Showing results by author "Ellery Queen" in All Categories

The horribly crushed body that crashed onto the Manhattan pavement has at least two names, several passports, and an address book full of important friends - among them, a millionaire roué; his exotic, deadly mistress; and his coolly beautiful wife - all of whom seem to have forgotten him very abruptly when he became a corpse. No one is talking, so it is up to Captain Corrigan, the man with the eye patch and a way with crime, to solve a violent puzzle of lust, greed, high espionage - and the worst kind of murder.

They are two brilliant madmen who think killing is fun. A freak of the law has set them free, and now a hidden killer, acting as judge, jury, and executioner, threatens them both. Enter Tim Corrigan, assigned to protect the pair against the fatal harvest of their own violence. Corrigan soon takes their place on the deadly spot.

Is the lovely young heiress hiding somewhere among the shiny steel towers of Manhattan? Or is she the horribly mutilated corpse hauled up from the sewers of the city? Captain Timothy Corrigan, the cool cop with the eye patch, sets out to solve the puzzle and finds himself playing a fantastic game of hide-and-seek in a glittering world where everything is make-believe - except sudden, shocking death.

The killer is an expert. He has climbed 10 stories in the Manhattan blackout and found and dispatched his victim amid the men and women trapped in the building. The night drags on. Nerves wear thin, and inhibitions disappear. Anyone, including a beautiful secretary with a yen for eye-patched detective Tim Corrigan, could be the lurking killer.

Joe Maddox was one of moviedom's most successful producers. But could he produce $200,000 in time to save his wife, his scriptwriter, and his leading lady? They didn't know. All three were held at gunpoint in a deserted California beach house, but they'd find out one way or another....

Who killed Cox, the robber? Was it Ruth Tully, who visited Crandall Cox on the night of his death and who might have decided to quench a torrid past with a spray of bullets? What about Sandra Jean, the knock-'em-dead beauty who knew more than she was telling about the sudden demise of blackmailer Cox? Or had some past scandal driven lawyer Ollie Hurst and his wife, Norma, to claim the blackmailer's life? Dave Tully didn't know who the killer was, but if he didn't find out fast, the price of failure could be death....

Madman or murderer? That was the question, and it was Police Inspector Omar Collins who had come up with the answer. All he had to go on was: the victim - Earl Genneman, wealthy president of Genneman Labs; the scene - right in the middle of a busy state park; the murder weapon - a shotgun that was still missing; the witnesses - Myron Retwig, Red Kershaw, Bob Vega, and Buck James, all friends or employees of the deceased; the motive - unknown; the suspects - everyone!

Some men retire on a hundred grand...or buy their wives mink coats with days of the week sewn in the lining...or fly to Rio for a good cup of coffee - but not Jim Morgan. Jim had a hundred thousand all right - neatly packed in stacks of 50s - only someone had made an expensive mistake. A mistake that put him on the run for his money - as well as his life.

Leslie Gibson was a wealthy, beautiful, 17-year-old brat - out for kicks at any price. And Leslie had decided that Reid Rance, adventurer and travel guide extraordinaire, was just the man to show her the hot spots of Mexico. But touring led to trouble with a capital T, and Reid was soon minus one debutante, plus several unwanted corpses, and desperately wanted by Mexican and American police... as well as the Mexican underground.

All police sergeant Burt March wanted was a chance to recover from a recent brush with the Grim Reaper. Sun, fun, and a willing broad - that was all he needed. But the broad had along a sugar daddy with his own private squad of goons with guns. And when the fun began, Burt found himself the gunmen's number one target.

The nice, mild man named Edward Tollman had a problem. His lovely wife was missing, and he wanted her back--fast. So he went to a fellow whose specialty was solving problems like that--a very private detective called Barney Burgess. Burgess' methods were not pleasant, but they got results. Burgess was used to sordid scenes and secrets.

"Let's face it, Alex: you were the KGB's top assassin, and they paid you off. Just as we might. A cushy lieutenant-colonelcy in Tokyo, riding pour le sport , a yacht, your pick of Eurasian dolls... Like? We can do you better in the USA, Alex--come on over, and bring your secrets with you." That was FACE's pitch to the would-be defector, and it got results. Witness one hell of a nice courier slashed and dumped in a Tokyo alley.

The coed missing from Tisquanto State is the daughter of Governor Sam Holland's rival for reelection - and best friend. But she is more than that. She is Laura Thornton, a human being - somehow the pawn and victim of angry student upheavals not even the governor understands...

All Hollywood producer Ben Sloane had wanted was to find Sol Dahlman, the mysterious film genius who had made The Wild Nymph - and now Sloane is dead. "Go up to Rockview," the governor tells Mike McCall, "and get me the killer!" But it isn't quite that easy. The Mann Photo Service, long rumored to be a center of the blue-movie industry, is torn by a strike, and nobody is talking to strangers.

In "Uncle from Australia", a typical fun-and-games short story, Ellery interprets the dying message of an uncle from down under and must determine which of his greedy relatives skewered him for an inheritance.