Customer Reviews

The Roman Hat Mystery

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3 star:		(5)
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The Roman Hat Mystery (August 15, 1929) established the basic pattern for many of the later Ellery Queen stories. Ellery Queen, a recent college graduate, often assists his father, the highly respected Inspector Richard Queen of the New York City Police Department, with particularly difficult investigations. This arrangement gives Ellery access to crime scenes and confidential information not available to the general public.

In the late 1920s men still wore top hats for formal affairs. A death occurs in the Roman Theater and inexplicably, the murder victim's top hat is missing. The Roman Hat Mystery is structured as a logical, deductive challenge to the reader. A list of characters and a floor plan of the Roman Theater are provided. Prior to the final chapter, the reader is informed that Ellery has solved the mystery, and the alert reader should have noted the critical clues. I was not particularly successful. Queen's detailed explanation is about twenty pages; the logic is convincing.

An earlier reviewer stated that readers new to Ellery Queen should first read some of the later stories like The French Powder Mystery, The Spanish Cape Mystery, or The Greek Coffin Mystery. I am more ambivalent. Certainly, there is no need to read the Ellery Queen mysteries chronologically. The best approach may be to start with the first Ellery Queen mystery (with Ellery Queen as the major character) that you can find. They are all quite good.

Two cousins, Manfred B. Lee and Frederic Dannay, won first place for The Roman Hat Mystery in a writing contest, sponsored jointly by Frederick A. Stokes Company, a book publisher, and McClure's Magazine. Lee and Dannay used a pseudonym, Ellery Queen. This choice has led to endless confusion as Ellery Queen is also the name of their fictional detective.

The Roman Hat Mystery proved to be quite successful and within a few years the Ellery Queen stories had become immensely popular. The Ellery Queen mysteries stayed in print for at least five decades. I recently had the good fortune to find a discount copy of a beautiful, leather bound, Franklin Library fifty-year commemorative edition of The Roman Hat Mystery. This edition is more costly, but it would make a good gift, possibly to yourself.

This is the first in the long series of Ellery Queen stories- it's quaint, very dated, and enjoyable, and mostly significant for its place in the history of the genre- old school mystery. In other words, nobody gets punched in the jaw or uses bad grammar.

Revolving around a setting- the theatre- and a prop- a top hat- that symbolize Ellery Queen's place in time very well, this one takes a little while to get going, but it's a worthwhile and enjoyable read. I'm going to take advice from the reader from Kansas (below) and give these guys (uncredited authors Dannay and Lee) another chance with a later entry in the series.

If you can possibly lay hands on Otto Penzler's beautiful facsimile of the first edition, by all means do so.

This mystery is an excellent example of the classic "puzzle style" mystery. I love how the characters constantly review the little clues and items. I could read this story over and over again. I'll never understand why Agatha Christie's books never go out of print while so many of the other greats like J.D. Carr Ellery Queen have been out of print for years.

Don't let this be your introduction to the Ellery Queen series. While it sets up a nice whodunnit, the characters and pace are a little uneven. Dannay and Lee were just getting started with their famous detective and it shows as the story is rough around the edges. It also hasn't really aged well. There is a lot of slang and habits from the late twenties and early thirties that, for me, dates the story too much and diminishes the atmosphere of the book - fine for it's time but a little out of place 70 years later. Queen (Dannay and Lee) didn't hit their stride until several novels later.

Don't let this be your introduction to the Ellery Queen series. While it sets up a nice whodunnit, the characters and pace are a little uneven. Dannay and Lee were just getting started with their famous detective and it shows as the story is rough around the edges. It also hasn't really aged well. There is a lot of slang and habits from the late twenties and early thirties that, for me, dates the story too much and diminishes the atmosphere of the book - fine for it's time but a little out of place 70 years later. Queen (Dannay and Lee) didn't hit their stride until several novels later.

I find Ellery Queen far too self involved and his solutions are so far fetched that no mortal being could attain them. Give me Agatha Christie any day. She plays fair with the reader. However, his characters are more interesting than Christie's.

I really do not understand why Ellery Queen is not as famous as Agatha Christie, Christie's books are nice but cliche, you will be able to find out whodunit after reading several of her books. And her stories are not probable at all. While Queen's story is much more complicated and believable. Also I do not understand why Queen's books are not filmed like the ones of Agatha Christie.

This first Ellery Queen mystery will fascinate those studying the evolvement of the mystery genre. However, to be honest, it isn't for the average modern reader.