Ellery Queen has been brought to Hollywood, by Jacques Butcher, to work on a screenplay. The problem is that Butcher has yet to see Ellery to discuss what the screenplay is to be about. After a few weeks, Ellery has been idle for too long.

Meanwhile, financier Solly Spaeth and his business partner, Rhys Jardin, find that their "Ohippi Hydro-Electric Project" has failed due to flooding in the area it is located. Their investors have lost their investment money. Rhys is now broke. Spaeth is the only one who is afloat due to selling his shares before the flooding. Strange....

Rhys is forced to sell off all his belongings just to raise enough for him and his daughter to have money to live on. The auction goes better than expected when an unknown man buys the who lot of goods. Unbeknownst to Rhys and his daughter, the buyer is Ellery Queen and the money comes from Spaeth's son, Walter. Seems both boys were in school together back in New York.

They real mystery kicks in when Solly is found dead in his house. Rhys is the prime suspect due to his being Solly's business partner and have suffered such a large financial loss. This situation allows Ellery to do what he enjoys....solve a murder. The difference is that he takes on the personage of Hilary "Scoop" King, reporter from Back East and new to the West Coast. This also gives him the ability to poke and prod in an city he isn't really know to the police in.

Twists, turns and red herrings were all there. Another fun read. ( )

More romance than mystery, it's easy to figure out the killer in this book by process of elimination. The clues are fair and easy to interpret, but an enjoyable read nonetheless. ( )

Prisma Detectieve. ( )