Definitely the strangest Queen outing I've read yet... this series of bloody serial murders seems more well-suited to the second Queen era instead of the first "Nationality Mystery" era to which it belongs. What's also interesting is that the killer's identity is flaunted about by Ellery and Co., as they try to figure out where the culprit is or who they are masquerading as. The consideration of alternate suspects, and the following of several red-herring subplots, is ignored until the killer is revealed in what's one of the best twists I've seen in a Queen book. This comes after a late-appearing clue that should point to the culprit with a bright flashing arrow, but unless you really have no prejudices in ruling characters out, it will not be apparent. I have written about another early Queen mystery that the solution to "whodunit?" was disappointing because both of the co-conspirators were seemingly minor characters who only came into the spotlight in the final chapter. I could make the same case about the killer here. We never see the supposed killer, Velja Krosac, in his "true" identity until the reveal, and when this happens it becomes apparent that a seemingly forgotten character has become the murderer - I won't say anything except that they are not Velja Krosac. However, the reason for this character's unimportance ends up being what makes their culpability so surprising! Now, that last sentence might give the game away, hence the spoiler, but it was very interesting how a major problem in a Queen mystery two books ago has been seemingly used as an advantage here! My only other qualm is that a couple of the murders aren't explained in full detail, probably since they are not the ones that become important in proving the murderer's identity, but it isn't that hard to figure out what happened with them (or I somehow missed it when I was reading the last chapter.) Overall a strong Ellery Queen, and at this point only Siamese Twin is above it in my ranking - Chinese Orange might have been too but the only part in CO that's better than EC is the delivery of the solution...

3.5/5

Começa de uma maneira muito interessante, até porque não podia deixar de o fazer com a sinopse que tem. E, embora tenha achado que algumas partes estavam extraordinariamente bem conseguidas, sinto que se perde um bocadinho do factor de deslumbramento pelo simples facto de o livro ser demasiado comprido.

Thought I had the solution figured out and I couldn't have been more wrong! Another great Ellery Queen Mystery.