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The Origin of Evil (HarperPerennial reprint 1992)

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The Origin of Evil (HarperPerennial reprint 1992) (Paperback)

by Ellery Queen (Author)

5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)

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Product Details

Paperback: 240 pages
Publisher: Harper Perennial (February 1992)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0060974397
ISBN-13: 978-0060974398
Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.2 x 0.6 inches
Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces

Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)

Amazon.com Sales Rank: #4,813,590 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Citations (learn more)

8 books cite this book:

Anti-Theistic Theories: Being the Baird Lecture for 1877 by Robert Flint in Back Matter
The Oxford Book of Death by D.J. Enright on page 185
The Life of Colin Campbell, Lord Clyde: Illustrated by extracts from his diary and correspondence. Volume 1 by Lawrence Shadwell in Back Matter
Routledge Philosophy Guidebook to Leibniz and the Monadology (Routledge Philosophy Guidebooks) by Anthony Savile in Front Matter
A Woman's Life in the Court of the Sun King: Letters of Liselotte von der Pfalz, Elisabeth Charlotte, Duchesse d' Orl�ans, 1652-1722 by Professor Elisabeth Charlotte Duchesse d'Orleans on page 25

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Layered, Complex, Satisfying Deductive Mystery - Quite Good, December 23, 2004

By	Michael Wischmeyer (Houston, Texas) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)

It is 1951 and Hollywood is reeling from the advent of television. Ellery Queen, visiting from New York City, has isolated himself in a rented home overlooking Los Angeles in hopes of quietly completing his latest mystery story. His writing is interrupted, however, by an unannounced visit from a young woman convinced that her father's heart attack at the sight of a dead dog was actually premeditated murder. This third Hollywood mystery reveals a growing list of surrealistic clues, exemplified by the dead dog, hundreds of dead frogs, a poisoned sandwich, and a mutilated leather bound book of Aristophanes. The solution within a solution offered by Ellery is quite ingenious.

The Origin of Evil is unusual in its short topical digressions on the threat of nuclear war, the call-up of troops for the Korean UN Police Action, and Hollywood's exaggerated concern with television. The characters include, among others, a mean spirited business man confined to a wheel chair; his sultry, voluptuous wife Delia; the chameleon-like man servant Alfred Wallace; the pretty, young daughter, Laurel, convinced of her father's murder; and Crowe Macgowan, an eccentric, muscular young man emulating Tarzan in the local trees. Unlike his experience on his two previous visits to Hollywood, this time Ellery's assistance is readily accepted by a detective in the Los Angeles Police Department.

The Origin of Evil has often been reprinted and should not be difficult to locate. My copy is a 1992 reprint edition by Harper Perennial. You might look for inexpensive paperback editions (1970s and 1980s) from either Ballantine Books, Signet Classics, or the Signet Double Mystery series.

Another option: The Devil to Pay (1937), The Four of Hearts (1938), and The Origin of Evil (1951) are unique Ellery Queen mysteries in that the setting is Hollywood. Four Walls Eight Windows published these three mysteries in 2000 under the title The Hollywood Murders.

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