Mio padre era un grande appassionato di gialli e il suo autore preferito era Ellery Queen. Gli piaceva perché, a suo dire, era “onesto” con i lettori. - Ellery Queen ti da sempre tutti gli indizi per risolvere il caso prima della fine del libro, non bara mai, è una sfida alla tua intelligenza.- Non so quante volte gli avevo sentito ripetere queste frasi parlando con i miei zii! Per cui quando un giorno, avevo 11 o 12 anni, trovai in uno scatolone di libri “Il paese del maleficio” del per me tanto famigerato Ellery Queen, cominciai a leggerlo, naturalmente di nascosto. Forse la parola maleficio mi faceva inconsciamente sospettare che fosse un libro proibito! Volevo provare la mia intelligenza e cimentarmi nella sfida al lettore e scoprire il colpevole prima della fine. Purtroppo prima della fine, appunto, mia madre mi scoprì e mi portò via il libro! Ma io dico: come si fa a portare via un giallo a pochi capitoli dalla fine! E’ pura crudeltà mentale! Rassegnata cominciai a rimuginarci sopra per cercare di risolvere il problema. Ricordo che trotterellavo dietro a mia madre chiedendole se la mia teoria era giusta. E lei distratta mi diceva si. Ma io semplicemente non le credevo. Ci sono voluti degli anni prima che mi fosse permesso di leggerlo e verificare la mia teoria e scoprire con orgoglio che l’avevo azzeccata in pieno! E dire che non era delle più semplici! Decisamente ero una bambina precoce!
This book has little to offer anyone who does not care who did it. “Queen” have a reputation as great mystery writers, this book is considered one of their best, but there was nothing in it for me. Uninteresting characters, pedestrian writing, and an unlikely plot mar the book deeply. The single thing I liked came at the end when the meta-fictional narration acknowledges that the story is absurd. I’m glad I finally tried a Queen book so I may stop wondering what I am missing, but I can now leave this author to those who care who did it.
What do You think about Calamity Town (1992)?
They're all right. I first read a couple right after reading a few Philo Vance mysteries; those were more memorable than the Ellery Queens and stuck with me more.
—Matthew Elmslie
The first "adult" author I read Everything by - if you don't count Conan Doyle - was Ellery Queen. I loved the TV series that ran at the same time as I was reading Encyclopedia Brown and the Three Investigators series. And I remember holding a copy of Ellery Queen's The Perfect Crime reverently, savoring the title and the Air of Mystery about it.[I later learned that The Perfect Crime wasn't really by Ellery Queen--it was a shortened version of one of his other books done as a quickie movie tie-in in the 40s. Oh well.]Trying to tell anyone else what I think of Ellery Queen is like trying to tell people how I feel about the Beatles - that's where my interest in music started, and all other musicians sound more or less like them, whereas they sound just right. Going back to Ellery Queen, I see that he (they) uses stock characters for the most part (when anyone's ethnic, it's even worse); that the books--even the ones from the 60s--have a 40s schoolboy idea of romance; and that even the better novels(like this one) are contrived and put puzzle ahead of people. But I still enjoy him--even the third time through, when I know exactly who did it: I savor the puzzle (the weirdest ones you will ever find), the brisk pacing, and the Air of Mystery.
—Dave
