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Ellery Queen and Sherlock Holmes-Undisputed masters of analytical deduction - their talents and methods strikingly, almost uncannily, alike. Through the strange interlocking of events past and present, two celebrated detectives meet to focus their razor-sharp intellects, their brilliant powers of observation on the mystery of... Jack the Ripper. History's most depraved murderer, his victims were the whores of Whitechapel. Lurking in narrow, fog-shrouded alleys, he crept forth night after night to murder and mutilate. Eluding Scotland Yard's most heroic efforts to track him down, the Ripper continued to satisfy his unnatural appetites, unrestrained and unidentified!

Sherlock Holmes: the greatest fictional detective of all time!

Jack the Ripper: the most notorious undiscovered criminal in history!

Told by Doctor Watson (who else?), this is the inside story of the most intriguing match in the annals of crime and mystery, brilliantly imagined by Sherlock Holmes' fines successor: Ellery Queen.
 

One of the earliest and rarest Holmes pastiches, A Study in Terror inspired the classic film of the same name starring John Neville, Donald Houston, Anthony Quayle and Robert Morley - and it offers a startling answer to the ever-fascinating question:

WHO WAS JACK THE RIPPER?
 

 
A Study in Terror - cover pocket book edition, Lancer Books N° 73 469, 1966A Study in Terror - cover pocket book edition, Lodestone N° B-5020, 1966.Sherlock Holmes versus Jack the Ripper - dust cover Victor Gollancz edition, London, 1967 (1st)Sherlock Holmes versus Jack the Ripper - hardcover Victor Gollancz edition, London, 1967 (1st) (red cover with guilded lettering on spine)A Study in Terror - cover pocket book edition, Lancer N° 73 616 , 1967.A Study in Terror - cover pocket book edition, Lancer N° 73 814, 1969.
Above: This time only Gollancz provided a hardback first edition. Left to right: Lancer (1966) (1st); Lodestone (1966); dust cover and hardcover Gollancz edition (1967); and two Lancer editions (1967-69). (Click on the covers to see the differences) *
Note: Lancer went bankrupt but then one of the founders brought out editions under the ‘Magnum Books’ (and Lodestone) moniker without paying anyone. The Lodestone titles were apparently never sold in bookstores, but was a special line for discount stores in the States.
 
While Conan Doyle never addressed the problem of the Ripper in any of his Sherlock Holmes stories (despite many letters asking him to do so), his followers have done it several times. Holmes appears in center stage in Ellery Queen's A Study in Terror. Frederic Dannay and Derek Ford (1933-1995) got the writing credits for the movie A Study in Terror (aka Fog, 1965)

How, after producing a pastiche called The Misadventures of Sherlock Holmes which had to be withdrawn when Doyle’s trustees objected, Ellery Queen managed to get away with a veritable Sherlock Holmes novel in 1966 without encountering similar protests it is difficult to say, and few of his readers probably care. The important thing is that he managed to bring off a magnificent tour de force wholly in the style of the master.

The Holmes part of story of the movie was rewritten by Paul W. Fairman and then Ellery Queen added a second solution that trumps the great Holmes! In our 2002 interview Edward Hoch stated that just prior to Face to Face, Lee collaborated with Dannay on the framing sections of A Study in Terror added to Paul W. Fairman's novelization of the film.

The story was also published in Argosy (Aug '91) as A Study in Terror aka The Adventure of the Surgeon's Kit.
 As such the novel is, in actuality, two novels in one. Ellery Queen (the character) is given an unpublished manuscript by a woman who asks that Ellery use his powers of deduction to clear the man Holmes names as the Ripper. The  Watson manuscript is interwoven with Ellery's as he reads through the book. This evokes mixed feelings "..One reason why the book is so unsatisfactory is the denouement in which six of the principal characters are killed, murdered, or commit suicide in a little over four pages. One impales himself on his sword stick; four more are burned to death; and the sixth is stabbed by somebody pretending to be Jack the Ripper" (Rumbelow, Donald. Jack the Ripper: The Complete Casebook. Revised, 248).
Illustration by Alan Weiss for Ellery Queen's "A Study in Terror" aka "The Adventure of the Surgeon's Kit" in "Argosy" (August 1991).
Above: Illustration by Alan Weiss for Ellery Queen's A Study in Terror aka The Adventure of the Surgeon's Kit in Argosy (August 1991).
Critics accused EQ of taking this job just for the money and based on both movie and book we have to say the money seems well-spent, as it remains a clever, creative pastiche.
The Watson manuscript details Holmes tracking the killer and eventually discovering him. Working from text only Ellery deduces otherwise. Unlikeliness aside, the main problem of this novel is that it purports to be giving a solution to the puzzle. As such, it should follow the constraints of the evidence as we know it. This does not happen as victims are introduced haphazardly and the murders do not take place in the correct sequence. A petty point, to be sure, but one that invalidates its authority. The story is an amusing read but unsatisfying for both Ellery Queen and Sherlock Holmes fans. Holmes lacks Doyle's touch and there is not enough of Queen to bear mentioning.
A Study in Terror - cover Large Print edition, G.K. Hall & Co., July 31. 2001A Study in Terror - cover paperback edition, Xanadu Book, 1990. (Cover art Ivan Allen/Inkshed)A Study in Terror - cover audiobook Blackstone Audio, Inc., read by Robert Fass, Augustus 1. 2014A Study in Terror - cover MysteriousPress.com/Open Road, August 4, 2015
 


Sherlock Holmes contre Jack l'Eventreur - cover French edition J'ai Lu, Paris, Nr.2607, 1989Sherlock Holmes contre Jack l'Eventreur - cover French edition Stock, 1968Sherlock Holmes und Jack the Ripper - coverSherlock Holmes und Jack the Ripper - cover Dumont's Kriminal-Bibliothek, 2000Sherlock Holmes gegen Jack the Ripper - German cover Ullstein BucherUno studio in Nero - cover Italian edition Il giallo Mondadorio n.949, 1967Uno studio in Nero - cover Italian edition,I classici del giallo N°.339
Uno studio in Nero - cover Italian edition, Oscar Mondadori, 1988Uno studio in Nero - cover Italian edition, 2009Uno studio in Nero - cover Italian edition, Il Giallo Mondadori Classici, May 2021Sherlock Holmes contra Jack, O Estripador - Brazilian edition, Livros do Brasil, 1997Sherlock Holmes contra Jack O Estripador - Portuguese edition Editora Alibiสืบคดีเขย่าขวัญ - Cover Thai edition "A Study In Terror", October 2007

A study in terror Translations:
Chinese: 恐懼的研究  
Danish: En studie i mord  (aka Et Studie i Mord)  
Dutch/Flemish: none  
French: Sherlock Holmes contre Jack l'Eventreur  
German: Sherlock Holmes gegen Jack the Ripper  
(aka Sherlock Holmes und Jack the Ripper)  
Greek: Ποιός ἤταν ποιός  
Italian: Uno studio in nero  
Japanese: kyoufunokenkyuu  
Lithuanian: Džekas mėsinėtojas  
Norwegian: En studie i mord  
Portuguese: Sherlock Holmes contra Jack O Estripador  
Russian:  Неизвестная рукопись доктора Ватсона  
aka Шерлок Холмс против Джека Потрошителя  
Spanish: Un estudio en terror  
Swedish: En studie i skräck - Ellery Queen och  
Sherlock Holmes löser mysteriet  
med Jack Uppskäraren  
Thai:
สืบคดีเขย่าขวัญ  

Un Estudio en Terror - cover Spanish edition, ed. Diana, Mexico, 1967En studie i skräck - cover Swedish edition, Läsa Bra, 1979En Studie I Mord - Norwegian cover, 1977En Studie I Mord - cover Danish versionEt Studie i Mord - Cover Danish edition, Rosenkilde & Bahnhof, 2015
Džekas mėsinėtojas - cover Lithuanian edition, 1993, EuropaΠοιός ἤταν ποιός - cover Greek edition, Viper, 1970Девять месяцев до убийства (Nine Months before the Murder) - cover Russian compilation, contains three Ellery Queen stories "A Fine and Private Place" (Девять месяцев до убийства), A Study in Terror(Шерлок Холмс против Джека Потрошителя) & "The Greek Coffin Mystery" (Гроб с секретом), publisher Oeral University Press (Издательство Уральского Университета), Jekaterinenburg, 1993.Расследует инспектор Квин part of omnibus "Тайна Карен Лейт" - dust cover Russian edition, contains "The Door Between" (Тайна Карен Лейт), "The Lamp of God" (Божественный свет), "A study in terror" (Неизвестная рукопись доктора Ватсона) and "Inspector Queen's Own investigation" (Расследует инспектор Квин), 1993Расследует инспектор Квин part of omnibus "Тайна Карен Лейт" - hardcover Russian edition, contains "The Door Between" (Тайна Карен Лейт), "The Lamp of God" (Божественный свет), "A study in terror" (Неизвестная рукопись доктора Ватсона) and "Inspector Queen's Own investigation" (Расследует инспектор Квин), 1993
Тайна китайского мандарина - cover Russian compilation, contains three Ellery Queen stories, "The Chinese Orange Mystery" (Тайна китайского мандарина), "Face to Face" (Лицом к лицу) & "A Study in Terror" (Неизвестная рукопись доктора Уотсона), Publisher Canon (Kahoh), 1994.Тайна французского порошка- cover Russian compilation, includes "The French Powder Mystery" (Тайна французского порошка) & "A Study in Terror" (Шерлок Холмс против Джека Потрошителя), publisher Centrograph (Центрполиграф), 2005A Study in Terror - cover Japanese edition, Hayakawa Publishing (full cover)A Study in Terror - cover Chinese edition, New Star Press, October 2015恐懼的研究 - A Study in Terror - cover Chinese edition, Publisher Facebook, January 28. 2016

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