The 9-word clue was one of 9 cryptic notes that had been sent to taunt Inspector Queen and Ellery 9 days after the murder. Killers, of course, had challenged the master crime solver before. But none so cleverly. 9-fingered millionaire Nino Importuna has been obsessed with the number. ...

John Vallancourt, the cool, calm diplomat, was worried stiff. A dear friend was dead and his daughter Nancy was missing. John feared the worst and the worst was Nancy's sweetheart Keith Rollins. Keith was the prime suspect in the case and was running scared, dragging Nancy into danger ...

"Lila was shameless," Mae Walters said to Lieutenant Masters. "I'm surprised someone didn't kill her long ago." "Now, Mae," Stanley Walters said, "you needn't make Lila out to be worse than she was." "Yes, darling," said Vera Richmond, "you mustn't exaggerate. All Lila did was to ...

There were three deaths before ELLERY QUEEN was called in on the case . . . 1 Luke MacCaby—A "heart-attack" killed Wrightsville's Town Hermit and revealed that he had left a fortune of $4,000,000! 2 John Spencer Hart, The Wealthiest Man in Town, committed "suicide" and was discovered ...

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Kurt Gresham smiled again. "You were the sucker. You were the patsy in the middle. The expendable man. And they couldn't wait." "What?" Harry asked blinking. "What did you say?" "Don't you know? You mean you still don't see it?" "See what?" "That you'd been framed by my wife and her ...

"Your wife's a little late isn't she, Dave? She usually goes on these business trips with you, Dave. Why didn't she go this time?" "You'd better stop making like a detective, Julian, and tell me what this is all about. In words of one syllable." Julian Smith reached into a pocket ...

"Come on, baby. This has to look real," Casey said. "Relax." Immediately Sally's body went stiff. "Do I have to?" "You've got to. Now loosen up, get into the spirit of the thing before—" She slid her arms around his neck. Suddenly they were kissing wildly, clinging to each other ...

20,000 roaring voices stilled when Buck Horne, greatest cowboy of them all, rode into the great arena of New York's Coliseum. Forty-one brightly dressed hoesemen rode in behind him. At a signal from Horne, forty-one hands drew forty-one guns and a crashing volley of smoke and flame ...

Buck Horne was shot down in front of 20,000 fans awaiting his comeback in the world's largest rodeo. Ellery Queen was in the aucience. But after a month of investigation the brilliant detective was as baffled as everyone else. There was no motive and no murder weapon. So the rodeo ...