Ellery Queen, pseudonym of Frederic Dannay (1905–82), and Manfred Bennington Lee (1905–71) Biography
pseudonym of Frederic Dannay, The Roman Hat Mystery, The Greek Coffin Mystery, The Egyptian Cross Mystery
American writers of detective fiction featuring the author/detective Ellery Queen. The earliest stories followed the mannered ‘Golden Age’ style of S. S. Van Dine, and showed the erudite amateur sleuth using intuition and intelligence to outwit the plodding forces of law and order. In the best of these, The Roman Hat Mystery (1929), The Greek Coffin Mystery (1932), The Egyptian Cross Mystery (1932), and The Spanish Cape Mystery (1935), a successful formula was evolved with all the ingredients of a puzzle laid before the reader. The stories were adapted for numerous films and a long-running radio series (1939–48). By this time the authors had turned to the short story. Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (1941–82) became an outlet for Dannay and Lee and for a host of other crime writers. Among notable later Queen novels are Calamity Town (1942) and the final A Fine and Private Place (1971).
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Literature Reference: American Literature, English Literature, Classics & Modern FictionEncyclopedia of Literature: Cwmfelinfach (Cŏomvĕlĭnvahχ) Monmouthshire to Walter de la Mare Biography