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"The Book Case", an Ellery Queen novella appeared in the May 2007 edition of Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, and was written by Dale Andrews and Kurt Sercu!

Both long-time Ellery Queen fans we first met on-line through this website. While we exchanged emails for years, we met in person for the first time when together we attended the EQMM Ellery Queen Centenary Symposium in April of 2005. We have long lamented the current absence of both old and new Ellery Queen works as evidenced by the editorial we jointly wrote following the symposium. But rather than just complaining, we decided to do something about this problem.

The outline for "The Book Case," was devised by us on a train as we traveled back from New York City to Washington, D.C. in April 2005. Thereafter the actual draft of the story was developed over the course of many electronic trips back and forth across the Atlantic (or "the Pond" as we like to refer to it). Just as the original Queen stories were a collaboration by Dannay and Lee (often separated by a continent), so too this Ellery Queen story was a collaboration by us, separated this time by the Pond. Janet Hutchings, editor of EQMM graciously and enthusiastically agreed to edit and publish this work, the longest "First Story Department" entry ever published by EQMM, and the estates of Frederic Dannay and Manfred B. Lee have approved the story's publication.

Now you can hear the story as an audio book, part of Miniature Mythos weekly Sunday posts. Enjoy!

Enjoy!

Keeping this site up-to-date doesn't feel like an obligation at all. Discovering bygone information through selection, verification, and re-verification offers enough satisfaction. Some naysayers will claim that some pages will hardly be read. But sometimes the satisfaction and recognition come from that one reader. A family member of one of the actors expressing their appreciation for rediscovered details about a parent/grandparent is more than enough for me. Especially when they take the time and effort to let me know. When rechecking facts, I find that my pages were indeed useful to others.

Since December of last year,  due to circumstances, I have been able to make more time to update the biographies. In doing so, I reviewed what information I could gather over the past years and compared it to the text on this site. Small additions, corrections, discoveries... new photos... Nine months later, I went through all the pages. Finished with this round. The very detailed pages are mostly the result of bringing together nearly unfindable details and, less so, of weeding through a lot of information. Still, there is satisfaction in completing this round. You can read the detailed pages of the actors by clicking on their photos... starting on the (third) Ellery Queen page...

Thanks also to Rémi Schulz who provided some variety and pointed out a few covers of Ellery Queen books in Hebrew.

I can also announce that at the end of this month we have a nice surprise for our listeners. So stay tuned!!!

In this early serial killer novel, Ellery Queen stalks a mass murderer through the streets of 1940s New York.

In the dog days of August, it is no surprise to see New Yorkers perspire. But this summer, a killer called the Cat gives the city a new reason to sweat. He selects his victims seemingly at random and strangles them, then escapes without leaving a clue. As the death toll climbs and the press whips the public into a horrified frenzy, Gotham teeters on the edge of anarchy.

Ellery Queen, the brilliant amateur sleuth, has gone into retirement when the Cat begins to kill. As his father, a seasoned homicide detective, leads the investigation into the murders, Ellery tries to avoid getting involved. When Queen discovers a clue that could hold the secret to untangling the puzzling crimes, he pounces on the opportunity to crack the case. But unfortunately for him—and for the citizens of 1940s New York City—he’s barely scratched the surface.…

Combining gobsmacking deduction with plenty of period detail, Cat of Many Tails is among the most beloved of Ellery Queen’s timeless mystery novels. Reissued for the first time in nearly half a century, the book retains a place in popular culture as one of the first serial killer novels ever written; and, to this day, it’s still one of the best.

Click here to read more ... 

When Eddie Quillan was cast as Ellery Queen in 1937's The Mandarin Mystery there was some novelty value in the fact that an actor whose initials were E.Q. was cast as intellectual sleuth. Eddie, who though a talented and appealing performer was woefully miscast as Queen.

By today’s standards the fact that Eddie Quillan worked so successfully in the entertainment industry for over sixty years is truly amazing. Longevity is a quality to be sought and rarely attained. The emphasis on craft rather than stardom or financial gain has slowly diminished over the course of time. However, one fact remains constant. A passion for the art is essential for endurance. Looking back over Eddie’s career, we see many reasons for his success—some personal, some professional—but over it all is this passion for his craft. In the course of an interview he was asked, as he was on many occasions, for the secret to his professional longevity, Eddie answered, "I love my work, and I'll stay with it as long as I can."


His biography on this site has been revised, almost a site on its own, sprinkled with rare pictures and factoids from his career. While puzzling things together I found out many things about vaudeville life for youngsters, Mack Sennetts' productions,...

Right: The role for which Eddie is probably best known is Tommy Elison, the most endearing and tragic character of the ill-fated crew, in the movie, Mutiny on the Bounty (1935). The film starred Clark Gable, Charles Laughton, and Franchot Tone.

To read much more click here...

Howard Irving Smith is one of those actors who, aside from some brief descriptions online, would remain a bit of a mystery had he not had an Ellery Queen connection. He played Sergeant Velie in the hour-long first radio series, The Adventures of Ellery Queen. Typical for that time, Smith came from the vaudeville circuit. Realizing its reign came to an end, he made the switch to theater, radio, and later TV.

His private life has been puzzled together piece by piece. A few mysteries remain. He was married two times and must have had an extramarital relationship early on during his second marriage. Although many career descriptions mention his meeting with Enrico Caruso, no exact details were found.

We've updated his biography with extra information and pictures.

To read more click here...