A review by jeremyj6482
The Roman Hat Mystery by Ellery Queen

1.0

I read a few of these as a teenager after running through better private-detective stories from the same time period, but I don't remember them being this horrible. Super-racist even for the era. Full of over-summarizing, sometimes of things that just happened, that make it more than twice as long as it needs to be. The central tenet of the mystery - the hat - is a clue with really only one solution. And by far the worst part is that Inspector Queen is an out-of-control law-breaking cop who treats the victim like a perpetrator, brings his civilian son along for the ride for no real reason and who orders break-ins, physical violence and a dangerous illegal sting operation.