The characterizations were juvenile and simplistic (although King Bendigo is scarily reminiscent of a "titan" personality frequently in news headlines, but it was a fun read with some humour, and a sharp-eyed reader can detect along with Ellery Queen that not everything is as it is presented.

Abel Bendigo, brother of the fifth richest man in the world, "strongly persuades" Ellery Queen and his father to jaunt off to a tropical unnamed uncharted island to deduce who is sending King Bendigo death threats. The Queens learn there's more going on than just someone trolling an armaments and munitions entrepreneur with a noiseless typewriter.

The murder mechanism should be simple to readers fluent in this genre - you either catch it or you don’t. Most of the effort was put into world-building (detailed, but somewhat pointless) and character development (unsuccessful and/or uninspired)

This is classic Queen and is one of the better "impossible crime" setups around. A guy stands in one room with an empty gun. He has stated he will kill his brother at midnight. The guy is watched by Queen himself. In the other room--your classic locked room, guarded, with no possibility of ... well, you know the drill. At precisely midnight, the guy raises the empty gun and pulls the trigger. In the locked room, the guy takes a bullet.

That alone would make the book remarkable, and as such I'd give it four stars. Contributing to a higher rating is that the guy shot would make a great Bond villain. He's rich, has a private island with a private army, has the morals of a raccoon, and the arrogance of ... well, of a Bond villain. Great, over-the-top characters all around.

Then something weird happens. Two-thirds of the way through the book, our hero detective leaves the island to go to New Hampshire, to visit the home town of the brothers. We are then treated to a long--a really long--list of something like depositions--statements from various townspeople about the boys as they grew up. It's a complete change of tone and Queen all but disappears from the narrative. Then we return to the island and he knows who is making the threats and why.

After the event itself, which is a welcome return to the tone of the book prior to New Hampshire, we get a sort of sermonette on the whole business. Unexpectedly preachy, for this genre. I completely understand the point and even agree with it, but it felt utterly out of place. I was ultimately disappointed enough to knock one star off the rating. If the unexpected and unlikely course changes don't bother you, then this is a solid four stars.