The Uniqueness of Ellery Queen

Ellery Queen is the pseudonym jointly used by two cousins who wrote detective fiction novels. They also used their pen name as the name of their famous main character detective in the successful series of classic whodunit short stories and novels they wrote.

The character of Ellery Queen was created in 1928 and his popularity continues today. The "Adventures of Ellery Queen" aired on radio from 1939 to 1948. There was also a mini, one-minute mysteries that aired in the 1970s where callers were given a case and then were to call in with the solution to the puzzle to win prizes.

The aspect of involving the reader is what the classic Ellery Queen novel was famous for. Throughout the story, the reader is given all the information that Ellery obtains, as well as the attributes of each suspect. Using the clues, the reader is able to 'play along' with solving the mystery. A single page toward the end of each book was devoted to a statement from Ellery, that the reader has now gotten all the information and has all that is needed to solve the mystery. The reader then advances to see if they are capable of matching wits with Ellery Queen himself.

The novels also prompted a television series, which ran in 1975 and 1976. As in the novels, the stories presented an unusual crime, a complex series of clues and memorable characters. The involvement of the watcher, just as it was in the novels, made for a unique television experience.