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A review by luffy79
The Dutch Shoe Mystery by Ellery Queen
3.0
Well well well! Third book in the Ellery Queen mystery series read. This one gets 3 stars, while the second one, 'The French Powder Mystery' received 4 stars. There a gulf between the two, in terms of deduction-the quality and brilliancy of it all.
At first I felt betrayed. Firstly because no reflection from the hero detective was forthcoming with the solvency of the case. Ellery Queen remained tight-lipped most of the time. Also, once explained, the mystery felt easy to solve. But in the earliest chapter the chronicler assured me that this was Ellery's most taxing case yet. That it was more difficult to solve than previous cases. Not a chance. Blatantly false advertising, is all. But I couldn't feel cheated for long, because I realise that in the title itself, the authors present an obvious clue, one which I disregarded because, fair enough, I was engrossed in the story, and it's rare that I solve a case prematurely, in cold blood.
The authors do like some variety in their books. In their first book the Dad Queen was first on the scene of crime. He got single billing for a while before his prodigal son turns up. In the second book, both appear together. In this book, Ellery Queen innocently visits a doctor friend and happens to find himself in the star case of this book. The timing of inspiration for solving the murders in one swoop falls to our hero in a different place in the book. This is the first time that two murders occur in the story.
I'm going to compare Ellery Queen-the two authors- with Dame Agatha Christie. I read most of the Poirot books in my mid teens. I found most of them of the highest order, and I found it not easy to be discerning in rating and ranking them. Only the very bad, like 'The Big Four' would I find 'not excellent'. But though Ellery Queen stories are of about the same quality and regularity, I' giving them my -relatively- new found discernment. I enjoy these books with less fervor but I'm happy whenever a great crime mystery novel presents itself.
At first I felt betrayed. Firstly because no reflection from the hero detective was forthcoming with the solvency of the case. Ellery Queen remained tight-lipped most of the time. Also, once explained, the mystery felt easy to solve. But in the earliest chapter the chronicler assured me that this was Ellery's most taxing case yet. That it was more difficult to solve than previous cases. Not a chance. Blatantly false advertising, is all. But I couldn't feel cheated for long, because I realise that in the title itself, the authors present an obvious clue, one which I disregarded because, fair enough, I was engrossed in the story, and it's rare that I solve a case prematurely, in cold blood.
The authors do like some variety in their books. In their first book the Dad Queen was first on the scene of crime. He got single billing for a while before his prodigal son turns up. In the second book, both appear together. In this book, Ellery Queen innocently visits a doctor friend and happens to find himself in the star case of this book. The timing of inspiration for solving the murders in one swoop falls to our hero in a different place in the book. This is the first time that two murders occur in the story.
I'm going to compare Ellery Queen-the two authors- with Dame Agatha Christie. I read most of the Poirot books in my mid teens. I found most of them of the highest order, and I found it not easy to be discerning in rating and ranking them. Only the very bad, like 'The Big Four' would I find 'not excellent'. But though Ellery Queen stories are of about the same quality and regularity, I' giving them my -relatively- new found discernment. I enjoy these books with less fervor but I'm happy whenever a great crime mystery novel presents itself.