A review by dashausfrau
The Chinese Orange Mystery by Ellery Queen

2.0

As a book in the contemporary market, it really rates a 2, but it was probably well received back in the day. It reminds me of 30's films like "Murder on a Honeymoon"-- actually I think Edward Gleason would have played Inspector Queen. In many of those films I'm convinced that the script writers invented weird slang on the spot to make their "noir" investigators sound tough. That's how the dialogue in this novel sounded too. Queen the elder throws around many "damns" along with "cripes" & other language for solid shock value. I found it more irritating that the author likes describing cleavage in detail. I would say that the author came up with the crime scene first, & then came up with a reason for a criminal to turn everything in a room & the dead man's clothes backward. In fact, the criminal in question had so much moving & dressing of a dead man & other cleverness to work out that I think it would have taken him hours. In a business environment, there's no way he would have had the leisure to create this funhouse at all.