The Penthouse Mystery

he Penthouse Mystery (1941)

The body in the trunk, the vanishing jade necklace, the ventriloquist, the magician & the cardsharp.
A murderous mix of clues and characters that gives detection's most expert amateur, Ellery Queen, one of his trickiest cases. A fast-paced puzzler.
Sheila Cobb turned to Ellery Queen in desperation when her father disappeared. And within half an hour, Ellery found Gordon Cobb... but the solution didn't get him very far. For Gordon Cobb was dead, his body concealed in his own wardrobe trunk in a luxurious penthouse.

Hidden treasure, rival gangs of international crooks, and rapid-fire detection make this Ellery Queen adventure a treat for EQ fans and all mystery readers.

The Penthouse Mystery - dust cover Grosset & Dunlap edition, NY, 1941

The Penthouse Mystery - red hardcover Grosset & Dunlap edition, N.Y., 1941

The Penthouse Mystery - dust cover Grosset & Dunlap edition, NY, 1941 (Ellery Queen Junior Mystery)

The Penthouse Mystery - dust cover Grosset & Dunlap edition, NY, 1941 (no inscription in black area)

The Penthouse Mystery - black hardcover Grosset & Dunlap edition, N.Y., 1941

The Penthouse Mystery - cover pocketbook edition, Pyramid R-1810, April 1968 (See top of the page)

Above: Three dust and 2 hard cover variations for Grosset & Dunlap editions; cover Pyramid edition.(Click on the covers to see the differences) *

Again an Ellery Queen story but no real Queen recycled from a B-movie which was based on a radio plot by the Queens. To be precise the 60-minute drama "The Three (Four) Scratches" (12-17-39).

The story was published in May 1941 in Screen Romances, a magazine with stories from the movies. (Right)

"The Penthouse Mystery" was published in May 1941 in "Screen Romances" a magazine with stories from the movies.

Ellery Queen e il mistero dell'attico - cover Italian edition Il GialloMondadori N° 1817, November 27. 1983

消えた宝石 (Penthouse Mystery) - cover Japanese edition, educational publication, June 1964

ねらわれた宝石 (Penthouse Mystery) - cover Japanese edition, educational publication, June 1965

消えた宝石 (Penthouse Mystery) - cover Japanese edition, educational publication, Oct 1969 (also contains story by Murray)

エラリー・クイーンの事件簿 - cover Japanese edition "The Case Files of Ellery Queen 1" Masaru Aota Sogen Detective Bunko1, contains "Vanishing Corpse" and "The Penthouse Mystery" Tokyo Sogensha, Somoto Reasoning Paperback, Jan 14. 1972

The Penthouse Mystery Translations:
German: Leichen sind schweres Gepäck
Italian: Ellery Queen e il mistero dell'attico
Japanese: ペントハウスの謎
(aka ねらわれた宝石)
(aka エラリー・クイーンの事件簿)
Russian: ТАЙНА ПЕНТХАУСА

* Interested readers should know that the icons/covers of books, used throughout the website have extra descriptions/information not included in the text on the same page. Pointing your cursor at the icon/cover used to reveal this extra information.
To achieve the same effect Firefox users can install an add-on called 'Popup ALT Attribute'. When installed pointing your cursor at an icon/cover results in showing you the details or additional information.