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Lädt ... The New Adventures of Ellery Queen (1940)von Ellery Queen
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Melde dich bei LibraryThing an um herauszufinden, ob du dieses Buch mögen würdest. Keine aktuelle Diskussion zu diesem Buch. Short stories ( ) I'm an Ellery Queen fan from way back - specifically, of books by Ellery Queen that feature Ellery Queen as the detective. The older stories (say, pre-1940) have a particularly dated flavor. Ellery wears pince-nez, and the stories are filled with references to popular culture which anyone born after 1940 would be unlikely to know. There's a certain curious charm to those old stories, an exotic-yet-familiar quality. Many of Agatha Christie's books have a similar dated atmosphere. I've educated myself on the subject - I probably know more about American and English culture of the 1920-1940s than 99 out of 100 boomer or post-boomer Americans - but even so, I sometimes run into something jarring. As in The New Adventures of Ellery Queen, in which a winning prizefighter is greeted by his manager with a friendly "Heil, Hitler!". Mind you, these were Americans. And the remark was clearly NOT intended as anything sinister or even political - it was simply a hip, cool, funny thing way to great the new world champion boxer. How utterly bizarre! The story was first published in 1939, and must have been written before the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. It's a fascinating snapshot of the attitudes of the times. I knew that there were a number of people in America and England that admired Hitler, but it's jarring to see a casual reference like that in American popular culture of the time. I should note that "Ellery Queen" (in fact the pen-name used by two cousins who co-wrote many of the stories) was NOT a Nazi sympathizer, of course. One of his most memorable and unusual novels, And on the Eighth Day, made that abundantly clear - although it must be noted that that novel was ghost-written by Avram Davidson. As for the stories in this particular collection, I have to say that they haven't aged well. They're not bad, and logically are pretty fair puzzles, but in at least a couple of stories there are points which simply violate common sense. Such as a murderer who obviously wouldn't have had a prayer in the world of escaping uncaught except for a completely unpredictable stroke of luck - which later enabled Ellery to catch him. Why would ANYONE plan a murder (and this murder was planned, not a matter of impulse) if he would obviously have been caught almost immediately? Not to mention another story (and please note that I'm being careful about spoilers) in which someone attempts to commit a murder, and ends up being killed by the instrument of murder themselves. It simply boggles the mind that having set up a deadly trap, the murderer failed to notice that s/he was about to be accidentally killed by it. All in all this isn't a bad book to read on a dull afternoon (or on a long train ride, in my case), but there are better works available under the Ellery Queen name. Zeige 3 von 3 keine Rezensionen | Rezension hinzufügen
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The classic mystery novella The Lamp of God is paired with eight short stories in this collection featuring "the prince of American detective fiction" (Kirkus Reviews). Is it possible for a man to lift himself off the ground by his shoelaces and fly away? Can a water buffalo transform itself into a little boy? What is science to make of a dead man climbing out of his coffin, escaping his tomb . . . and breaking into song? Such incidents seem impossible, but stranger things have happened at the home of old Sylvester Mayhew. When Ellery Queen, the world-famous amateur detective, is called to Mayhew's ramshackle old mansion, he expects to be investigating an ordinary hoax. Instead, he finds murder. The novella The Lamp of God is vintage Ellery Queen--puzzling, atmospheric, and utterly delightful. Paired with eight short stories, including "Man Bites Dog" and "Long Shot," it is simply irresistible. Keine Bibliotheksbeschreibungen gefunden. |
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Google Books — Lädt ... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.52Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1900-1944Klassifikation der Library of Congress [LCC] (USA)BewertungDurchschnitt:
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