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. Nino Importuna had been obsessed with the number. He had lived by it. Now the killer who brought a trio of gory deaths to Nino's 9th-floor penthouse at No. 99 East was camouflaging his identity in a jungle of 9s. And daring Ellery to find him. The case was destined to be a dazzling contest of wits-to the 9th degree!
Who are you, Malone? Just a little while ago you were a cop. That was before the two punks and their girl hit town. That was before they boosted a payroll and shot down a man and took your 9-year-old daughter as insurance to cover their getaway. Now you're just a man. Scared. Not for yourself-that would be easy. But for your child, the only thing in the world you love enough to make you play ball with the kind of scum you've hated all your life.
"Zufall?" Ellery seufzte. "W?rden Sie es auch als Zufall bezeichnen, wenn ich Ihnen erz?hlte, da? vor einem halben Jahr in West Virginia ein Mord ver?bt worden ist, zu dessen Besonderheiten die Kreuzigung des zuvor enthaupteten Opfers an einem Tf?rmigen Wegweiser z?hlte, der widerum an eine T-f?rmigen Kreuzung stand. Nicht zu vergessen das T, das der M?rder mit dem Blut des Toten an die T?r seines kaum hundert Meter entfernten Hauses geschmiert hat?" Ellery Queen ist das gemeinsame Pseudonym von Frederic Danney (1905 - 1982) und Manfred Bennington Lee (1905 - 1971), die zu den einflussreichsten und produktivsten Kriminalromanautoren geh?ren. Die der ?bersetzung zugrundeliegende amerikanische Originalausgabe erschien 1932 unter dem Titel »The Egyptian Cross Mystery« bei Frederick A. Stokes, New York.
`Heredera que huye, padre implacable, madre angustiada, novio en un aprieto. ?Qu? m?s se puede pedir para empezar?`. Pues a?n hay m?s: una escritora empe?ada en contar una buena historia, un hombre dedicado a la adoraci?n del cuerpo, a quien le diagnotican un c?ncer, quiz?s, un impostor, un cad?ver fugitivo y un detective kantiano de los que piensan que la raz?n pura es el bien esencial para descubrir las trampas de este ca?tico mundo.
Ellery Queen y su padre deben poner todo su ingenio a trabajar para resolver un caso en el que todo parece duplicado: los muertos, los hermanos, las claves, las soluciones y quiz? incluso los culpables. Pero no hay nada que se resista a la sagacidad e imaginaci?n de los Queen.
Ellery Queen, il famoso giallista-detective, decide di trasferirsi nella pacifica cittadina di Wrightsville in cerca di tranquillit? e colore locale per il suo prossimo romanzo; il posto sembra ideale, quieto fino alla noia, e gli abitanti sono una splendida fonte di ispirazione, con i loro tic e i piccoli vizi da provincia americana. Ellery passa il tempo leggendo e passeggiando, ma ama anche ascoltare le chiacchiere dei cittadini del piccolo centro. I pettegolezzi pi? gustosi ruotano intorno al matrimonio, improvviso quanto imprevedibile, tra la ricca Nora Wright e Jim, il giovane che anni prima l’aveva abbandonata a due ...
