The classic mystery novella The Lamp of God is paired with eight short stories in this collection featuring “the prince of American detective fiction” (Kirkus Reviews). Is it possible for a man to lift himself off the ground by his shoelaces and fly away? Can a water buffalo transform itself into a little boy? What is science to make of a dead man climbing out of his coffin, escaping his tomb . . . and breaking into song? Such incidents seem impossible, but stranger things have happened at the home of old Sylvester Mayhew. When Ellery Queen, the world-famous amateur detective, is called to Mayhew’s ramshackle old mansion, he expects to be investigating an ordinary hoax. Instead, he finds murder. The novella The Lamp of God is vintage Ellery Queen—puzzling, atmospheric, and utterly delightful. Paired with eight short stories, including “Man Bites Dog” and “Long Shot,” it is simply irresistible.

In eleven stories, the brilliant sleuth tangles with a book thief, an assassin who targets acrobats, and more . . . For Ellery Queen, there is no puzzle that reason cannot solve. In his time, he has faced down killers, thugs, and thieves, protected only by the might of his brain—and the odd bit of timely intervention by his father, a burly New York police inspector. But when a university professor asks Queen to teach a class, the detective finds there are people whom reason cannot touch: college students. Queen’s adventure on campus is only the first of this incomparable collection of short mysteries. In these pages, he tangles with a violent book thief, an assassin who targets acrobats, and New York’s only cleanly shaven bearded lady. Criminals everywhere fear him, whether they work in mansions or back alleys. No mystery is too difficult for the man with the golden brain.

A murder in a crowded Broadway theater presents a full house of suspects—the first in this classic mystery series starring Ellery Queen! Despite the dismal Broadway season, Gunplay continues to draw crowds. A gangland spectacle, it’s packed to the gills with action, explosions, and gunfire. In fact, Gunplay is so loud that no one notices the killing of Monte Field. In a sold-out theater, Field is found dead partway through the second act, surrounded by empty seats. The police hold the crowd and call for the one man who can untangle this daring murder: Inspector Richard Queen. With the help of his son Ellery, a bibliophile and novelist whose imagination can solve any crime, the Inspector attacks this seemingly impenetrable mystery. Anyone in the theater could have killed the unscrupulous lawyer, and several had the motive. Only Ellery Queen, in his debut novel, can decipher the clue of the dead man’s missing top hat.

In this collection of short stories, the legendary detective must solve one mystery per month in a year of chilling crime. Every new year, the seven remaining alumni of the first graduating class of Eastern University gather in Manhattan to reminisce. Within that group, there is a secret clique—the Inner Circle—forged around a crooked business arrangement, the profits of which will be collected by the last living member. When three of the Inner Circle die within a year, the remaining men fear for their lives. Just before Christmas, one of the survivors comes to the great detective Ellery Queen to beg for help. There are just a few days to save a life—and the university itself. Even if Queen can get to the bottom of the Inner Circle, eleven more puzzles will greet him throughout the year. As Calendar of Crime flips onward, the detective will find that there is no off-season for murder.

Death Valley lives up to its name when a murder draws Ellery Queen into the strange practices of a religious cult. It’s 1943, the war is raging, and sleuthing scribe Ellery Queen wants to do his bit. After a tortuous cross-country drive, he takes a job writing scripts for a Hollywood propaganda house—twelve hours a day of hack work that quickly turns his mind to jelly. After a few weeks, he is so worn down that he can type nothing but gibberish, and he decides to drive home. The trouble starts as soon as he reaches the desert. His ancient roadster breaks down on the edge of Death Valley. Wandering in search of help, he is saved by a man known as the Teacher, who takes him to an oasis called Quenan. Here, Queen finds a bizarre, reclusive cult that seems to have come straight out of the ancient past. A murder has been committed in the desert, and the Quenanites plan on delivering some Old Testament justice. Queen is just the detective they’ve been waiting for.

Cherchez la femme was one rule of detection Ellery Queen was always glad to obey—but this case provided too much of a good thing. One girl was a dazzling creature from Hollywood with an unfortunate talent for attracting handsome men and ugly violence. The other was fresh from the French Riviera, where she specialized in sophisticated fun and games. Ellery had a dead millionaire on his hands, two beautiful warring female hellcats on his back, and danger tightening its embrace as he put his body on the line to find out which of his two suspects was far more deadly than any male... A gripping novel of crime and detection...

A fashion designer’s murder draws legendary sleuth Ellery Queen into a New York society family’s tangled web of secrets. Ever since New York was Nieuw Amsterdam, the McKells have been building their fortune. Combining Scottish thrift with American know-how, they built an empire that, by the 1930s, stretched across the globe. No one in the family found more success than Ashton McKell, an entrepreneur who counts his wealth in the hundreds of millions, who smokes twenty cigars a day, and whose only problem is his son Dane, an adventurous soul who shocks his father by giving up business for the disgraceful pursuit of writing. Despite their differences, Dane loves his father. He is shocked when he learns the old man is having an affair—and thunderstruck when Ashton is accused of murder. When his father’s mistress is found dead, Dane will do anything to free Ashton. And no detective is more suited to this puzzling case of blackmail, lust, and greed than the singular Ellery Queen.