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Ellery Queen
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The Siamese Twin Mystery (Otto Penzler's Classic American Mystery Library) Kindle Edition

by Ellery Queen (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 442 ratings
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Ellery Queen and his father take refuge with a killer in this classic manor-house mystery starring one of crime fiction’s most legendary sleuths.

Driving along a lonely mountain road, detective Ellery Queen and his father, Richard, round a bend and nearly run headlong into a forest fire. To escape, they race up the mountain and take shelter at the cliffside manor of Dr. John Xavier, a surgeon of considerable repute. Ellery quickly suspects something strange is going on inside the house—from Xavier’s bizarre references to his work to the pair of eyes Ellery sees burning in the dark—but before he can confront Xavier about what he’s doing in his laboratory, the good doctor is found shot dead while playing solitaire—and the only clue is a ripped six of spades.

With the help of his father, a gruff police inspector, Ellery sets about solving the crime. The suspects include the victim’s valet, a pair of conjoined twins, and the mysterious Mr. Smith. In this game, the stakes are life and death.

One of the earliest novels starring the storied Ellery Queen, The Siamese Twin Mystery is a classic golden-age murder mystery. From the manor-house setting to the gothic atmosphere, it presents an Edgar Award–winning author at his very best. 
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  1. Print length
    295 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    MysteriousPress.com/Open Road
  5. Publication date
    February 5, 2013
  6. File size
    4264 KB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  10. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

 “A new Ellery Queen book has always been something to look forward to for many years now.” —Agatha Christie “Ellery Queen is the American detective story.” —Anthony Boucher, author of Nine Times Nine

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8 1-hour cassettes

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00B1MSJ9A
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ MysteriousPress.com/Open Road (February 5, 2013)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ February 5, 2013
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 4264 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 295 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 442 ratings

About the author

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Ellery Queen

Ellery Queen

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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. 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 in 1971.

Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
4.2 out of 5
442 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Mark Young
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book.
Reviewed in the United States on January 11, 2024
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Great book, particularly if you enjoy mystery writers from the 50's - 70's.
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Alec gross
4.0 out of 5 stars Solid mystery
Reviewed in the United States on October 12, 2016
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A very good mystery that reflects why the genre became so popular during the first half of the twentieth century. Well developed and some good characters.
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Danielle N. Hart
5.0 out of 5 stars Good Ellery Queen Mystery
Reviewed in the United States on November 6, 2016
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So, my experience with the Ellery Queen novels has been hit or miss. I find the short stories to be more enjoyable. This one is a good length, with just enough twists and turns.

This one, however, I really enjoyed. I'm a huge fan of "group of characters trapped in a house", and this scratched that itch nicely. I also liked how EQ got a little too creative with the interpretation of clues, only to discover he was wrong - or was he? It's very atmospheric and the dialogue is snappy, and I really enjoyed Inspector Queen in this one, for lines like this: “Well,” said the Inspector dryly, “people don’t generally commit murders when they know there’s a policeman under the same roof, Miss Forrest.
8 people found this helpful
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Timothy Pruett
3.0 out of 5 stars Not my favorite E.Q.
Reviewed in the United States on December 31, 2017
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While the plot held a lot of potential, the characters were under-developed and the denouement was a bit far-fetched. The impending threat of the fire was unique but took away from the author's development of the suspects.
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Mormonyoyoman
5.0 out of 5 stars A Deadly Mystery With a Fatal Deadline
Reviewed in the United States on June 16, 2014
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Trapped in the proverbial Old Dark House atop a mountain, surrounded by an out-of-control forest fire, Ellery & Richard Queen must find out which of the doomed souls is murdering the others, one by one, before the fire kills them all.

One of the earliest, and best, of the EQ novels, though Ellery's speech patterns and pince nez take some getting used to. The characters are, mostly, defined well enough to care about. Interestingly, the titular Siamese twins are probably the most likable - they're about the only ones who we really, really hope survive!

Filled with red herrings, suspects with strong motives, it's fascinating to see the Queens operating under such pressure, terrified & exhausted. We can almost forgive Ellery for being such a stiff. Thank goodness he loosened up in later stories!

*jeep! & God Bless!
----Grandpa Chet
4 people found this helpful
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JoeR
4.0 out of 5 stars Interensting mystery how's title was misleading. Ellery and the ...
Reviewed in the United States on November 7, 2016
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Interensting mystery how's title was misleading. Ellery and the Inspector lived up to the job at hand and their respective reputations.
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William M. Simmons
5.0 out of 5 stars Queen is king 👑
Reviewed in the United States on December 10, 2016
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Great, classic "locked room" mystery by the master. I love Ellery Queen's novels. This particular "room" is actually a mansion on the top of a mountain, surrounded by a raging forest fire that is closing in on all of the people trapped there. Of course, a murder takes place with a dying clue in the hand of the dead man. The solution is not an impossible one to figure out, but you have to dig through a pile of red herrings. Not a character study, nor will you find a social statement by the author. It's a good, old-fashioned mystery!
6 people found this helpful
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Eli van EK
2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing
Reviewed in the United States on February 22, 2020
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I was super disappointed by this book. I got 34% of the way through before I quit. Honestly I didn’t like much. The supporting characters came off as weird rather then interesting. The writing even for an old book was rather obtuse, I needed a dictionary more then a few times. This is comment not complaint. The age of the book is also obvious in its casual sexism which is blatant if unintentional, a mere reflection of its time. Other things like the forensics painfully betray its age. But I’ve forgiven worse in old books I liked. To be fair the writing is technically perfectly decent and the setting device was clever.

The kicker though was my total dislike of The Queens themselves. These are beloved characters so I was shocked by how tediously uninteresting and grumpy/smug I found them to be. The book has mixed reviews on Goodreads but most I saw were love it or hate it. Due to the literary pedigree of the characters I will try them again but I won’t be paying for the privilege.
One person found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Dr. Ezzat F Guirguis
1.0 out of 5 stars You can't have both.
Reviewed in Canada on March 9, 2020
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Mystery and adventure don't mix. You end enjoying neither. I used to be a fan of Ellery Queen mysteries. This novel ruined it.
Cumbersome and pedantic. To quote Mr. Churchill, when introduced to a man called Bosom: "It's neither one thing nor the other."
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Bill
3.0 out of 5 stars Fire on the mountain
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 28, 2020
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Not the best Ellery Queen, and one with some gaping holes in Ellery's reasoning (which can't be disclosed here without spoilers, and which in one instance lead to disastrous results), including a dubious interpretation of a particular mental disorder. An inordinate amount of time is also devoted to left- versus right-hand tearing of playing cards, but at least the apocalyptic setting, on a mountaintop circled by raging forest fires, raises it above the ordinary. Published by mysteriouspress.com, it's typeset reasonably well, athough it skimps on the opening pages and annoyingly has all the even numbered pages on the right rather than the left. You'd think that this might not make much difference, but it's surprisingly irritating.
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