AND ON THE EIGHTH DAY

Rating:
Summary: A truly strange and compelling mystery!
Review: First, let me explain that I am *NOT* particularly a fan of Ellery Queen. It's of the right generation for the mystery novels I do love best. But, try as I might, I've never really appreciated Queen as a character, and the stories don't intrigue me the way writers like Christie, Rendell or Bramah often do. So why, I've always wondered, did I have such fond memories of this particular novel of Ellery Queen, having read it more than a few years ago. I still had my old (ancient!) copy of it, so one day I took it out...and I found it just as compelling as I remembered! Okay, so I now had a mystery of my own to figure out. Several inquiries and web pages later, I had my answer. This is actually one of two Ellery Queen novels ghost written by none other than Avram Davidson! (The other one, if you're interested, is "The Fourth Side Of The Triangle.") Davidson is much better known for his fanstasy-type short stories...very much in the line of the "weird fantasy" (a genre that hardly exists anymore) published by Arkham House during their first three or four decades of publishing. Consider these quotes: "He was one of the finest short story writers ever to use the English language." "[He] may may have been one of the great short story writers of our times...the equal of, say, Saki and perhaps even John Collier." So, these two novels (if you can find them in print, that is) are more than a little bit of fun. If you're looking for something well worth your time, check them out!

Rating:
Summary: A truly strange and compelling mystery!
Review: First, let me explain that I am *NOT* particularly a fan of Ellery Queen. It's of the right generation for the mystery novels I do love best. But, try as I might, I've never really appreciated Queen as a character, and the stories don't intrigue me the way writers like Christie, Rendell or Bramah often do. So why, I've always wondered, did I have such fond memories of this particular novel of Ellery Queen, having read it more than a few years ago. I still had my old (ancient!) copy of it, so one day I took it out...and I found it just as compelling as I remembered! Okay, so I now had a mystery of my own to figure out. Several inquiries and web pages later, I had my answer. This is actually one of two Ellery Queen novels ghost written by none other than Avram Davidson! (The other one, if you're interested, is "The Fourth Side Of The Triangle.") Davidson is much better known for his fanstasy-type short stories...very much in the line of the "weird fantasy" (a genre that hardly exists anymore) published by Arkham House during their first three or four decades of publishing. Consider these quotes: "He was one of the finest short story writers ever to use the English language." "[He] may may have been one of the great short story writers of our times...the equal of, say, Saki and perhaps even John Collier." So, these two novels (if you can find them in print, that is) are more than a little bit of fun. If you're looking for something well worth your time, check them out!