Ellery Queen is a fictional character and pseudonym used by two American cousins from Brooklyn, NY to write detective fiction. They used the name Ellery Queen for both the authors' names and the detective character in their stories.
Ellery Queen was created in 1928 and successfully covered forty two years, selling many full-length novels as well as short story collections. Ellery was also on radio, television, films, comic books, board games and jigsaw puzzles. The Ellery Queen magazine began in the fall of 1941.
In the earlier novels, Ellery Queen was said to be married and the father of a child. After the first nine novels, this idea was no longer accepted. In the early 1940's, a character known as "Nikki Porter," Ellery Queen's secretary and a love interest, appeared first in the radio series and later in novels and stories. There was another character,"Paula Paris," a gossip columnist who was romantically linked to Ellery Queen in short stories but never in radio series or movies. The difference in early and late Ellery Queen characters led to the theory that there were two Ellery Queens, an older and younger brother.
The two authors, Frederic Dannay and Manfred B. Lee received the Grand Masters of the Mystery Writers of America in 196l for their characters, Ellery Queen and Drury Lane, in another series of mysteries. The Grand Masters Award is the highest honor bestowed by the Mystery Writers of America. It recognizes lifetime achievement and consistent quality in the mystery field.
