Masterpieces of Mystery: Amateurs & Professionals

 Masterpieces of Mystery: Amateurs & Professionals (1978) selected by Ellery Queen

In the 1970s Ellery Queen put together a set of red leatherette books featuring the best of the best short stories and novellas--a large number of which appeared in the Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. This particular edition features amateur sleuths and professionals, ranging from hotel manager Pierre Chambrun to the dedicated cops at the 87th Precinct. Of course, in any collection it would be an extraordinarily difficult task to pick stories where absolutely everyone thought every story was the all-time best. And it's true here. My favorites are the Chambrun (even though I spotted the answer early), "The Stripper," "The Happy Days Club," "Smash & Grab," "Cause for Suspicion," and "The Botany Pattern." These are all nicely plotted with good clues that the reader can spot. The rest are decent mysteries--so no duds--but not quite as fair or interesting as those mentioned. ★★★ 3/4

"Chambrun & the Electronic Ear" by Hugh Pentecost (Judson Philips): Chambrun is disgruntled to find that the FBI is playing spy games in his hotel. He's even more upset when wire-tapping leads to murder. [one broken neck]

"The Poisoned Dow '08" by Dorothy L. Sayers: Montague Egg, wine salesman extraordinaire, must help the police discover how a man was poisoned using one of Egg's firm's bottles of wine. [one poisoned]

"The Stripper" by H. H. Holmes (Anthony Boucher/William Anthony Parker White): Jack the Stripper, a serial killer who strips before he kills, is terrorizing a southern California town. Sister Ursula's friend, Professor Flecker, thinks he may know who it is and writes a cryptic letter asking her to put him in touch with her police friend, Lieutenant Marshall. But he's killed before he can speak with Marshall. If Sister Ursula can decipher Flecker's cryptic last message, she will be able to name the murderer as well. [one stabbed--plus others not named]

"The Affair at the Bungalow" by Agatha Christie: Jane Heiler, a beautiful actress, tells this story. She presents it as having happened to "a friend," but the others are quite sure that the story is Jane's own. While on tour with a play, she was called in by the police to be identified by a young man who claimed she had written a letter and requested his presence at a certain bungalow which belonged to another actress. He had met her there and then been drugged.  A robbery had taken place at the bungalow and he is being held as a suspect. But when Jane arrives at the police station, the man says that she isn't the right woman. What really happened? Miss Marple knows...even though she says she doesn't while the group is all together.

"Wally the Watchful Eye" by Paul W. Fairman: Could also be titled "How to Solve a Murder in Two easy lessons. Wally is a clerk in the local grocery store who longs to be a private eye. He signs up for a correspondence course on detection and solves a murder disguised as suicide before completing all his lessons. [one gassed]

"The Happy Days Club" by James M. Ullman: A mutual fund company gets suspicious when the Happy Days Club in Iowa seems to be following their buy and sell movements--almost before they make them. They hire James & Bennett, couple of industrial espionage men, to find out how it's done.

"They Can Only Hang You Once" by Dashiell Hammett: Sam Spade pays a call on the uncle of his client--a lawyer who thinks his cousin is putting pressure on the old man. But before Spade can fulfill his commission there is murder in the house. [two shot]

"Wild Goose Chase" by Ross Macdonald (Kenneth Millar): An anonymous woman hires Lew Archer to attend a trial--to use his judgment about how the jury reacts to the defendant. If they appear to think him guilty, then she just might have to give evidence...evidence that could damage her. [two shot; one car accident]

"File #1: The Mayfield Case" by Joe Gores: A rookie investigator gets a little too emotionally involved with a case of a defaulted loan. [one stabbed]

"About the Perfect Crime of Mr. Digberry" by Anthony Abbot (Fulton Oursler): Mr. Digberry is a master wigmaker who seems to be the latest victim of "The Driller," criminal who is extorting money from various well-known people. But when it's noted that Digberry's escapades with The Driller coincided with the murder of one of Digberry's most famous clients, he immediately comes under suspicion. Thatcher Colt gets to the bottom of the surprising case. [one shot]

"The Devil Is a Gentleman" by Charles B. Child: Inspector Chafik J. Chafik of the Baghdad police investigates the murder of the most recent admirer of a beautiful dancer who is suspected of being a spy. [one stabbed]

"A Winter's Tale" by Frances & Richard Lockridge: A miserly old man who was thought to have died from a fractured skull is found to have froze to death. Captain Heimrich must figure out how he froze to death in an 80 degree house. [one froze to death]

"Clancy & the Shoeshine Boy" by Robert L. Pike (Robert L. Fish): Lt. Clancy investigates the murder of an eccentric old man who was rumored to have a stamp and coin collection. But was it worth killing for? Along the way he reforms the grandson of a shoeshine "boy" who just happens to give him the one clue he was missing. [one beaten to death]

"Smash & Grab" by Henry Wade (Sir Henry Aubrey-Fletcher: There's a rash of smash and grab robberies taking place across London and when the latest hits a jewelry store, Detective Constable John Bragg, fresh from the Downshire countryside, has his chance to make his mark at Scotland Yard.

"The Motive" by Ellery Queen (Dannay & Lee): When the son of a local farmer is hit on the head and left in a ditch, the town is upset that the sheriff's deputy assigned to the investigation can't find the killer--especially when other deaths follow. But how do you track a killer who's left no clues and seems to have no motive? [three hit on head]

"Cause for Suspicion" by George Harmon Coxe: Dr. Paul Standish refuses to believe that a woman who tried to kill herself once has finally succeeded. Everything tells him that this time it's murder. [one poisoned]

"The Stollmeyer Sonnets" by James Powell: A straight-up farce about the cold war spy era where stamps serve as stand-ins for the arms race and spies aren't above a little blackmail over spicy sonnets. Our hero--a Canadian Mountie who reminds me of Dudley Do-Right--manages to save the day despite himself.

"The Botany Pattern" by Victor Canning: The Department of Patterns looks for patterns that others don't see. Viaur is new to the department but immediately spots a connection between a series of murders. Six men have died and four more are on the list--will Viaur and Papa Grand (head of the department) be in time to save the last four? [one shot; one stabbed; one blown up and others unnamed]

"H as in Homicide" by Lawrence Treat: Two women, who have just met, head west in a car. They stop for the night in a small town--where one of the women's ex-husband just happens to live. She winds up strangled. Did he do it? And, if not, who--and why? [one strangled]

"Nightshade" by Ed McBain: It's just a regular evening at the 87th Precinct. Steve Carella and the boys look into the killing of a young actress, the bombing of a black church, the stabbing of a family....and ghosts who steal jewelry. [five stabbed; one shot]

First line (1st story): Mrs. Veach, the motherly-looking chief operator on the switchboard at the Beaumont Hotel was the first one to detect something irregular about the telephone in Room 912.

Last line (last story): "You can't win 'em all," O'Brien said.