Ellery Queen Detective Books in Order

During a packed Broadway play, a shady lawyer is found stabbed in his seat, and the only obvious clue, his missing top hat, has vanished. Ellery Queen and his NYPD father trace that hat through a maze of suspects and timing.

A glamorous woman is found murdered in a department store, her face oddly dusted with expensive French powder. Ellery Queen follows tiny clues through sales floors, society gossip, and shaky alibis to learn who used a public space as cover.

A wealthy patient is killed inside a Manhattan hospital, with doctors and nurses nearby and no clear way for the murderer to strike unseen. When a simple shoe detail doesn’t add up, Ellery Queen rebuilds the timeline to expose the killer.

Victims are discovered posed on crude crosses, and taunting clues hint at a killer who wants to be chased. Ellery Queen and Inspector Queen race across a widening map of suspects, trying to predict the next strike before the pattern claims another life.

A rich art dealer dies, his will vanishes, and a bizarre clue points to the coffin itself. When the grave is opened, the body count climbs and the puzzle deepens. Ellery Queen has to untangle inheritance, deception, and a chilling switch.

A murder at a busy rodeo seems to happen in plain sight, yet the gun and the shooter don’t fit the facts. Ellery Queen digs into performers, promoters, and rivalries, hunting for the trick that made the killing look impossible.

A remote mountain lodge is cut off by a raging wildfire, trapping guests and staff together. When someone is murdered inside the sealed-in resort, Ellery Queen must solve the case before panic, smoke, and shifting loyalties turn deadly.

A man is murdered behind locked doors, and then the body itself disappears, leaving the investigators with a roomful of suspects and a handful of baffling clues. Ellery Queen has to explain both the killing and the vanishing act.

A newly married couple returns to a gloomy family mansion where wealth, fear, and old grudges fill the halls. When death follows, Ellery Queen faces a gothic puzzle of inheritance, hidden truths, and a legend called the Lamp of God.

A killing at a wealthy estate leaves behind a trail of flirtations, cover stories, and a mysterious Spanish cape that keeps turning up at the worst moments. Ellery Queen works through a crowded cast to find the one lie that matters.

A man with a double life is found murdered, and the people who knew him can’t agree on who he really was. Ellery Queen peels back false identities and tangled relationships, using small physical details to expose a carefully staged story.

A celebrated novelist is murdered, yet the evidence points in contradictory directions, as if the crime happened in two places at once. Ellery Queen follows a trail of motive and misdirection until the “door between” becomes the key to the trick.

A Hollywood power figure is killed in a way that looks theatrical, right down to the weapon and the bizarre residue it leaves behind. Ellery Queen navigates studio politics and personal grudges to show how the murder was engineered to mislead.

Two Hollywood legends die in a case laced with glamour, jealousy, and a set of playing-card clues. Ellery Queen traces the victims’ shared past and the small betrayals around them, trying to learn who dealt the fatal hand and why.

Ellery Queen is pulled into a case involving hidden motives and a fortune that draws the wrong kind of attention. As deaths and deceptions pile up, he has to sort real identities from invented ones and find the meaning of the “dragon’s teeth” clue.

A murder in a luxurious penthouse puts Ellery Queen among wealthy suspects who all have reasons to lie. With the police watching every move, he has to explain how the killer struck and why a seemingly minor detail was worth killing for.

Ellery Queen comes to the small town of Wrightsville for a society wedding that collapses into scandal and a suspicious death. As neighbors take sides and the case turns into a public spectacle, he digs into family secrets and quiet resentments.

A death that looks airtight leaves Ellery Queen facing an alibi nobody can crack and evidence that seems to point everywhere at once. By rebuilding the crime step by step, he finds the one small mistake that turns “perfect” into solved.

In Wrightsville, a wealthy matriarch presides over a family as tangled as her fortune. When murders begin to echo a nursery rhyme pattern, Ellery Queen has to spot the hidden logic quickly, before the killer finishes the verse.

A respected Wrightsville family is shaken when an old murder begins to echo into the present. Ellery Queen follows the trail through reputations, buried guilt, and wartime scars, looking for the “fox” hiding behind a believable mask.

A young man’s blackouts and half-remembered fears turn terrifying when a murder enters the picture. With only days to connect scattered memories and unsettling clues, Ellery Queen races to identify the one person who understands what really happened.

New York is gripped by a strangler who seems to pick victims at random, turning the city jumpy and cruel. Ellery Queen and Inspector Queen search for patterns in the chaos, hunting the tiny clue that turns fear into a solvable case.

Back in Wrightsville, a string of killings takes on a ritual, storybook feel, as if someone is following a deadly script. Ellery Queen has to cut through superstition and community secrets to find the ordinary motive behind the pattern.

A comfortable life is disrupted by anonymous “gifts” that feel more like threats, and the campaign escalates into murder. Ellery Queen tracks down who is orchestrating the cruelty, and why the victim’s past is the real target.

A prominent man begins receiving warnings that he’s marked for death, and the threats grow more specific by the day. Ellery Queen investigates a circle of partners, rivals, and family members, trying to learn who is planning the final move.

A trail of taunting letters and staged clues drags Ellery Queen into a case where the truth keeps changing shape. As suspects shift their stories and motives multiply, he has to decide which “scarlet letter” belongs to the killer.

In a small town rattled by a killing, suspicion spreads faster than evidence and an outsider becomes an easy answer. Ellery Queen investigates the crime while watching a community’s fear harden into certainty, and the real culprit slip behind it.

With Ellery offstage, Inspector Richard Queen leads the investigation when a puzzling crime lands in his lap. Relying on experience and stubborn police work, he has to sort staged evidence from the real motive before the case closes on the wrong person.

A long-buried incident from a country-house gathering resurfaces decades later, when a death forces old secrets into the open. Ellery Queen rewinds events to a single night, searching for the missing “finishing stroke” that makes the whole pattern fit.

A full sampler of Ellery Queen crime writing, mixing classic mysteries with shorter, puzzle-driven pieces. It’s built for readers who like clever setups, clean solutions, and that satisfying moment when a small clue suddenly changes everything.

A lawyer’s will leaves everything to a convicted killer on death row, and the fallout turns into a frantic manhunt. As the prisoner’s lovers and enemies close in, the chase becomes a lethal puzzle of loyalty, greed, and survival.

A late-night disc jockey is murdered and a missing record seems tied to the motive. The suspects range from performers to powerful executives, each with something to gain. The investigation has to separate show-business image from deadly reality.

A doctor’s risky affair and a suspicious death pull him into a web of blackmail and organized crime. When a corpse turns up in his locked apartment, every choice looks guilty. To clear himself, he has to follow orders, and outthink them.

A killing that looks like an old score settled forces the investigation to dig into buried history and carefully hidden identities. As witnesses remember different versions of the same events, the truth hinges on what the victim did long before the body fell.

A case built like a game pulls Ellery Queen into a world of manipulation, where someone unseen keeps steering people toward disaster. As motives overlap and loyalties shift, he has to identify the “player” controlling the board and why.

Ellery Queen stumbles upon an isolated community that seems cut off from the modern world, and then death strikes inside its boundaries. With few outsiders and many secrets, he has to untangle faith, power, and fear to identify the killer.

On a college campus, one woman’s complicated social life and a string of men named John collide with blackmail and murder. As the story grows stranger, the case becomes a test of who is lying, and which “John” matters most.

A dark, varied collection of crime and mystery pieces published under the Ellery Queen name. Expect clever plots, sharp twists, and stories chosen for readers who like suspense that stays focused on motive, method, and the final reveal.

A love triangle turns lethal, and the geometry of motive becomes the puzzle. Ellery Queen traces how jealousy and self-justification can make a crime look inevitable, until the “fourth side” appears and changes everything.

Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson confront the Whitechapel murders as Jack the Ripper haunts London. Blending famous characters with grim stakes, this Victorian thriller follows Holmes through clues, suspects, and danger toward an answer nobody wants to face.

A man thinks he has a clean break and a bag of cash, until a sudden accident and a misunderstanding turn him into a fugitive. Hunted by police and criminals alike, he has to find the truth fast, before his luck runs out for good.

A woman is hired to play the role of a perfect girlfriend, and the fake romance turns real enough to get dangerous. When kidnapping and murder enter the picture, she has to keep acting, while figuring out who is using her as bait.

A brutal shooting in a state park leaves a dead man, a missing weapon, and a list of suspects with reasons to snap. Investigator Omar Collins works through family secrets, jealousies, and local grudges to learn whose “madman theory” is true.

A tense crime story built around confrontation and identity, where one meeting can change everything. As the investigation tightens and alibis collapse, the characters are forced to face the truth directly, and someone will kill to avoid that moment.

A collection of short Ellery Queen mysteries designed as brain-teasers. Each case lays out the clues plainly, invites you to solve it, and then walks through the logic step by step. Perfect for quick reads and armchair detection.

A man is found dead, and the suspects include an angry husband, a lover with something to lose, and people circling an inheritance. As motives collide and a kidnapping complicates the trail, the investigation has to figure out who was cooking up the lie.

A young woman’s death sets off an investigation steeped in secrets, quiet obsessions, and people who know more than they admit. With Inspector Queen taking the lead, the case leans on patient police work, and the slow unmasking of motive.

A patrolman makes one bad decision during a payroll robbery, and the consequences turn deadly. When criminals take his daughter hostage, he’s forced into a desperate race between duty and family, with a murderer ready to silence everyone involved.

A themed collection of crime and mystery stories where wrongdoing meets consequences. Curated under the Ellery Queen banner, it offers a mix of classic and modern voices, twist endings, and cases that hinge on motive as much as method.

A murder case turns into a deeper look at one man’s relationships and the women around him, past and present. Ellery Queen follows the trail through love, resentment, and betrayal, trying to learn who decided the “last woman” had to die.

A medical examiner is found dead in the morgue, a crime scene where almost everyone has a reason to be calm and a reason to lie. Ellery Queen traces a chain of grudges and secrets toward a quiet, unsettling solution.

A town is rattled by sudden deaths that feel like an epidemic, until a brutal stabbing makes murder impossible to ignore. With suspects ranging from spouses to doctors and friends, the investigation has to decide whether the killer is close, or everywhere.

A selection of Ellery Queen mysteries that highlights the classic formula: fair clues, sharp logic, and solutions that click. Expect puzzle-forward cases, brisk storytelling, and that familiar invitation to pause, think, and try to solve it first.