  ead man's Tale
(December 1961)
When Barney Street, the fixer, was in Holland during World War II,
his life had been saved by a German soldier. Now Barney was dead; his estate was worth
$2,000,000. But in his will Barney left it all to Hacha, the German soldier who had saved
his life. Barney's wife, Estelle, wanted that money. If Hacha was dead, she would get it.
If not...? So she sent Steve Longacre to Europe to find out. Steve, who had once been one
of Barney's boys, took along his kid brother, Andy, and they trailed Hacha from Holland to
Switzerland, to Vienna, finally to Prague. |
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| Written by Stephen Marlowe
edited by Manfred Lee and at best this could be called a "fair" spy novel
with nothing of the usual Ellery Queen attributes. Critic
Boucher tried to alert readers in the nicest possible way: "Loyal Queen
fans should perhaps be warned that "Dead Man's Tale"... bears no resemblance
to any other book by Ellery Queen. No problem in deduction,
no familiar characters, no off-trail erudition, no complexity of plot. ...
Possibly the master is trying to appeal to a new set of readers, who may
find this a readable if hardly urgent chase-thriller, pursuing ...
improbable objectives." (December 24. 1961) Marlowe never ghosted another Queen book. |
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