Calamity Town

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Calamity Town
CalamityTown.JPG
First US edition
Author Ellery Queen
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Series Ellery Queen mysteries
Genre Mystery
Publisher Little, Brown (US)
Gollancz (UK)
Publication date
 1942
Media typePrint (Hardcover and Paperback)
LC Class PS3533.U4
Preceded by The Dragon's Teeth  
Followed by There Was an Old Woman  

Calamity Town is a mystery novel by American writers Manfred B. Lee and Frederic Dannay, published in 1942 under the pseudonym of Ellery Queen. It is set in the fictional town of Wrightsville, a place that figures in several later Queen books.

Contents

Plot summary

Ellery Queen moves into the small town of Wrightsville, somewhere in New England, in order to get some peace and quiet so that he can write a book. As a result of renting a furnished house, he becomes peripherally involved in the story of Jim Haight and Nora Wright. Nora's father is president of the Wrightsville National bank, "oldest family in town", and when the head cashier Jim Haight became engaged to his daughter Nora, he built and furnished a house for them as a wedding present. That was three years ago—the day before the wedding, Jim Haight disappeared, the wedding was called off, and the "jinxed" house became known as "Calamity House". Ellery rents it, just before the return of Jim Haight, and the wedding is soon on again. Ellery finds some evidence that Jim is planning to poison Nora and, after the wedding, she does display some symptoms of arsenic poisoning. But it is Jim's sister Rosemary who dies after drinking a poisoned cocktail. Jim is tried for the murder and it is only after some startling and tragic events that Ellery reveals the identity of the murderer.

Literary significance & criticism

Inspector Queen is not seen as a character in this novel.

After many popular mystery novels and a number of movies, the character of Ellery Queen was at this point firmly established. This is the first of what became known as the "Wrightsville" novels, the first three of which were at one time published in an omnibus edition called "The Wrightsville Murders". The Wrightsville novels all take place against the backdrop of that small imaginary New England town, feature some characters that repeat between books, and generally are more character-driven and realistic than the earliest Ellery Queen puzzle mysteries. They also contain a considerable amount of observation on the nature of small American towns.

Wrightsville was a place in the U.S. where people lived, worked and died in an atmosphere of decency and independence. A typical American town, buried in the great American heartland, up to its collective neck in good old American corn. One could freely breathe the air here, although the industry has had its influence. ... Wrightsville's milieu, people, plot, details, overall framework and everything else about it are fully organic to Queen's own vision, not yanked bodily from any prior source but shaped in part by earlier work... [1]

Very intelligently, Dannay and Lee used this change in locale to loosen the structure of their stories. More emphasis was placed on personal relationships, and less on the details of investigation. For a time this worked well. Calamity Town (1942) and The Murderer is a Fox (1945) are two books in which the transition from one kind of crime story to another is successfully managed, although a feeling lingers that they would be even better books if Ellery did not appear in them. [2]

One of the less irritating works of the author. Ellery leaves Manhattan for "Wrightsville", where he falls in love and gets entangled in various concerns culminating in murder; he is for a time himself a suspect. The town with its gossip and cliques is well done; the narrative is sober, and there are good courtroom scenes. Ellery is, as usual, more oracular than active." [3]

Included in H. R. F. Keating's Crime and Mystery: the 100 Best Books.

Adaptations

Dramatist Joseph Goodrich has adapted the novel for the stage. His play Calamity Town premiered at Calgary's Vertigo Theatre in 2016. [4]

Related Research Articles

Ellery Queen is a pseudonym created in 1929 by American crime fiction writers Frederic Dannay and Manfred Bennington Lee and the name of their main fictional character, a mystery writer in New York City who helps his police inspector father solve baffling murders. Dannay and Lee wrote most of the more than thirty novels and several short story collections in which Ellery Queen appeared as a character, and their books were among the most popular of American mysteries published between 1929 and 1971. In addition to the fiction featuring their eponymous brilliant amateur detective, the two men acted as editors: as Ellery Queen they edited more than thirty anthologies of crime fiction and true crime, and Dannay founded and for many decades edited Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, which has been published continuously from 1941 to the present. From 1961, Dannay and Lee also commissioned other authors to write crime thrillers using the Ellery Queen nom de plume, but not featuring Ellery Queen as a character; several juvenile novels were credited to Ellery Queen, Jr. Finally, the prolific duo wrote four mysteries under the pseudonym Barnaby Ross.

Mystery fiction Genre of fiction usually involving a mysterious death or a crime to be solved

Mystery fiction is a genre of fiction that usually involves revealing the identity of a murderer or of the perpetrator of some other type of crime. Often within a closed circle of suspects, each suspect is usually provided with a credible motive and a reasonable opportunity for committing the crime. The central character is often a detective, who eventually solves the mystery by logical deduction from facts presented to the reader. Some mystery books are non-fiction. Mystery fiction can be detective stories in which the emphasis is on the puzzle or suspense element and its logical solution such as a whodunit. Mystery fiction can be contrasted with hardboiled detective stories, which focus on action and gritty realism.

<i>Ellery Queens Mystery Magazine</i> American crime fiction magazine

Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine is an American digest size fiction magazine specializing in crime fiction, particularly detective fiction, and mystery fiction. Launched in fall 1941 by Mercury Press, EQMM is named after the fictitious author Ellery Queen, who wrote novels and short stories about a fictional detective named Ellery Queen. From 1993, EQMM changed its cover title to be Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, but the table of contents still retains the full name.

Agatha Award

The Agatha Awards, named for Agatha Christie, are literary awards for mystery and crime writers who write in the cozy mystery subgenre. At an annual convention in Washington, D.C., the Agatha Awards are handed out by Malice Domestic Ltd, in six categories: Best Novel; Best First Mystery; Best Historical Novel; Best Short Story; Best Non-Fiction; Best Children's/Young Adult Mystery. Additionally, in some years the Poirot Award is presented to honor individuals other than writers who have made outstanding contributions to the mystery genre, but it is not an annual award.

Christianna Brand British writer

Christianna Brand was a British crime writer and children's author born in British Malaya.

<i>The Roman Hat Mystery</i>

The Roman Hat Mystery is a novel that was written in 1929 by Ellery Queen. It is the first of the Ellery Queen mysteries.

<i>The Egyptian Cross Mystery</i>

The Egyptian Cross Mystery is a novel that was written in 1932 by Ellery Queen. It is the fifth of the Ellery Queen mysteries.

<i>The Spanish Cape Mystery</i>

The Spanish Cape Mystery is a novel that was written by Ellery Queen as the ninth book of the Ellery Queen mysteries. Published in April in hardcover by Frederick A. Stokes, it also appeared as a "complete, book-length novel" in the April 1935 issue of Redbook.

<i>The Lamp of God</i>

The Lamp of God is a novella that was written in 1935 by Ellery Queen. It was originally published in Detective Story Magazine in 1935 and first published in book form as part of The New Adventures of Ellery Queen in 1940. It is included here separately because of its stand-alone publication as #23 in the Dell Ten-Cent Editions in 1951.

<i>Halfway House</i> (novel)

Halfway House is a novel that was written in 1936 by Ellery Queen. It is a mystery novel primarily set in New Jersey, United States.

Joseph Commings was an American writer of locked room mysteries. He wrote a series of soft-core sex novels, but is best known for his locked-room mystery/impossible crime short stories featuring Senator Brooks U. Banner."

<i>The Finishing Stroke</i>

The Finishing Stroke is a mystery novel by Ellery Queen, published in 1958. Extremely complex and with many baroque touches, it is something of a throwback to the original Ellery Queen novels of the late 1920s and early 1930s, unlike the more realistic mysteries of Queen's later period. It is set in New York state during three different times in the 20th century: Early 1905; the Christmas-New Year's holidays of 1929-1930; and midsummer 1957.

<i>The Door Between</i>

The Door Between is a novel that was published in 1937 by Ellery Queen. It is a mystery novel primarily set in New York City, United States.

<i>There Was an Old Woman</i> (novel)

There Was an Old Woman is a novel published in 1943 by Ellery Queen, byname of American writers Manfred B. Lee and Frederic Dannay. It is a mystery novel primarily set in New York City, US.

<i>The Murderer Is a Fox</i>

The Murderer Is a Fox is a novel that was published in 1945 by Ellery Queen. It is a mystery novel primarily set in the imaginary town of Wrightsville, US.

<i>Ten Days Wonder</i>

Ten Days' Wonder is a novel that was published in 1948 by Ellery Queen. It is a mystery novel primarily set in the imaginary town of Wrightsville, United States.

<i>Double, Double</i> (Ellery Queen novel) Novel by Ellery Queen

Double, Double is a novel that was published in 1949 by Ellery Queen. It is a mystery novel set in the imaginary New England town of Wrightsville, US.

<i>The Origin of Evil</i>

The Origin of Evil is a mystery novel by Ellery Queen, published in 1951. It is set in Los Angeles, US.

<i>The King Is Dead</i> (novel)

The King Is Dead is a mystery novel by American authors Manfred Lee and Frederic Dannay, writing as Ellery Queen. Published in 1952, it is set primarily on a fictional island, but also partly in Wrightsville, a fictional small town in the northeastern United States that figures in several Queen stories.

Mercury Publications American publisher of fiction periodicals

Mercury Publications was a magazine publishing company, owned and operated by Lawrence E. Spivak, which mainly published genre fiction in digest-sized formats. The focus of Spivak's line was on detective and mystery stories and novels, but it also included magazines about humor, fantasy, and true crime. The offices were located at 570 Lexington Avenue in New York, N.Y.

References

  1. ↑ Ellery Queen website
  2. ↑ Symons, Julian. (1974) Bloody Murder (second, revised edition), London: Penguin. ISBN   0-14-003794-2
  3. ↑ Barzun, Jacques and Taylor, Wendell Hertig. A Catalogue of Crime (revised edition) New York: Harper and Row, 1989 (first published 1971). ISBN   0-06-015796-8
  4. ↑ Hobson, Louis B. (January 29, 2016). "Review: Calamity Town polished and intriguing crime theatre". Calgary Herald . Retrieved May 18, 2018.
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