Plot summary
It's a snowy day in Dalton (a New England town near Boston) and someone's trying to run over Leonidas Witherall, "the man who looks like Shakespeare". He's saved by brassy young Margie and her muscular boyfriend Cuff, but he promptly escapes them and is knocked down by another car. When he awakens, he's in the home of Bennington Brett, a former pupil, who is sitting stabbed in front of him. Witherall assembles a crew including the dead man's secretary, the lovely Miss Dallas Tring, two neighbors, Stanton Kaye, and dotty housewife Mrs. Price (who owns the fatal carving knife), whose new maid is Margie. Together, the group races around Dalton in pursuit of clues and suspects, comes dangerously close to the second murder, and resolves matters by delivering the criminals to the police complete with confessions.
Ellery Queen is a pseudonym created in 1928 by the American detective fiction writers Frederic Dannay (1905–1982) and Manfred Bennington Lee (1905–1971). It is also the name of their main fictional detective, a mystery writer in New York City who helps his police inspector father solve baffling murder cases. From 1929 to 1971, Dannay and Lee wrote around forty novels and short story collections in which Ellery Queen appears as a character.
The Moonstone: A Romance by Wilkie Collins is an 1868 British epistolary novel. It is an early example of the modern detective novel, and established many of the ground rules of the modern genre. Its publication was started on 4 January 1868 and was completed on 8 August 1868. The story was serialised in Charles Dickens’s magazine All the Year Round. Collins adapted The Moonstone for the stage in 1877.
Leonidas was the king of Sparta who ruled c. 489–480 BC, and who led the allied Greek forces in a last stand at the Battle of Thermopylae.
Ellery Queen is an American TV drama series, developed by Richard Levinson and William Link, who based it on the fictional character of the same name. The series ran for a single season on NBC from September 11, 1975, to April 4, 1976. Jim Hutton stars as the eponymous sleuth, along with David Wayne as his father, Inspector Richard Queen.
Phoebe Atwood Taylor was an American writer of mystery novels, who was born and died in Boston. She graduated from Barnard College in 1930 and married surgeon Grantley Walder Taylor in December 1951.
The Adventures of Leonidas Witherall is a radio mystery series broadcast on Mutual from June 4, 1944, through May 6, 1945.
Beginning With a Bash is a novel that was published in 1937 by Phoebe Atwood Taylor writing as Alice Tilton. It is the first of the Leonidas Witherall mysteries.
Cold Steal is a novel that was published in 1939 by Phoebe Atwood Taylor writing as Alice Tilton. It is the third of the eight Leonidas Witherall mysteries.
The Left Leg is a novel that was published in 1940 by Phoebe Atwood Taylor writing as Alice Tilton. It is the fourth of the eight Leonidas Witherall mysteries.
The Hollow Chest is a novel that was published in 1941 by Phoebe Atwood Taylor writing as Alice Tilton. It is the fifth of the eight Leonidas Witherall mysteries.
File For Record is a novel that was published in 1943 by Phoebe Atwood Taylor writing as Alice Tilton. It is the sixth of the eight Leonidas Witherall mysteries.
Dead Ernest is a novel that was published in 1944 by Phoebe Atwood Taylor writing as Alice Tilton. It is the seventh of the eight Leonidas Witherall mysteries.
The Iron Clew is a novel that was published in 1947 by Phoebe Atwood Taylor writing as Alice Tilton. It is the eighth and last of the eight Leonidas Witherall mysteries.
Murder at the New York World's Fair is a novel that was published in 1938 by Phoebe Atwood Taylor writing as Freeman Dana. It is the only mystery she wrote under that name.
The Crimson Patch, first published in 1936, is a detective story by Phoebe Atwood Taylor which features her series detective Asey Mayo, the "Codfish Sherlock". This novel is a mystery of the type known as a whodunnit.
The Tinkling Symbol, first published in 1935, is a detective story by Phoebe Atwood Taylor which features her series detective Asey Mayo, the "Codfish Sherlock". This novel is a whodunnit mystery.
Figure Away, first published in 1937, is a detective story by Phoebe Atwood Taylor which features her series detective Asey Mayo, the "Codfish Sherlock". This novel is a mystery of the type known as a whodunnit. In 1939, the novel was serialised by several newspapers as ‘Old Home Week Murder’.
Phoebe or Phœbe is a female name, the feminine form of the male name Phoebus (Φοῖβος), an epithet of Apollo meaning "bright", "shining".
A Lady Baltimore cake is an American white layer cake with fluffy frosting and a fruit and nut filling. The cake is believed to have been created in the Southern United States in the early 20th century, but its exact origins are disputed.
Octagon House is a 1937 serialized novel by Phoebe Atwood Taylor that was distributed by the Associated Press and appeared in multiple newspapers in the United States.
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