The House of Brass

by Ellery Queen

Paper Book, 1968

Status

Available

Call number

813.52

Publication

[New York] New American Library [1968]

Description

Newlyweds Richard Queen and his wife are invited to a dead man's treasure hunt in a mystery that's "incredibly intricate; in other words Queentessential" (Kirkus Reviews). Ellery Queen is vacationing in Istanbul when he learns that his aging father, the retired police inspector Richard Queen, is getting married. The world-famous sleuth rushes home to congratulate the happy couple and enjoy the unique experience of giving his father away to the bride. The honeymoon over, Richard and his new wife return home to find an envelope containing a $100 bill and half of a $1,000 bill--a down payment for one of the most puzzling cases the Queen men will ever encounter. Accompanying the money is a letter summoning Inspector Queen and his spouse to a peculiar vacation in the wilds of New York. Also invited are a con man, a country doctor, a charitable spinster, and a few other disreputable characters who have been assembled for a weekend of murder and mystery they will never forget. … (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member ChazziFrazz

This is the second mystery that finds Inspector Richard Queen retired. But he now married Jessie Sherwood, whom he met in "Inspector Queen's Own Case: November Song". When Jessie is summoned to the Brass mansion millionaire Hendrik Brass, Inspector Queen insists on coming along.

Arriving to a

grotesque, gothic style mansion out in the countryside they find they are not the only ones who received the invitation. The Queens arrived to find Mr. and Mrs. Allistairs, a couple looking refined but with a bit of tarnish around the edges; Keith Palmer, young, good looking and athletic; Dr. Thornton, nerdish looking medical type; Miss Openshaw, a spinster with man-eating eyes and Lynn O'Neill, a natural, outdoorsy young girl. Their host was a withered, old man, who wore outrageous sunglasses to hide his blind eyes. Their accommodations were in a mansion where everything that could be brass was brass, shining, heavy and golden coloured. What parts were all these characters to play, and who would be the victim and who would be the perpetrator and what would be the crime? There is also the 87th Street Irregulars and Vaughn J. Vaughn for more colour.

Twists, turns and red herrings. Inspector Queen may be retired, but he can't stop investigating. And his wife Jessie won't let herself be left out.

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