Frederic Dannay, Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine and the Art of the Detective Short Story

Frederic Dannay (1905–1982) was—with his partner Manfred Lee—the creator of the Ellery Queen detective novels and short stories. Dannay was also a literary historian and critic, and the editor of the renowned Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. Queen—both a pen name and the fictional protagonist of the stories—was also a vital force behind the continuing popularity of crime fiction in the early to mid–20th century, after the deaths of Arthur Conan Doyle, G.K. Chesterton, Melville Davisson Post, and other Old Masters of the genre. This book presents the first critical study of Ellery Queen’s role in the preservation of the detective short story. Many of the writers, characters and stories EQMM championed are covered, including such celebrated authors as Allingham, Ambler, Ellin, Innes, Vickers, and even William Butler Yeats.

Laird R. Blackwell is a humanities professor emeritus at Sierra Nevada College in the Lake Tahoe area of western Nevada, where he taught psychology and literature for 31 years. He is the author of four critical studies of detective fiction for McFarland and the recipient of nominations for an Edgar Award and an Agatha Award.

Laird R. Blackwell

Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 226
Bibliographic Info: appendix, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2019
pISBN: 978-1-4766-7652-4
eISBN: 978-1-4766-3561-3
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments vi
Preface 1
Introduction: Queen as Champion of the Past and Patron of the Future 5
One. From Thinking Machine to Human Being—From Ellery I to Ellery II 13
Two. A Quorum of Queens, the Old Masters and the New Masters 16
Three. A ­Never-Ending Stream of Manuscripts 28
Four. The Old Masters Resuscitated 39
Five. The New Masters Celebrated 54
Six. The Acclaimed and the Awarded 93
Seven. “’Tec Tyros” as Masters of the Future 114
Eight. Other Significant Debuts 143
Nine. The Fine Arts of Parody, Pastiche and Spoof 179
Ten. Queen as Champion, Cheerleader, Critic and Patron 187
Appendix: Story Titles 193
Works Cited 205
Index 207

“Recommended”—Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine