The American gun mystery

Ellery Queen is there when 41 mounted cowboys ride into a New York coliseum as part of a gaudy Wild West show. He counts them automatically; he's a master detective, after all, and he remembers the number was supposed to be 40. Something's wrong. That's the opening of this reissue of the 1933 "fair play" classic in which we learn everything the genius sleuth knows so we have a chance to figure it out when he does, but we usually don't. The numbers become key when a fading cowboy film star fronting the Wild West show is shot from his horse by an unseen gunman. More anomalies appear. Why is the corpse's face untouched after falling amid 41 galloping horses? Who shot him, and where is the gun? "Ellery Queen" is the pseudonym of the authors and the sleuth's name, both firmly planted "between the wars." That means dated language, a snooty sleuth who's a bit of a pain-in-the-neck, and the faith that human intelligence examining the physical world can solve everything. Even the identify of that forty-first rider. Good fun for fans of mystery's golden age.

First published in 1933, this so-so fair play whodunit from Queen, the pen name of Frederic Dannay (1905--1982) and Manfred Lee (1905--1971), offers a tantalizing setup. Manhattan amateur sleuth Ellery Queen and his father, NYPD Insp. Richard Queen, are attending a rodeo at a sports arena, along with more than 20,000 others, when the star attraction, movie cowboy Buck Horne, is shot in the side just as he and 40 other riders are shooting their guns into the air. Horne is fatally trampled after toppling from his horse. A firearms expert determines the murder weapon to have been a .25 caliber, but despite everyone in the arena being thoroughly searched by the police, no matching gun is located. Even film footage of the killing doesn't help, as Ellery explores potential personal and professional reasons for someone to want Horne dead. This entry lacks the clever plotting and more fleshed-out characterizations of later books in the series, and the solution, while it logically explains a seeming impossibility, is a letdown. Not everyone will consider this an American mystery classic. (Oct.)

Ellery Queen is there when 41 mounted cowboys ride into a New York coliseum as part of a gaudy Wild West show. He counts them automatically; he's a master detective, after all, and he remembers the number was supposed to be 40. Something's wrong. That's the opening of this reissue of the 1933 fair play classic in which we learn everything the genius sleuth knows so we have a chance to figure it out when he does, but we usually don't. The numbers become key when a fading cowboy film star fronting the Wild West show is shot from his horse by an unseen gunman. More anomalies appear. Why is the corpse's face untouched after falling amid 41 galloping horses? Who shot him, and where is the gun? Ellery Queen is the pseudonym of the authors and the sleuth's name, both firmly planted between the wars. That means dated language, a snooty sleuth who's a bit of a pain-in-the-neck, and the faith that human intelligence examining the physical world can solve everything. Even the identify of that forty-first rider. Good fun for fans of mystery's golden age. Copyright 2021 Booklist Reviews.

First published in 1933, this so-so fair play whodunit from Queen, the pen name of Frederic Dannay (1905–1982) and Manfred Lee (1905–1971), offers a tantalizing setup. Manhattan amateur sleuth Ellery Queen and his father, NYPD Insp. Richard Queen, are attending a rodeo at a sports arena, along with more than 20,000 others, when the star attraction, movie cowboy Buck Horne, is shot in the side just as he and 40 other riders are shooting their guns into the air. Horne is fatally trampled after toppling from his horse. A firearms expert determines the murder weapon to have been a .25 caliber, but despite everyone in the arena being thoroughly searched by the police, no matching gun is located. Even film footage of the killing doesn't help, as Ellery explores potential personal and professional reasons for someone to want Horne dead. This entry lacks the clever plotting and more fleshed-out characterizations of later books in the series, and the solution, while it logically explains a seeming impossibility, is a letdown. Not everyone will consider this an American mystery classic. (Oct.)