From the very beginning, the Khalkis case struck a somber note. It began, as was peculiarly harmonious in the light of what was to come, with the death of an old man. Georg Khalkis, internationally famous art dealer and collector, died of heart failure. After his funeral, his attorney found that the will was missing and immediately called in the district attorney. When Inspector Queen and his son, Ellery, are brought in to solve the mystery, Ellery mentions the one place they have not searched for the will: the coffin. Upon ...
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From the very beginning, the Khalkis case struck a somber note. It began, as was peculiarly harmonious in the light of what was to come, with the death of an old man. Georg Khalkis, internationally famous art dealer and collector, died of heart failure. After his funeral, his attorney found that the will was missing and immediately called in the district attorney. When Inspector Queen and his son, Ellery, are brought in to solve the mystery, Ellery mentions the one place they have not searched for the will: the coffin. Upon exhumation of the Khalkis coffin they find that it contains not one bodybut two!
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Add this copy of The Greek Coffin Mystery to cart. $15.98, fair condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Atlanta rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Brownstown, MI, UNITED STATES, published 1969 by Signet Book.
In the thousands of endlessly boring and routine detective stories, particularly those dreadful "procedurals", where the reader is told everything except for why they're wasting their time , this early Ellery Queen is an unorthodox delight, with a bizarre plot and weird characters. A man is beheaded and crucified at a god-forsaken hamlet in West Virginia and a few months later a similar incident occurs in New York with an insane cult leader as the only visible connection. Investigation reveals that the murders are a result of a 20 year old Balkan feud and although Ellery Queen is able to predict the next victim, he is helpless to prevent the final murder. The murderer has finally revealed himself in this last murder and a mad chase across the Midwest ends with his capture. In these early Queen books there is a challenge to the reader where the reader is told that they now have all the clues and information that Ellery Queen does and that they should be able to name the murderer. They always say that they have been scrupulously fair to the reader but while it's fun to guess who the murderer is, that's all it is-guessing. After you weed through the red herrings and logically eliminate suspects, there is still another card up Ellery Queen's sleeve that he hasn't fully revealed that pins the murderer.
