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A review by dennisfischman
The Roman Hat Mystery by Ellery Queen
3.0
The mystery I finished before reading this one involved a serial killer and a long nightmare of brutal murders. After that, The Roman Hat Mystery was like a cool sorbet to refresh the palate. It's a "cozy" but an unusual one, in that the murder takes place not in a mansion house on a vast, isolated estate but in a theater, in the city. The detectives are contrasting characters, but they are not friends like Holmes and Watson, or a couple like Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane: they are father and son. (I wonder what happened to Mother?)
As you can tell, I had never read an Ellery Queen book before. I did know in advance, though, that they would be deep in deduction and shallow in psychology: that's a given. So is the unthinking racism and the stereotypes of Jews and Irish people. That's to be expected in a book from the 1920's. If that's going to spoil it for you, don't bother.
I enjoyed the book for what it was, and I may read another, but I'd be more likely to re-read a Dorothy Sayers novel instead.
As you can tell, I had never read an Ellery Queen book before. I did know in advance, though, that they would be deep in deduction and shallow in psychology: that's a given. So is the unthinking racism and the stereotypes of Jews and Irish people. That's to be expected in a book from the 1920's. If that's going to spoil it for you, don't bother.
I enjoyed the book for what it was, and I may read another, but I'd be more likely to re-read a Dorothy Sayers novel instead.