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Carregando... The Egyptian Cross Mystery (1932)de Ellery Queen
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Registre-se no LibraryThing tpara descobrir se gostará deste livro. Ainda não há conversas na Discussão sobre este livro. 3.5* ( ) Ellery Queen insinuates himself into the police investigation of a gory ritualistic murder in West Virginia, with no discernible success. However, when there's a similar murder on Long Island several months later Queen jumps in again. He rides his famous father's coat tails to gain entree with the police. The resulting investigation continues on for another two murders, until Queen finally has an "ah ha!" moment. That initiates a frantic chase from West Virginia to Chicago where the killer is apprehended, and his identity is revealed. The story is well-crafted but falls down in the execution. The author focuses on plot development to the exclusion of character development and to a lesser extent, setting and local colour. Regrettably, Queen's investigation becomes monotonous. He and the police chase their tails with no progress. Queen's pompous behaviour makes him a big pain in the neck. There are some red herrings, e.g. the mysterious British neighbours, some romantic entanglements to add melodrama, and some oddball characters to muddle the story. It's a male-dominated story as was common at the time it was written (1932). The women stay in the background adding little to the story. It's a "fair play" mystery, with the author explicitly inviting readers towards the story's denouement to figure it out. By then, the process of elimination can lead to the killer's identity without the iodine bottle clue that triggered Queen's "ah ha!" moment. The ending feels unsatisfying: the killer's motivation is elusive. Is he a serial killer, or just deranged? The plot is original and has plenty of potential to be a great story, unfortunately that is not achieved. sem resenhas | adicionar uma resenha
Pertence à sérieEllery Queen (5) Pertence à série publicadaColección Naranja (Bruguera) (1501/55) DuMont's Kriminal-Bibliothek (1069) Prisma detectives (35) Vampiro (27) Está contido em
One of the great Golden Age detectives is back in a mystery that "pioneered a style which countless writers would follow in the decades to come" (American Culture). It's Christmas in Chicago, and Inspector Richard Queen is enjoying a busman's holiday at a conference on gangland violence--but his son, amateur sleuth Ellery, is bored silly. Until, that is, Ellery reads of an unusual killing in rural Arroyo, West Virginia: A schoolmaster has been found beheaded and crucified. Ellery hustles his father into his roadster and heads east, since there is nothing he'd like better for Christmas than a juicy, gruesome puzzle. When the Queens arrive in Arroyo, they learn that the victim was an eccentric atheist, but not the sort to make enemies. What initially looks to be the work of a sadistic cult turns out to be something far more sinister. In the months ahead, more victims will turn up all over the world--all killed in the same horrifying manner. It will take several bodies before Queen divines the clue that unlocks the mystery of the Christmas crucifixion. Não foram encontradas descrições de bibliotecas. |
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Google Books — Carregando... GênerosClassificação decimal de Dewey (CDD)813.52Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1900-1944Classificação da Biblioteca do Congresso dos E.U.A. (LCC)AvaliaçãoMédia:
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