The legendary detective investigates the death of a chrysanthemum king, as well as fourteen other mysteries in this short story collection. When Godfrey Mumford retired to focus on his chrysanthemums, he was worth a little over $5 million. A decade later, his family gathered for his birthday, he delivers shocking news: Thanks to poor investments on behalf of his financial manager, every penny is gone. The house is mortgaged, the stocks are sold—the only valuable item remaining is a priceless chrysanthemum pendant that once belonged to the emperor of Japan. It is Mumford’s prized possession, and it will be his doom. Soon after Mumford is paralyzed by a stroke, he is found murdered. The bizarre death catches the eye of world-famous detective Ellery Queen, who will unravel the mystery of this novella, Mum’s the Word, with the same elegance that he brings to each of the stories in this marvelous collection.

A collection of chilling, witty tales in which Ellery challenges the reader clue by clue to exercise his deductive powers.

Frederic Dannay (1905-1982) was--with his partner Manfred Lee--the creator of the Ellery Queen detective novels and short stories. Dannay was also a literary historian and critic, and the editor of the renowned Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. Queen--both a pen name and the fictional protagonist of the stories--was also a vital force behind the continuing popularity of crime fiction in the early to mid-20th century, after the deaths of Arthur Conan Doyle, G.K. Chesterton, Melville Davisson Post, and other Old Masters of the genre. This book presents the first critical study of Ellery Queen's role in the preservation of the detective short story. Many of the writers, characters and stories EQMM championed are covered, including such celebrated authors as Allingham, Ambler, Ellin, Innes, Vickers, and even William Butler Yeats.

This is an encyclopedic work, arranged by broad categories and then by original authors, of literary pastiches in which fictional characters have reappeared in new works after the deaths of the authors that created them. It includes book series that have continued under a deceased writer's real or pen name, undisguised offshoots issued under the new writer's name, posthumous collaborations in which a deceased author's unfinished manuscript is completed by another writer, unauthorized pastiches, and "biographies" of literary characters. The authors and works are entered under the following categories: Action and Adventure, Classics (18th Century and Earlier), Classics (19th Century), Classics (20th Century), Crime and Mystery, Espionage, Fantasy and Horror, Humor, Juveniles (19th Century), Juveniles (20th Century), Poets, Pulps, Romances, Science Fiction and Westerns. Each original author entry includes a short biography, a list of original works, and information on the pastiches based on the author's characters.

When an amnesiac friend wakes up with blood on his hands—and it seems to be someone else’s—Ellery Queen takes the case in this “enigmatic entertainment” (Kirkus Reviews). Howard Van Horn wakes up in a Bowery flophouse. His knuckles are bruised, his head is bloodied, all his valuables are gone, and he has a strong urge to leap out the window. He has been unconscious for nineteen days—another in a long line of amnesiac episodes that have destroyed this once-promising sculptor. As he comes to grips with this latest blackout, he realizes something awful. The blood on his clothes suggests that another life has been wrecked. Van Horn goes to an old friend, amateur sleuth Ellery Queen, who works hand in hand with the New York Police Department. Though Queen has solved countless murders, never before has he been asked to determine whether a crime was committed at all. To get to the root of the sculptor’s attacks, Queen forces him to return to Boston, to confront a family secret so dark that Van Horn’s mind destroyed itself rather than face it.

A journalist accused of murdering his unfaithful wife searches for the real killer Angel Denton’s extramarital activities are the worst-kept secret in town. Jim Denton has endured the cuckold’s horns for ages, but by midnight on Halloween he’s finally fed up. Deserted at a masquerade ball, he takes refuge at the bar while his wife flirts her way up and down the dance floor in a costume so revealing she risks being arrested for indecency. Lightning strikes, the electricity goes out, and Denton overhears his wife planning a tryst with another man. The next morning, he finds a note saying that she’s leaving him. And he never sees Angel alive again. A week later, the police find Angel in the woods, her once-beautiful body mangled by wild dogs. Everyone is sure Denton killed her, and to save his own neck, the desperate husband will have to find Angel’s last lover—and take revenge.