The Murderer Is a Fox

Davy Fox has returned as a decorated war hero to his hometown of Wrightsville, that bucolic village in upstate New York that so enraptured Ellery Queen on his first visit to [Calamity Town]. What the town doesn't know is that Davy is not the same young man he was when he left. He gets the shakes, has flashbacks to some of his most brutal air battles against the Japanese enemy, and involuntarily fantasizes about killing his beloved wife, Linda. It's a classic case of what we would now call post-traumatic stress disorder, though in 1944 it was simply "a case of nerves."

Exacerbating Davy's condition are the traumatic events of his childhood, when he abruptly (for reasons that are withheld from the reader until much later in the book) went show more to live with his Uncle Talbot Fox and Aunt Emily, adoptive parents of young Linda. Whatever it was that happened to his family when he was 10 years old, it's been eating at him ever since, and the trauma of war has only deepened his distress. He's determined to leave Linda and Wrightsville far behind, since he can't trust himself not to do her harm. But before he can make his escape, Lindy gets him to agree to talk to Ellery Queen, to see if that eminent detective can help him sort out his issues and save their marriage.

Many of the characters from [Calamity Town] are present here, too, though some of them have lamentably brief cameos. The author doesn't spare the town busybodies and ne'er-do-wells from censure, even as he waxes rhapsodic about the gentle pace of small-town life. As Ellery sets about trying to solve the mystery, it seems hopeless, and typically of a Queen case, there's more than one version of the truth ... show less

Davey Fox comes home a war hero to his town and family, but the truth is he is haunted by his father being a convicted murderer. Having been through the hell of war, he thinks that he will also become a murderer and his wife will be his victim.

His wife, Linda, thinks different and contacts Ellery Queen to see if he can prove that Davey's father is really innocent, and the trial wasn't cut and dried as it was treated. It has been twelve years since the trial, and Ellery has to rely on his investigating and old records. Records that aren't easy to access, and secrets that don't want to be revealed.

There is more character description in this book than usual. Davey would be considered to be suffering from PTSD today, but this is in the show more 1940s and treatment is lots of rest. Unfortunately it doesn't help when the person suffers nightmares on a reoccurring basis.

This was a different Ellery Queen that the ones I've read in the past. Ellery did not solve things as easily as before, but had to do quite a bit of thinking and error checking. Interesting read. show less

Clear, perfectly clued, and succinct. One of my favorites of the Wrightville books.

First edition fine