  he
House of Brass (1968)
 Why did the last survivor of a wealthy family bring together six people whom he didn't know and had never seen? Why did he decide to make these perfect strangers his heirs? And where was old Hendrik's fortune hidden? Ellery Queen's latest adventure is a satirical murder-comedy of the turned-on sixties which combines hilarity with the deadly macabre, and, of course, the full Queen-quota of fair-and-square deduction and endless surprise. "You are invited to a murder"
That was how the invitations should have read when aged
millionaire Hendrik Brass sent out his messages to six oddly assorted men
and women who knew neither him nor each other. The House of Brass stood in Sleepy Hollow-a squat, rambling structure of wayward ells sprouting a crop of mushroom chimney stacks. The original building was 16th-Century Dutch Colonial, shaded by crouching trees that still trembled-you could swear-from the hoof beats of the Headless Horseman. And the front door was of solid shimmering brass. To each of the invited guests Hendrik Brass's ancestral relic promised much; dreams come true, new riches...and with this, the first faint gnawing of an inexpressible fear. Why did the last survivor of a wealthy family bring together six people whom he didn't know and had never seen? And where was old Hendrik's fortune hidden? |
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| Above left to right: dust and hardcover New American Library (1968); dust covers Gollancz editions (1968, 1978) * | |
| Canberra
Times, June 29. 1968 - "New, credible Ellery
Queen" by Suzanne Hayes "IN 'The House of Brass', middle-aged Jessie Queen returns find an envelope enclosing a $100 bill, half a $1,000 bill, and an invitation to use the $100 to travel to the House of Brass, where, at the end of her stay, her host will give her the other half of the $1,000 bill. She persuades her husband, ex-Inspector Queen, to take her on a visit. When trouble begins, it is he who wants to stay and clear up the mysteries. His son, Ellery, appears only in the last chapter. Ellery Queen, the author, has always written vividly. But in what a thesis-writer might call his "middle period", the plotting was incredibly (literally) involved and criminals were even known to lay false clues especially aimed at deluding the detective Ellery with his love of complexity. Mercifully, in his most recent novels, the author, keeping his lively style, uses plots which we can follow and criminals whom we can believe in. Once again, his thrillers give us much pleasure as does his earliest series." |
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Francis Nevins states Avram Davidson as the ghostwriter for this novel. Henry Wessells (Something Rich and Strange : The Writings of Avram Davidson, 1999) states "Avram Davidson apparently considered writing a third Ellery Queen novel and began negotiations. But the book was ultimately written by Theodore Sturgeon." He continues by mentioning a passing reference in a letter (Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Columbia University) indicating that Avram looked at the outline for The House of Brass. Richard Dannay clarified the issue "There was a completed manuscript of his (Avram), based on my father’s extensive outline, at Columbia but it was rejected by Fred & Manny, who completed the outline themselves and published their own finished work." Another Inspector Queen in retirement tale, and a direct sequel to Inspector's Queen's Own Case. Not that much plot, but there's a neat double twist and Ellery Queen has to come up with the real answer. Dad ties the knot with Jessie Sherwood. |
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 Other articles on this book (1) Reading Ellery Queen - The House of Brass Jon Mathewson (May 2016) |
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