The Roman Hat Mystery

Коллекция текстов · detective

Forward
I have been asked by both publisher and author to write a cursory preface to the story of Monte Field’s murder. Let me say at once that I a…
Lexicon of Persons Connected with the Investigation
Lexicon of Persons Connected with the Investigation Note: The complete list of individuals, male and female, brought into the story of Mont…
Chapter I in Which Are Introduced a Theatre-Audience and a Corpse
Part One “The policeman must oft follow the precept of the ‘bakadori’—those fool-birds who, though they know disaster awaits them at the ha…
Chapter II in Which One Queen Works and Another Queen Watches (1)
There was nothing remarkable in either the physique or the manner of Inspector Richard Queen. He was a small, withered, rather mild-appeari…
Chapter II in Which One Queen Works and Another Queen Watches (2)
“Velie,” said Queen, in a businesslike tone, “suppose you find Ritter and Hesse and—no, those two will do—for me, will you?” Velie walked a…
Chapter III in Which a “Parson” Comes to Grief (1)
There was a silence as the four men regarded each other with a dawning conviction. Panzer shuffled his feet and coughed nervously; Velie’s…
Chapter III in Which a “Parson” Comes to Grief (2)
The man took a moment before replying. Then he said slowly, but with conviction, “No, sir. Nobody went out of the theatre. Nobody, I mean,…
Chapter IV in Which Many Are Called and Two Are Chosen
Some natures, through peculiar weakness, cannot endure the sight of a whining man. Of all the silent, threatening group ringed about the ab…
Chapter V in Which Inspector Queen Conducts Some Legal Conversations (1)
Queen made his way across the broad red carpet covering the rear of the orchestra, his hat pulled down over his eyes. He was searching the…
Chapter V in Which Inspector Queen Conducts Some Legal Conversations (2)
“But—but, man! Monte Field.... Oh, my God!” And he threw back his head and laughed—a wild humor that made Queen sit up alertly. The spasm c…
Chapter VI in Which the District Attorney Turns Biographer
Inspector Richard Queen was a peculiar man. Small and wiry, thatched with grey and wrinkled in fine lines of experience, he might have been…
Chapter VII — The Queens Take Stock
“Let’s see where we stand,” continued Ellery without pausing. “Let’s consider this thing in its most elementary light. “These, roughly, are…
Part Two
“....To illustrate: Once young Jean C—— came to me after a month of diligent investigation on a difficult assignment. He wore a forlorn exp…
Chapter VIII in Which the Queens Meet Mr. Field’s Very Best Friend (1)
The Queens’ apartment on West 87th Street was a man’s domicile from the pipe-rack over the hearth to the shining sabres on the wall. They l…
Chapter VIII in Which the Queens Meet Mr. Field’s Very Best Friend (2)
She turned in surprise at the new voice. They measured each other carefully, and something like warmth crept into her eyes. “I don’t know w…
Chapter IX in Which the Mysterious Mr. Michaels Appears
The intruder rose awkwardly to his feet. He was a tall, ponderous man with solemn features and blank eyes. There was nothing distinguished…
Chapter X in Which Mr. Field’s Tophats Begin to Assume Proportions
It was exactly ten o’clock in the morning when Inspector Queen and his son opened the frosted glass door marked: MONTE FIELD ATTORNEY-AT-LA…
Chapter XI in Which the Past Casts a Shadow
The telephone bell tinkled. “Q? Sampson speaking,” came the District Attorney’s voice over the wire. “Good morning, Henry,” said Queen. “Wh…
Chapter XII in Which the Queens Invade Society (1)
Wednesday morning found Djuna pouring the coffee before a bemused Inspector and a chattering Ellery. The telephone bell rang. Both Ellery a…
Chapter XII in Which the Queens Invade Society (2)
“I stepped out into the alley,” she resumed, less nervously, “and, not seeing any one I knew, stood close to the brick wall of the theatre,…
Chapter XIII — Queen to Queen (1)
Djuna had just cleared the table of the dinner-dishes and was serving coffee to the two Queens at six-thirty that evening when the outer do…
Chapter XIII — Queen to Queen (2)
“Look at it this way,” said Ellery. “Here we find a man dead who has written on his program the number ‘50,000,’ obviously referring to dol…
Part Three
“A good detective is born, not made. Like all genius, he springs not from a carefully nurtured polizei but from all mankind. The most amazi…
Chapter XIV in Which the Hat Grows (1)
On Thursday, September 27th, the third morning after the events of the crime in the Roman Theatre, Inspector Queen and Ellery rose at an ea…
Chapter XIV in Which the Hat Grows (2)
“Exactly,” murmured the Inspector severely. “We insist upon it, Panzer.” The manager had bobbed out of his chair, his face shining. “That’s…
Chapter XV in Which an Accusation Is Made
Detective Hagstrom was a phlegmatic man. He traced his ancestry to the mountains of Norway, where stolidity was a virtue and stoicism the u…
Chapter XVI in Which the Queens Go to the Theatre (1)
Ellery and his father regarded each other across the length of the little office. Velie had resumed his seat with a puzzled frown. He sat q…
Chapter XVI in Which the Queens Go to the Theatre (2)
The second act exploded into being. The audience swayed and gasped in the approved fashion while the dramatic fireworks were shot off on th…
Chapter XVII in Which More Hats Grow (1)
“Sit down, Tim—have a cup of coffee?” Timothy Cronin, a keen-eyed man of medium height thatched plentifully with fire-red hair, seated hims…
Chapter XVII in Which More Hats Grow (2)
“Nothing in the desk,” he announced wearily. “I doubt if that clever limb of Satan would have selected anything as obvious as a desk for a…
Chapter XVIII — Stalemate
At Friday noon, while Inspector Queen, Ellery and Timothy Cronin were deep in their search of Monte Field’s rooms, Sergeant Velie, sombre a…
Interlude in Which the Reader’s Attention Is Respectfully Requested
Interlude in Which the Reader’s Attention Is Respectfully Requested The current vogue in detective literature is all for the practice of pl…
Chapter XIX in Which Inspector Queen Conducts More Legal Conversations
It was notable, particularly to District Attorney Sampson, that on Saturday evening Inspector Richard Queen was far from being himself. The…
Chapter XX in Which Mr. Michaels Writes a Letter
For the first time in a week Inspector Queen was genuinely himself as he strode cheerfully into his tiny office at the headquarters buildin…
Chapter XXI in Which Inspector Queen Makes a Capture—
On Tuesday evening, October second, promptly at 11:30 p.m., a tall man wearing a soft black hat and a black overcoat, the collar pulled up…
Chapter XXII — —And Explains (1)
Inspector Queen sat at the writing-desk in his living-room scribbling industriously on a long narrow sheet of note-paper headed THE QUEENS.…
Chapter XXII — —And Explains (2)
“Let me get back to Ellery again—my favorite subject,” continued the Inspector, with one of his recurrent dry chuckles. “Aside from these d…
Chapter XXII — —And Explains (3)
The Inspector shifted restlessly. “This makes clear, I hope, just how Barry did the job. As for our investigation.... With the hat-deductio…