  he Mystery of the Merry
Magician (1961)
 Gulliver Queen, nephew of the famous detective, Ellery Queen, doesn't want to be a detective. But when Gully and his new friend, Fisty Jones investigate the strange underwater noises in the Hudson River, they suddenly find themselves deep in a mystery that Gully can't resist tackling. The menacing tattooed man, the weird one-eyed figure in the abandoned building, the strange but merry Magnus Merlin, magician extraordinaire - all add up to an exciting tale of danger and suspense on, and under the waterfront on New York. Gulliver Queen had looked forward to spending his vacation with his famous detective-uncle--but things were happening too fast for him now. When his uncle Ellery is unexpectedly called away, Gully is left in charge of gathering information. Suddenly Fisty Jones bursts into the apartment demanding help. Gully rushes off to investigate, and finds himself helpless in a muddle of confusion clues.... First there’s the trick dog. Then the wailing ghost...and a terrible tattooed man. And when Gully learns the strange secret of the space monster, he finds himself facing the worst danger of his young life.... |
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| Above: cover Golden Press edition (1961); cover Golden Griffon (1961); cover Open Road Media Teen & Tween (2015); cover audiobook Blackstone Audio, Inc. (2015).* |
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Nine mysteries have Djuna as main character and can be called the Djuna-series. In the 60s a pause in the
series occurred when
James Holding
was contracted
to continue the series as Ellery Queen,
Jr. The first two
of his EQ jr. book featured Gulliver Queen,
described as the nephew of famous detective,
in the leading
role and were issued by Golden Press with their distinctive blue-diamond spine.
But as it turns out, both of
these mysteries were not in fact Holding's work.
The son of Joseph Lawrence
Greene
(1914-1990)
stated that his father, who also
wrote the Dig Allen series
(1959-1962)
for Golden Press, was, in fact,
the author of one of
the Golden Press books
(1961-1962).
We did find a copyright entry
for The Mystery of the Merry
Magician by Joseph Greene
and one for The Mystery of
the Vanishing Victim by
Paul Newman.
(More on the authorship can be
read here...) The French and (probably) Italian translations have no original titles indicated but after obtaining copies we were able to concluded the true "origins" of the two "Gully" translations. After this given the cover of the Italian edition it's origin was no brainteaser... . |
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| Above: Artwork for Dutch edition by Karel Thole. |
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The Mystery of the Merry
Magician Translations: |
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