The Spanish Cape Mystery

Summary: Once again Ellery Queen (the authors) twist the plot, settings and characters in order to place Ellery Queen (the detective) at the right spot, at the right time to become semi-officially involved in solving a mystery. The authors have to go to great lengths to provide a setting that is isolated enough to rule out the possibility of random murderer and yet not so isolated that police, the press and various modern facilities are not on hand. The people encountered are either stereotypes or unbelievable as actual human beings (or both.)

For much of the book Ellery Queen (the character) makes speeches or offers explanations whose primary purpose appears to be to muddy rather than clarify the situation. For all the authors' attempts show more to make this a brain puzzler if one simply ignores Queen's verbal obfuscations the identity of the murderer is obvious.

[Note the first: Ellery Queen, the authors, do not strictly play fair with the reader. It is that lack of fair play that delays the reader from immediately recognizing the actual culprit.]

[Note the second: In addition to the usual racist and misogynist language and behaviour one comes upon in these early Ellery Queen novels this book includes scenes of psychical, emotional and verbal spousal abuse as well as fat-shaming and "lookism" that is extreme even for Queen novels of this period.]

In short: Since this is not one of the better-written of the early Queens, not a good brain-teaser, doesn't play fair with the reader and is full of language and behaviour that is disturbing this reader does not recommend the book to anyone who isn't a Queen afficiando/completist and/or a student of popular culture/mysteries of the 1930s.

Additional Trigger Warning: Chapter Twelve includes a disturbing description of a man verbally and physically assaulting his wife. Although Queen and the other men covertly observing this initially do not intervene because they are able to learn information that will assist them in solving the murder mystery they do nothing, after they have gained that information, to assist the woman and do nothing, even after the husband has left the scene, to render aid to her. The last we see of her she is sitting physically bruised and emotionally battered and the reader is left with no illusions that male observers feel more sympathy for the cuckolded husband than the battered woman.

To read the rest (spoilers included) go to: http://mmycomments.blogspot.com/2011/08/book-review-spanish-cape-mystery.html show less

Ellery Queen has been invited by a retired judge friend to stay at a cottage at Spanish Cape. They arrive to find Rosa Godfrey, a beautiful young woman from a wealthy family, tied up and injured. Rosa and her uncle had been kidnapped earlier in the evening, her uncle having been mistaken for Rosa's disreputable suitor, John Marco. When Rosa is fit to travel, Ellery and the judge return her to her home to the news that John Marco has been murdered. Ellery and the judge assist the local police in the investigation of the murder. The suspects are limited to the residents and guests in the Godfrey home.

This mystery has elements of both country house and locked room variations popular in the Golden Age. I probably would have enjoyed it more show more in print. My mental image of Ellery Queen is largely influenced by Jim Hutton's portrayal of him in the 1970s TV series. When the book describes Ellery as speaking cheerfully, I imagine Jim Hutton's breezy characterization. The audio reader doesn't sound anything like Jim Hutton. His Ellery sounds like a supercilious snob. I think Jim Hutton's portrayal was likely closer to what the author intended. show less

Ellery Queen books are quite inconsistent. They're a mixed bag. The more difficult is it to solve the crime on your own, the worse the book is. This I've gleaned from experience in reading the blighters. As for this particular book, there was too much melodrama and not enough drama. Concretely, too much eavesdropping was going on to facilitate the solution of the case. Ellery Queen had to find out a lot of the mystery by a too well informed butler. There was a single murder, and by the time the mystery hummed and hawed, I was losing interest.

Reviewed July 2005

Quick read, and entertaining, this Queen book held me until the end. I knew who the murderer in the first chapter when Rose and her uncle were kidnapped AND I hardly changed my mind at all. But the nude corpse was really a stumper. I hung on trying to figure that out out till the very end when Ellery told us how it was done. The evidence of the tides was confusing to me and I really wish they had included a sketch of the murder site to help me. I am a bit annoyed with the way women’3 personalities are given, mostly in this book the women were helpless dupes needing a strong man to solve their problems for them. Rosa is a helpless girl who can’t swim or type. Her hands and fingers are delicate though lack of work. show more The character of Mrs. Laura Constable who is described as, “fat, frenetic and forty” is probably the saddest of all. She blubbers crying gall the time, terrified and nervous. No one says anything nice, but she is described over and over of being fat. when she kills herself in the end only a little sympathy is given her. When her two young crying children come to claim her body, my heart went out to them. But no one else’s seemed to.

12-2005 show less

One of Ellery Queen's earlier books, it has a bit more detail to it and provides a solid read. There are red herrings to pull you off track, yet the clues are all there. This adventure finds Ellery on vacation and in the company of Judge Macklin heading for the coast for a bit. This is one story that doesn't include Inspector Queen.
The cast of characters is colourful and there is logic galore in the analysis of the clues.

An American Mystery Classic—Hadn’t read Ellery Queen before but I thoroughly enjoyed. I did guess the murderer but didn’t really have all the clues identified.

Another great mystery by EQ.