yurka/George Zucco/Tom Dugan and Leon Ames. (Loosely based on The Dutch Shoe Murder (1931)
Murder in a private hospital brings Ellery to the scene.
--------------------------------------------
7. Close Call for Ellery Queen (1942) Columbia
Starred William Gargan  based on The Dragon’s Teeth.
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8. Desperate Chance for Ellery Queen (1942) Columbia
Starred William Gargan
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9. Enemy Agents Meet Ellery Queen (1942) Columbia
Starred William Gargan
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The Alfred Hitchcock Hour

"Terror at Northfield" by Ellery Queen
Directed by Harvey Hart
Teleplay by Leigh Brackett
Aired: 10/11/63
John Cooley - R. G. Armstrong
Frenchie La Fort - Dennis Patrick
Sheriff - Dick York
Susan - Jacqueline Scott

The Adventures of Ellery Queen (aka “Mystery Is My Business”)

Dumont (10/19/50-12/6/51)
ABC (12/6/51-11/26/52)
Syndication (9/54)
Regular Cast: Starred Richard Hart(5-51), Lee Bowman(51-52), Hugh Marlowe(54) as Ellery Queen/Florenz Ames as Richard Queen/Charlotte Keane as Nikki Porter/
Production: Producers - Norman Pincus, Irving Pincus
Director: Don Richardson

The Further Adventures of Ellery Queen

NBC(9/26/58-9/4/59)
Regular Cast: Starred George Nader(58-59), and  Lee Philips(59) as Ellery Queen/Les Tremayne as Richard Queen
Production: Producer - Albert McCleery

Ellery Queen: Don’t Look Behind You

(pilot) NBC (11/14/71)
Regular Cast: Starred Peter Lawford as Ellery Queen/Harry Morgan as Richard Queen/E. G. Marshal, Stephanie Powers, Skye Aubrey, Colleen Gray and Morgan Steve.
Production: Executive Producer - Edward J. Montagne/Producer - Leonard Ackerman/Director - Barry Shear/Writer - Ted Leighton
Music: Jerry Fielding
Ellery Queen must help the police solve the baffling “Hydra Case”, in which an elusive strangler haunts New York City.

Ellery Queen

(The tv show) NBC 3/23/75 - 9/19/76
Regular Cast: Starred Jim Hutton as Ellery Queen/David Wayne as Richard Queen/John Hillerman as Simon Brimmer/Ken Swofford as Frank Flannigan/Tom Reese as Sergeant Velie/Nina Roman as Grace/John H Lowler as Brimmer’s director and Jimmy Lydon as an actor on Brimmer’s show.
Production: Executive Producers - Richard Levinson, William Link/Producers - Peter S. Fischer, Michael Rhodes
Music: Elmer Bernstein - “The Ellery Queen Theme”
------------------------------------
1. (Pilot) “Too Many Suspects” (3/23/75) 90 mins.
Guest starred: John Hillerman, Tom Reese, Ray Milland, Monte Markham, Kin Hunter, John Larch, Tim O’Connor, Warren Berlinger, Harry Von Zell, Gail Strickland, Vic Mohica, Dwan Smith and Jimmy Lydon.
Written by Richard Levinson and William Link/Directed by David Greene.

Ellery must solve the murder of a famous fashion designer.
---------------------------------
2. “The Adventure of Auld Lang Syne”
Starred Joan Collins, David Doyle, Herb Edelman, Farley Granger, Guy Lombardo, Karen Machon, Charles Knox Robinson, Barbara Rush, and Ray Walston.
Written by Peter S. Fischer - story by Richard Levinson, William Link and Peter S. Fischer/Directed by David Greene

A millionaire using a New Year’s party to tells his family and associates he plans to disinherit all of them, but meets misfortune before he can get to his lawyers.
-----------------------------
3. “The Adventure of the Black Falcon”
Starred Howard Duff, Signe Hasso, Tab Hunter, Roddy McDowall, William Schallert and John Hillerman.
Written by Marc B. Ray/ Directed by Walter Doniger

A wine bottle bearing a black falcon is involved in the poisoning of a night club partner.
-----------------------------
4. “The Adventure of the Blunt Instrument”
Starred: John Dehner, Eva Gabor, Richard Jaeckel, Dean Stockwell, and Keene Curtis
Written by Michael Robert David & Robert van Scoyk - story by Michael Robert David/Directed by Ernest Pintoff

An award-winning mystery writer is murdered after threatening to write a tell-all book.
-----------------------------
5. “The Adventure of Caesar’s Last Sleep”
Starred: Edward Vincent Albert, Michael Gazzo, Jan Murray, Kevin Tighe, Stuart Whitman and Bibi Besch.
Written by Rudolph Borchert/Story by Michael Rhodes/Directed by Richard Michaels

A gangster planning to testify in a politician’s crime purge is mysterious murderer in a sealed hotel room.
-----------------------------
6. “The Adventure of the Chinese Dog”
Starred: Orson Bean, Geraldine Brooks, Katherine Crawford, Murray Hamilton, Eugene Roche, and Dee Wallace(in a bit part)
Written by Robert van Scoyk - story by Gene Thompson/Directed by Ernest Pintoff

While on a fishing trip near Wrightsville, Ellery and his father become involved in investigating the murder of a rich man, killed with an expensive Chinese ornament.
------------------------------
7. “The Adventure of Colonel Nivin’s Memoirs”
Starred: Rene Auberjonois, Lloyd Bouchner, Gretchin Corbett, Robert Loggia, Pernell Roberts and Nina Vanpallandt
Written by Robert E. Swanson/Directed by Seymour Robbie

Ellery’s girl friend, Jenny, is accused of murdering the author of a controversial war memoir.
------------------------------
8. “The Adventure of the Comic Book Crusader”
Starred: Tom Bosley, Lynda Day George, Donald O’Connor, and Ken Swofford
Written by Robert van Scoyk/Directed by Peter Hunt

A shady comic book publisher who is planning an Ellery Queen comic book is murdered implicating Ellery as his killer.
-----------------------------
9. “The Adventure of the Disappearing Dagger”
Starred: Gary Burghoff, Ronny Cox, Mel Ferrer, Walter Pidgeon, Dana Wynter, and R. G. Armstrong
Written by Stephen Lord and Robert van Scoyk- story by Stephen Lord/Directed by Jack Arnold

Ellery must solve two murders, the five year old case of a murdered munitions maker and that of a dead detective who had solved the crime.
--------------------------------
10. “The Adventure of the Eccentric Engineer”
Starred: Arthur Godfrey, David Hedison, Dorothy Malone, Ed McMahon, Bobby Sherman, Dick Van Patten and Ann Reinking
Written by David P. Lewis & Booker Bradshaw/Directed by Peter H. Hunt

An inventor is murdered when he uses a faked second childhood to keep secret his last revolutionary invention.
--------------------------------
10. “The Adventure of the Hardhearted Huckster”
Starred: Fred Beir, Eddie Bracken, Bob Crane, Herb Edelman, Carolyn Jones, Juliet Mills and Ken Swofford
Written by Robert E. Swanson/Story by Robert E. Swanson and Lewis Davidson/Directed by Edward Abroms

A Tobacco magnate planning a major advertising campaign has his murder solved on Frank Flanagan’s tv talk show.
--------------------------------
12. “The Adventure of the Judas Tree”
Starred: Dana Andrews, Bill Dana, Clu Gulager, Jack Kruschen, George Maharis, Diana Muldaur and James Shigeta.
Written by Marty Roth/Directed by Walter Doniger

A war profiteer’s past and death reveal many secrets within his household, but not his killer.
--------------------------------
13. “The Adventure of the Lovers’ Leap”
Starred: Don Ameche, Anne Francis, Jack Kelly, Ida Lupino, Craig Stevens, Susan Strasburg and John Hillerman
Written by Robert Pirosh/Directed by Charles S. Dubin

A woman’s murder mirrors that in a novel she was reading, a mystery novel written by Ellery Queen.
--------------------------------
14. “The Adventure of the Mad Tea Party”
Starred: Edward Andrews, Jim Backus, Rhonda Fleming, Larry Hagman, Julius Harris, Carmen Mathews, Patricia Smith, and Julie Sommars
Written by Peter Fischer, based on the EQ short story/Directed by James Sheldon

A theatrical producer goes missing on the eve of his nephew’s birthday surprise, a play taken from Alice in Wonderland.
--------------------------------
15. “The Adventure of Miss Aggie’s Farewell Performance”
Starred: Eve Arden, Nan Martin, John McGiver, Bert Parks, Paul Shenar, Betty White and John Hillerman
Written by Peter S. Fischer - story by Richard Levinson, William Link and Peter S. Fischer/Directed by James Shelton

A radio soap-star tries to boast her popularity with a fake murder attempt, only someone finishs the job for her.
--------------------------------
16. “The Adventure of the Pharaoh’s Curse”
Starred: June Lockhart, Ross Martin, Simon Oakland, Nehemiah Persoff, John Hillerman and John Larroquette(in a bit part).
Written by Peter Fischer/Story by Rudolph Borchert/Directed by Seymour Robbie

A rich benefactor is murdered after purchasing a mummy for a museum.
--------------------------------
17. “The Adventure of the Sinister Scenario”
Starred: Noah berry, Carole Cook, Don Defore, Troy Donahue, Vincent Price, Barbara Rush, James Sikking and Paul Carr.
Written by Robert Pirosh/Directed by peter H. Hunt

While visiting the set of a Hollywood studio making an Ellery Queen picture, the star is murdered.
--------------------------------
18. “The Adventure of the Sunday Punch”
Starred: Robert Alda, Dane Clark, Janet MacLachlan, Lloyd Nolan, Otis Young and Ken Swofford.
Written by Larry Alexander/Directed by Seymour Robbie

A black fighter is prime suspect in the poisoning of his rival.
--------------------------------
19. “The Adventure of the 12th Floor Express”
Starred: George Furth, Pat Harrington, Dina Merrill, Paul Stewart and Ken Swofford
Written by David H. Balkan & Alan Folsom/Directed by Jack Arnold

A man is mysteriously murdered inside an elevator headed for the 12th Floor.
--------------------------------
20. “The Adventure of the Two-Faced Woman”
Starred: Theodore Bikel, Dr. Joyce Brothers, Victor Buono, Vera Miles, Edward Mulhane, Forrest Tucker, Alfred Ryder, Woodrow Parfrey, Ben Wright, Diana Chesney and John Hillerman.
Written by Robert E. Swanson/Directed by Jack Arnold

A mysterious painting is the key to two murders.
--------------------------------
21. “The Adventure of the Tyrant of Tin Pan Alley”
Starred: Polly Bergen, Gene Barry, Michael Callan, Norman Fell, Albert Salmi, Rudy Vallee and John Hillerman.
Written by Robert van Scoyk/Directed by Seymour Robbie

A famous song-smith is murdered shortly after a young man accuses him of stealing his work.
-------------------------------
22. “The Adventure of Veronica’s Veils”
Starred Julie Adams, Jack Carter, William Demarest, Don Porter, Barbara Rhoades, Hayden Rorke, and John Hillerman.  Special cameo by George Burns.
Written by Robert Pirosh/Directed by Seymour Robbie

A film at the funereal of a Broadway mogul lists the people that may have killed him.
--------------------------------
23. “The Adventure of the Wary Witness”
Starred Michael Constantine, Sal Mineo, Tricia O’Neil, Michael parks, Cesar Romero, Dick Sargent, and Ken Swofford.
Written by Peter S. Fischer/Directed by Walter Doniger

Ellery must find a mystery woman to save a friend who stands trial for shooting a gangster.
In the course of the 26 episodes of the series several ficticious Queen novels are mentioned including:

The Adventure of the Alabaster Apple (in The Adventure of the Mad Tea Party)
The Adventure of the Golden Gargoyle (in The Adventure of the Pharaoh’s Curse)
The Adventure of the Lover’s Leap  (in episode of same name)
The Adventure of the Purloined Gun  (in The Adventure of the Comic Book Crusader)
 

1. Gulf Funny Weekly  No. 366 (March 26, 1940) to No. 375(June 28, 1940) “The Adventure of the Secret Partner”(Ten parts) - based on radio play by Dannay and Lee.

2. Crackajack Funnies No. 25 - ?(“The Adventures of Ellery Queen”-CJF folded in 1942 most likely written by Dannay and Lee - published by DELL

3 Ellery Queen  May to November of 1949  bi-monthly for four issues “The Challenging Case of Faith, Hope and a Charlatan!”, “Rest(less) in Peace”, “The Turbulent Tomb!” - not too faithful published by Superior Comics

4. Ellery Queen  - two issues: Spring and Summer 1952  “The Corpse That Killed” and “The Chain-Letter Murders”  - published by ZIFF-DAVIS

5. Four Color  series No. 1165, 1243, and 1289 published in 1960 and 1961  Art by Mike Sekowsky “The Mummy’s Curse”, “The Witch’s Victim”, “The VooDoo Victim”, “The Curse of Kane” - published by Dell

6. Maze Agency No. 9  (1990) Written by Mike Barr, pencilled by Adam Hughes, Inked by Rick Magyar  teamed up with Maze characters  “The English Channeler Mystery” - published by Maze
 

1. (1956) Bettye B. Ellery Queen’s “Trapped” (board game)
2. (1975) IDEAL  The Case of the Missing Assassin  (board game)
3. (1985) Mayfair   Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine Game
    (role-playing game)
 
 

    Barr, Mike. “The Comic Life of Ellery Queen”. The Armchair Detective , Vol. 25, No. 1, Winter 1992.
    Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine  #502. (No. 3, Vol. 85) Ad on page 4
    Hellyer, David. “The Accolades of Ellery Queen” The Tragedy of X.  The Mystery Library: San Diego, 1978.
    Nevins, Francis M. Jr.  “Ellery Queen: A Checklist” The Tragedy of X.  The Mystery Library: San Diego, 1978.
    Pronzini, Bill and Muller, Marcia.  1001 Nights. New York: Arbor House, 1986.
    Terrance, Vincent. Encyclopedia of Television Series, Pilots, Specials  Volume 1 and 2.  New York: New York Zoetrope, 1985.

Special thanks to Rick Polizzi for his info on EQ games.