Barnaby Ross--aka Ellery Queen
 

How about the terrific Drury Lane mysteries, by Barnaby Ross ( really Ellery Queen ). Novels in the great tradition.

Drury Lane
 

There are only four of these Barnaby Ross books about the actor/detective Drury Lane (Tragedy of X, Y, and Z, and DL's Last Case). 'X' is probably the best and most complex, although the 'Last Case' is fun, in some ways reminiscent of Carr's "Arabian Nights Murder." I couldn't finish 'Y', it was so bad, but will try again some day. 'Z' in process of being reread now.

Just finished "Tragedy of Z." It has some really interesting upstate NY backgrounds, and some informative information about the prison system of the time (including a really harrowing execution by electric chair), and good stuff about crooked and hack politicians. It's also interesting that the first-person narrator is a woman -- not something EQ was into as a technique.

What is wrong, then, that makes this only a 'second-rank' Ellery Queen? First of all, there is the interminable rigmarole of the 'left-handed/left-footed ' evidence. Like OJ and DNA samples. No wonder the jury didn't buy it! (But why they found that pathetic creature guilty says little for their intelligence.) Second, Inspector Thumm and his daughter (and Drury Lane) stay upstate for months, doing nothing. Thumm has a busy detective agency to run, so how can he do this?

Still, a fine mystery, with a really good surprise at the end.

P.S. Moderator: Can you move this thread to the Ellery Queen forum? That seems a better place for it.

Note to fans: IPL reprinted all the Drury Lane mysteries in the mid-1980s so you might still be able to find them without too much trouble.

Quick review of "Drury Lane's Last Case": Definitively the last in the series. You can guess what happens to DL, but WHY is an ingenious surprise worthy of Christie. (Am I spoiling it?) The initial setting in a small specialty museum reminds me of Carr's "Arabian Nights Murders" in some ways, with a really dotty opening gambit and a nice lead-up. Middle part of the book bogs down with a lot of inexplicable and contradictory appearances of some major characters -- not hard for the reader to guess the explanation. Also, the author loses sight for long periods of the whole purpose of the initial investigation: What happened to the security guard?The sub-plot, involving an unknown letter by Shakespeare, makes for a nice 'McGuffin'. The main clue, however, is absurdly easy to figure out, and in fact is given away on the cover of the book (IPL edition).

"Tragedy of X": Nick Fuller, for one, thinks this is one of the best Ellery Queens under whatever name. I don't agree, but it does rank very highly. The settings are especially good and really rooted in the period, both New York City around 1930 and Drury Lane's wonderful 'retirement community'. And the dual plot is excellently set up and rendered. But I'm not convinced that the murder method (in the first murder) is feasible and would do any more than just make one feel nauseated. A lot of GAD writers come up with interesting poisons but don't necessarily do their research properly.

"Tragedy of Y": Couldn't finish this (but couldn't resist skipping to the end and confirming my guess as to the identity of the murderer). This is basically a poor pastiche of Van Dine's "Greene Murder Case".

Regarding D.L's Last Case--the main ratiocinator is the inspector's daughter. I haven't read it in years, but I think it was in Barzun and Taylor where I found the comment that she sounds like E.Q. in drag.

A wickely funny comment, because accurate.

Not only do I think it's one of the best; I also think it's the only really good one! Greek Coffin is much better than their other books, but is a conscious attempt to be clever which only succeeded in being far too clever for its own good. Egyptian Cross is appalling; and the rest of them, by and large, are extremely silly, trite, boring or artificial.

Re: Barnaby Ross--aka Ellery Queen
 

I just finished reading this one and found the culprit's identity absurdly easy to guess after the second murder (esp. when Lane asks to know about recent missing persons -- talk about a giveaway!). The clue of the glove is a good one, though. Also, this one features one of those stupid dying messages, this one being especially stupid, and having to do with the title of the book.


Drury Lane, the detective, is a rather annoying character, much more like Queen than one might expect, and not a very convincing portrait either. Despite his long experience as a Shakespearean actor his allusions to Shakepeare's plays are quite pedestrian, usually to Hamlet or Macbeth or Julius Caesar. Aren't these the plays everybody, and not just famous Shakespearean actors, reads in high school? (Incidentally, since Drury Lane claims to have solved the first murder early in the book but kept the solution to himself, he is, I suppose, partly responsible for the deaths of the 2nd and 3rd victims.)

Finally, and most importantly, it's extremely boring to read, like most early Queens.

Re: Barnaby Ross--aka Ellery Queen
 

Although the culprit's identity might be guessed, I'd hardly call "The Tragedy of Y" a "poor pastiche of 'The Greene Murder Case'" (though I've a certain fondness for Van Dine, I think a "poor pastiche" of one of his stories would be a sorry work indeed). Actually, I find the solution to Y one of Queen's most fascinating, with the "blunt instrument" clue one of the most interesting and memorable in any Golden Age novel.

Re: Barnaby Ross--aka Ellery Queen
 

I decided to get all 4 of the Ross books before I began reading so there would be no break in the reads and have my memory fail me.

Am on X, maybe 40 pages, and so far so good.

What I hate is gettting these so called Ellery Queen novels only to discover that he never appears. At least with the Ross series I was aware of that from the et go.