The Letters Racket—A is for Alfred, who left his poor wife ripe for a blackmailer late in her life. B is for Brothers, three of that name, who skewered one morning the fourth Brother's dame. On through the files of Q.B.I., from Bacon to Kidnap to a Poisoner's try. The victims are many, the killers are, too, and only Ellery Queen can find out who's who! * BLACKMAIL DEPT. — Money Talks (This Week, 4/2/50 as "The Sound of Blackmail" reprinted in EQMM 08/52) * FIX DEPT. — A Matter of Seconds (This Week, 8/9/53 reprinted in EQMM 01/57) * IMPOSSIBLE CRIME DEPT. — The Three Widows (This Week, 1/29/50 as "Murder Without Clues"; reprinted in EQMM, 2/53,) * RARE BOOK DEPT. — "My Queer Dean!" (This Week, 3/8/53, reprinted in EQMM, 11/56) * MURDER DEPT. — Driver's Seat (This Week, 3/25/51 as "Lady, You're Dead") * PARK PATROL DEPT. — A Lump of Sugar (This Week, 7/9/50 as"The Mystery of the 3 Dawn Riders" reprinted in EQMM, 2/53 and in EQMM, 03/69 as "Murder in the Park") * OPEN FILE DEPT. — Cold Money (This Week, 30/03/52 and EQMM, 01/56) * EMBEZZLEMENT DEPT. — The Myna Birds (as "The Myna Bird Mystery"in This Week, 12/28/52 reprinted in EQMM, 9/56 as "Cut, Cut, Cut!" ) * SUICIDE DEPT. — A Question of Honor (This Week, 9/13/53 reprinted in EQMM 05/58) * HOLDUP DEPT. — The Robber of Wrightsville (in Today's Family, 2/53 as "The Accused" and in EQMM, 12/54) * SWINDLE DEPT. — Double Your Money (This Week, 9/29/51 as "The Vanishing Wizard" reprinted in EQMM, 9/55) * BURIED TREASURE DEPT. — Miser's Gold (This Week, 6/18/50 as "Love Hunts a Hidden Treasure"; The Sunday Herald 07/16/50 as "Love Hunts a Hidden Treasure"; reprinted in EQMM, 4/54; as "Death of a Pawnbroker" EQMM 11/71) * MAGIC DEPT. — Snowball in July (This Week, 8/31/52 as "The Phantom Train" reprinted in EQMM 07/56) * FALSE CLAIMANT DEPT. — The Witch of Times Square (This Week, 11/5/50 reprinted in EQMM, 5/53) * RACKET DEPT. — The Gamblers' Club (This Week, 1/7/51 reprinted in EQMM, 3/55) * DYING MESSAGE DEPT. — GI Story (EQMM, 8/54) * NARCOTICS DEPT. — The Black Ledger (This Week, 01/05/52 as "The Mysterious Black Ledger"- in Woman's Day, 03/31/52 and reprinted in EQMM 12/55) * KIDNAPPING DEPT. — Child Missing! (This Week, 7/7/51 as "Kidnaped!", reprinted in EQMM, 6/58) All short stories,except were noted, are 1949 to 1954. All are copyright to the United Newspaper Magazine Corporation and were apparently published in This Week.
Author
aka Barnaby Ross. "Ellery Queen" was a pen name created and shared by two cousins, Frederic Dannay (1905-1982) and Manfred B. Lee (1905-1971), as well as the name of their most famous detective. Born in Brooklyn, they spent forty two years writing, editing, and anthologizing under the name, gaining a reputation as the foremost American authors of the Golden Age "fair play" mystery. Although eventually famous on television and radio, Queen's first appearance came in 1928 when the cousins won a mystery-writing contest with the book that would eventually be published as The Roman Hat Mystery. Their character was an amateur detective who used his spare time to assist his police inspector father in solving baffling crimes. Besides writing the Queen novels, Dannay and Lee cofounded Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, one of the most influential crime publications of all time. Although Dannay outlived his cousin by nine years, he retired Queen upon Lee's death. Several of the later "Ellery Queen" books were written by other authors, including Jack Vance, Avram Davidson, and Theodore Sturgeon.
