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Rating: 
Summary: Ellery's first three Wrightsville cases
Review: This omnibus edition consists of the first 3 Ellery Queen novels set in Wrightsville, namely, CALAMITY TOWN (1942), THE MURDERER IS A FOX (1945), and TEN DAYS' WONDER (1948). For more detailed discussion of each individual story, consult reviews of the individual books; here I'll be considering them in general terms.
First published in 1948, this omnibus volume at that time covered all the Wrightsville stories, but quite a few more were added to the list in later years, including a number of short stories (consult Listmania for a more complete list of Wrightsville tales).
When referring to "Ellery Queen" in the rest of this review, I'll be referring to the character, rather than to his creators (the team of Fred Dannay and Manfred Lee).
In CALAMITY TOWN, Ellery's on his own; Inspector Queen and the Centre Street team don't appear. Ellery's character has grown out of the annoying dilettante phase of the earliest books, and as a working writer, he's about to begin his next book. Since the book will be set in a small town, city-dwelling Ellery intends to rent a house incognito for six months in none other than Wrightsville, Wright County, New York. Upon hearing the story of "jinxed" Calamity House - built by the Wrights for their middle daughter's marriage, which never took place - he promptly takes the lease, feeling that it would make just as much sense to call Wrightsville Calamity Town. Little did he know where this small town would lead him - or how devastating small town gossip can be.
While CALAMITY TOWN was published in 1942 and would normally have been set in 1941, one of the major events in the story revolves around a New Year's Eve party - so the entire story is very carefully noted to have taken place between August 1940 - May 1941 - anything including December 7, 1941 would have required a re-write of the ending of the book. As it is, Ellery avoids having his identity exposed by draft registration by quietly registering in his native New York City instead.
In THE MURDERER IS A FOX, Davy Fox returns from the China-Burma-India theater with a Medal of Honor, and a bad case of what would now be called post-traumatic stress disorder. But the worst damage was done not when he carried a fellow pilot and close friend across most of southern China only to watch him die, but when his father was convicted of his mother's murder when he was a child. His wife Linda, a friend of one of the Wright sisters, and knowing that Army psychologists haven't been able to help, makes an appointment with Ellery Queen, bringing him to Wrightsville for the second time.
In this second visit to Wrightsville, the recurring cast of characters is deployed in what comes to be typical of Wrightsville stories, but isn't a pattern: Wrightsville, like a real-life small town, changes over time, as prosecutors run for higher office, old friends retire, and businesses close or change. Unfortunately, Emmeline DuPre, the worst of the town's gossips, never changes: a typical sample of her work is that she sent an anonymous packet of clippings to Davy in China, implying that Linda is cheating on him.
Finally, Ellery's third but far from last visit to Wrightsville in TEN DAYS' WONDER begins with Howard Van Horn, the son of one of Wrightsville's new-money families - and hence someone social lioness Hermione Wright didn't introduce Ellery to on his first triumphal progress of Wrightsville. Howard's been having blackouts, and is terrified that he's committed some crime that he can't remember. Or has he committed only *one* crime?
Rating:
Summary: Ellery's first three Wrightsville cases
Review: This omnibus edition consists of the first 3 Ellery Queen novels set in Wrightsville, namely, _Calamity Town_ (1942), _The Murderer Is a Fox_ (1945), and _Ten Days' Wonder_ (1948). For more detailed discussion of each individual story, consult reviews of the individual books; here I'll be considering them in general terms.First published in 1948, this omnibus volume at that time covered all the Wrightsville stories, but quite a few more were added to the list in later years, including a number of short stories (consult Listmania for a more complete list of Wrightsville tales). When referring to "Ellery Queen" in the rest of this review, I'll be referring to the character, rather than to his creators (the team of Fred Dannay and Manfred Lee). In _Calamity Town_, Ellery's on his own; Inspector Queen and the Centre Street team don't appear. Ellery's character has grown out of the annoying dilettante phase of the earliest books, and as a working writer, he's about to begin his next book. Since the book will be set in a small town, city-dwelling Ellery intends to rent a house incognito for six months in none other than Wrightsville, Wright County, New York. Upon hearing the story of "jinxed" Calamity House - built by the Wrights for their middle daughter's marriage, which never took place - he promptly takes the lease, feeling that it would make just as much sense to call Wrightsville Calamity Town. Little did he know where this small town would lead him - or how devastating small town gossip can be. While _Calamity Town_ was published in 1942 and would normally have been set in 1941, one of the major events in the story revolves around a New Year's Eve party - so the entire story is very carefully noted to have taken place between August 1940 - May 1941 - anything including December 7, 1941 would have required a re-write of the ending of the book. As it is, Ellery avoids having his identity exposed by draft registration by quietly registering in his native New York City instead. In _The Murderer Is a Fox_, Davy Fox returns from the China-Burma-India theater with a Medal of Honor, and a bad case of what would now be called post-traumatic stress disorder. But the worst damage was done not when he carried a fellow pilot and close friend across most of southern China only to watch him die, but when his father was convicted of his mother's murder when he was a child. His wife Linda, a friend of one of the Wright sisters, and knowing that Army psychologists haven't been able to help, makes an appointment with Ellery Queen, bringing him to Wrightsville for the second time. In this second visit to Wrightsville, the recurring cast of characters is deployed in what comes to be typical of Wrightsville stories, but isn't a pattern: Wrightsville, like a real-life small town, changes over time, as prosecutors run for higher office, old friends retire, and businesses close or change. Unfortunately, Emmeline DuPre, the worst of the town's gossips, never changes: a typical sample of her work is that she sent an anonymous packet of clippings to Davy in China, implying that Linda is cheating on him. Finally, Ellery's third but far from last visit to Wrightsville in _Ten Days' Wonder_ begins with Howard Van Horn, the son of one of Wrightsville's new-money families - and hence someone social lioness Hermione Wright didn't introduce Ellery to on his first triumphal progress of Wrightsville. Howard's been having blackouts, and is terrified that he's committed some crime that he can't remember. Or has he committed only *one* crime?
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