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jvilches's review against another edition
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
skidley97's review against another edition
5.0
Very much enjoyed this read. The story was very entertaining, and actually surprised me at the end.
rosannacassidy's review
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
donkeykong64's review
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
2.5
Underwhelmed by this in comparison to THE CHINESE ORANGE MYSTERY. Why I felt this way, I am not certain other than I simply found this to be a less compelling mystery as it went on. I personally like Ellery Queen quite a bit as a character, his snobbish tendencies that reviewers here decry I find amusing. By no means a bad whodunnit, and logically speaking it follows all the rules that a proper puzzle whodunnit should…it just lacked urgency in the middle chunk.
johnnyb1954's review against another edition
2.0
The writing style is annoying. The explanations of Ellery’s deductions is repeated and long winded. The accuracy of Ellery’s logic is often questionable (the murderer’s mental acuity and common sense point to it being a man!). Most difficult element for me to understand is the issue of the blood. There was copious blood on the desk. Some of it got on the bookend so the murderer had to replace the felt. But when Ellery realized the books on the desk are not the ones French had out there, he doesn’t assume that the originals got bloodied and had to be replaced - because he then would have logically dismissed the odd collection there. But that didn’t work for the plot. Also the memorandum on the desk was untouched by the blood. And the murderer was able to remove every trace of blood, none soaked into the carpet or the desk chair the victim was in.
kirstenfindlay's review
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
metchap's review against another edition
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
Content Warnings
Minor: Racism
fernandie's review against another edition
3.0
I need to stop with the Ellery Queens. The whole premise of the series (Ellery writes the books about himself, but in third person, and they're being published after the fact out of chronological order) is confusing, and Ellery lectures (usually his dad) way too much about all the clues -- over and over again. The books could be like at least 25% shorter if he didn't go into extensive detailed analysis of every clue at least 3 times.