I acquired a substantial portion of my Ellery Queen library through bulk purchases of 15-30 books at a time. Swept up in the tide were several “associated by name only” compilations such as The Quintessence of Queen – assortments of short stories published in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine and probably tossed into the bundles by some seller who didn’t know much better.
I’m admit I’m a fan of the short story. As a child I read a fair amount of Ray Bradbury and similar authors who walked the tightrope between science fiction, mystery, and horror. As an adult, I found my way into the locked room genre via the short story form. Since going full in with my reading of John Dickson Carr, I’ve stuck to novels based on the knowledge that authors such as him recycled story ideas occasionally – The Gilded Man being a well known example to appear in both short and long form. Better to ruin a twenty page read than a two hundred page one…
Continue reading “The Quintessence of Queen – Edited by Anthony Boucher (1962)”
