Pol Anderson - Ellery Queen’s Anthology. Volume 12, 1967

Grateful acknowledgment is hereby made for permission to reprint the following:

Murder Is a Public Matter by Ross Macdonald; copyright 1948 by Kenneth Millar; reprinted by permission of Harold Ober Associates Inc.

Hurry, Hurry, Hurry! by Paul Gallico; copyright 1956 by Paul Gallico; reprinted by permission of Harold Ober Associates Inc.

The Man Who Sang in Church by Edgar Wallace; copyright 1927 by Edgar Wallace; copyright renewed 1955 by Patricia Marion Caldecott Frere; reprinted by permission of Brandt & Brandt.

The Earring by Cornell Woolrich; copyright 1943 by Cornell Woolrich; reprinted by permission of the author.

Dark Journey by Francis Iles; copyright 1934 by Anthony Berkeley Cox, renewed; reprinted by permission of the author.

The Patron Saint of the Impossible by Rufus King; 1958 by Davis Publications, Inc.; reprinted by permission of Paul R. Reynolds, Inc.

Miss Phipps Goes to School by Phyllis Bentley; 1957 by Mercury Publications, Inc.; reprinted by permission of A. D. Peters Sc Co.

The Greatest Monster of Them All by Bryce Walton; 1959 by Bryce Walton; reprinted by permission of Theron Raines.

Mithridates the King by Morley Roberts; reprinted by permission of Helena Ward and A. P. Watt & Son.

The Bluebeard Murderer by Quentin Reynolds; 1936 by Crowell-Collier Publishing Co., renewed; reprinted by permission of Littauer Sc Wilkinson.

Eva? Caroline? by Allan Vaughan Elston; 1949 by Crowell-Collier Publishing Co.; reprinted by permission of Paul R. Reynolds, Inc.

Midnight Adventure by Michael Arlen; copyright 1938 by Michael Arlen, renewed; reprinted by permission of A. Watkins, Inc.

Dinner for Two by Roy Vickers; copyright 1948 by The American Mercury, Inc.; reprinted by permission of Curtis Brown, Ltd.

Adventure of the Martian Crown Jewels by Poul Anderson; 1958 by Mercury Publications, Inc.; reprinted by permission of the author and his agents, Scott Meredith Literary Agency, Inc.

Open File by Richard Deming; copyright 1953 by Mercury Publications, Inc.; reprinted by permission of the author and his agents, Scott Meredith Literary Agency, Inc.

Soho Nights Entertainment by Frank Swinnerton; 1957 by Frank Swinnerton; reprinted by permission of Hope Leresche & Steele.

Misers Gold by Ellery Queen; copyright 1950, 1954 by Ellery Queen; reprinted by permission of the author.

Immune to Murder by Rex Stout; copyright 1955 by Rex Stout; reprinted by permission of the author.

Dear Reader:

This is the 12th in EQMMs series of original paperback anthologies, now published twice a year...

The Editors Note intended for this anthology was ready to be set in type when we read a review in the February 13, 1966 issue of Book Week, the Sunday literary supplement of the New York Herald Tribune. After counting to ten (slowly) we decided to write a new introduction for this anthology.

The review that so upset us was written by Kenneth Lamott on Helen MacInnes novel titled The Double Image. The first paragraph of the review read: On occasion, being bed-bound for a day or trapped in the cabin of a transcontinental airliner, I have read a suspense novel. Except under such desperate circumstances, I havent found much entertainment in these books, for, with the exceptions of A Coffin for Demetrios [sic] and The Spy Who Came In from the Cold, I cant remember any that didnt seem to be all machinery and travelogue, without any of the saving graces that can make novel-reading a positive pleasure rather than an anesthetic.

The paragraph is, to say the least, distressing. Surely no one would quarrel with Mr. Lamotts right to his own opinion indeed, fans and aficionados the world over would fight for Mr. Lamotts right to express his opinion. But valid questions do arise: Why should Book Week assign a suspense novel to a critic like Mr. Lamott who obviously has a deep antipathy and/or repugnance and/or aversion to the mystery story, who apparently has little (very little!) knowledge and/or appreciation of the origins and development of the genre, who is so far from the mainstream of the genre that he is literally up the crick? And why should Mr. Lamott, fully aware of his lack of sympathy for the form and his inadequate exposure to the best examples of the form, undertake to review such a book? Why didnt he simply disqualify himself?

Mr. Lamott finished his review with this sentence: In the end it struck me that Edmund Wilsons cranky question, Who cares who killed Roger Ackroyd? is still very much to the point. Yes, we agree that Edmund Wilsons cranky question should be asked again and again and again indeed, it cannot be asked too often. But we think its high time for the question to be answered. Who cares who killed Roger Ackroyd? Millions of intelligent people throughout the world care. But Mr. Lamott (and, unfortunately, too many other critics who think they go slumming when they condescend to read and review the detective-mystery story) just dont care about millions of intelligent people. Dear Reader, be kind to Mr. Lamott and his partners-in-crime for they know not what they say.

As in the 11 preceding anthologies, we bring you another tec triangle of stories. The first angle is that perennial and universal favorite adventures and memoirs of such world-famous series-detectives as

Rex Stouts Nero Wolfe

Ross Macdonalds Lew Archer

Roy Vickers Department of Dead Ends

Edgar Wallaces The Three Just Men

Ellery Queens E.Q.

The second angle also consists of detective and crime stories not about series-characters, but written by such celebrated mystery mathematicians as

Cornell Woolrich

Francis Iles

Rufus King

The third angle contains tales of detection, murder, and suspense by non-mystery authors who did not feel that they stooped to conquer such literary figures as

Phyllis Bentley

Frank Swinnerton

Quentin Reynolds

Michael Arlen

Paul Gallico

And now, for the 12th time in this series, we give you Ellery Queens Tec Theorem, the EQ equation:

EQA = 2eq

or, Ellery Queens Anthology is always equal to 2 editorial qualifications: (1) every story must meet the twin standards of Ellery Queens Mystery Magazine so conscientiously upheld these past 26 years high quality or high professionalism of writing, and superior craftsmanship or superior originality in plotting; (2) not a single story in this book has ever appeared in any of the 43 anthologies previously edited by

Ellery Queen

Lew Archer, private eye, merely dropped in to see his old war buddy, Hugh Western, a talented artist and a demon with the ladies. But first Lew met a bearded nude (resist that opening if you can!).

A hard, tough (in the best senses of both words) short novel by the man who as virtually all critics agree has inherited the mantles of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, and whose work represents the best in its field being written today...

The unlatched door swung inward when I knocked. I walked into the studio, which was as high and dim as a hayloft. The big north window in the opposite wall was hung with monks-cloth drapes that shut out the morning light. I found the switch next to the door and snapped it on. Several fluorescent tubes suspended from the naked rafters flickered and burned blue-white.

A strange woman faced me under the cruel light. She was only a charcoal sketch on an easel, but she gave me a chill. Her nude body, posed casually on a chair, was slim and round and pleasant to look at. But her face wasnt pleasant at all. Bushy black eyebrows almost hid her eyes. A walrus mustache bracketed her mouth, and a thick beard fanned down over her torso.