The Egyptian cross mystery [Hardcover]

Ellery Queen (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 334 pages
• Publisher: Triangle Books (1940)
• Language: English
• ASIN: B0008747OU
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,633,532 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Vintage Ellery Queen - Good Plot and Eccentric Characters, August 13, 2003

By 

Michael Wischmeyer (Houston, Texas) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Egyptian Cross Mystery (Hardcover)

I quite enjoyed The Egyptian Cross Mystery. I developed several plausible solutions, but none which I could clearly prove through a sequence of logical deductions. I had possibilities, I had partial solutions, and I had pieces of evidence, but I was unable to establish an irrefutable chain of logic. And as fans of Ellery Queen know, deduction requires the application of impeccable logic. For the record: none of my possibilities, nor partial solutions, were correct. I was surprised by the solution.

The Egyptian Cross Mystery offers a fast-paced unpredictable plot, a plethora of eccentric characters, and brilliant deductions by Ellery himself. I give it five stars.

The Egyptian Cross Mystery is a good introduction to Ellery Queen. In this fifth novel the young Ellery Queen can still be insufferable on occasion, although the presence of his college professor, Dr. Yardley, checks his impulse to exhibit his erudition. Ellery remains baffled by the bizarre murders as does the reader. A final clue hidden among detail suddenly provides Ellery, and the particularly observant reader (not me, however), the key to the mystery. Stay alert for the final clue, despite deliberate distractions and misdirection.

Ellery Queen's investigations take him on long, tiring road trips in his beloved Duesenberg. Each destination is a gruesome murder site. A decapitated victim is found lashed to a post. A capital letter T is scrawled in blood nearby. Using more guesswork than logic, Ellery senses some obscure connection to ancient Egyptian myth.

I always enjoy the early Ellery Queen stories, those mysteries dating from 1929 through 1939. My other early favorites, for comparison purposes, include The Greek Coffin Mystery, The Siamese Twin Mystery, The Spanish Cape Mystery, and two Drury Lane mysteries, The Tragedy of X and The Tragedy of Y.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ankhs For the Memories, November 9, 2002

By 

Mike W. Barr - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Egyptian Cross Mystery (Hardcover)

Are the bizarre murders, beginning with a decapitation in an obscure West Virginia village, the acts of an ages-old religious cult or a revenge plot festering for decades? Ellery Queen travels thousands of miles, trying to anticipate the killer, until his quarry makes one final slip...

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Convoluted, August 5, 2005

By 

Ron "[e-mail]" (Whidbey Island, WA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Egyptian Cross Mystery (Paperback)

I think this is a good example of the Golden Age mystery, and typical for an Ellery Queen story.

The plot twists and turns and stretched my patience once in a while. I didn't find some things really feasable; however, it was an enjoyable read in the "they-don't-write-them-anymore" vein.