A murder in a crowded theater leaves a pack of suspects, but only one
clue Despite the dismal Broadway season, Gunplay continues to draw
crowds. A gangland spectacle, it's packed to the gills with action,
explosions, and gunfire. In fact, Gunplay is so loud that no one notices
the killing of Monte Field. In a sold-out theater, Field is found dead
partway through the second act, surrounded by empty seats. The police
hold the crowd and call for the one man who can untangle this daring
murder: Inspector Richard Queen. With the help of his son Ellery, a
bibliophile and novelist whose imagination can solve any crime, the
Inspector attacks this seemingly impenetrable mystery. Anyone in the
theater could have killed the unscrupulous lawyer, and several had the
motive. Only Ellery Queen, in his debut novel, can decipher the clue of
the dead man's missing top hat. "A new Ellery Queen book has always been
something to look forward to for many years now." -Agatha Christie
"Ellery Queen is the American detective story." -Anthony Boucher, author
of Nine Times Nine Ellery Queen was a pen name created and shared by two
cousins, Frederic Dannay (1905-1982) and Manfred B. Lee (1905-1971), as
well as the name of their most famous detective. Born in Brooklyn, they
spent forty-two years writing, editing, and anthologizing under the
name, gaining a reputation as the foremost American authors of the
Golden Age "fair play" mystery. Although eventually famous on television
and radio, Queen's first appearance came in 1928, when the cousins won a
mystery-writing contest with the book that would eventually be published
as The Roman Hat Mystery. Their character was an amateur detective who
uses his spare time to assist his police inspector uncle in solving
baffling crimes. Besides writing the Queen novels, Dannay and Lee
cofounded Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, one of the most influential
crime publications of all time. Although Dannay outlived his cousin by
nine years, he retired Queen upon Lee's death.
