The French Powder Mystery

Коллекция текстов · detective

Some Persons of Importance Encountered in the Course of the French Investigation
Note: A list of the personalities involved in The French Powder Mystery is here set at the disposition of the reader. He is urged indeed to…
Foreword
Editor's Note: It will be recalled by the readers of Mr. Queen's last detective novel that a foreword appeared therein written by a gentlem…
The French Powder Mystery — 1
The First Episode "Parenthetically speaking ... in numerous cases the sole difference between success and failure in the detection of crime…
The French Powder Mystery — 2
"The Kings Were in the Counting-House" It was eleven o'clock when Inspector Queen left his apartment on West 87th Street in the company of…
The French Powder Mystery — 3 · The French Powder Mystery — 4
The French Powder Mystery — 3 "Humpty-Dumpty Had a Great Fall" French's occupied a square block in the heart of the mid-town section of New…
The French Powder Mystery — 5
"And All the King's Men" The window-door opened quickly and two men stepped in. One, a tall lank individual smoking a blackish cigar, stopp…
The French Powder Mystery — 6
Testimony The Inspector stepped forward. "It will be necessary for every one to wait here," he began sententiously, "while we make some ele…
The French Powder Mystery — 7
The Corpse Inspector Queen moved over to the other side of the room, where the body lay between the bed and the window. Waving aside the de…
The French Powder Mystery — 8
The Watcher The door opened and Sergeant Velie entered, accompanied by a steady-eyed man dressed in black. This newcomer saluted the Inspec…
The French Powder Mystery — 9 (1)
The Watchers The Inspector went quickly to the door and peered over the heads of the seething crowds on the main floor. "MacKenzie! Is MacK…
The French Powder Mystery — 9 (2)
"Nothing else all night?" "No, sir." "All right, that's all for you four men. You may go back home and catch up on your sleep. Be back here…
The French Powder Mystery — 10
Marion "Not much of a problem," said Inspector Queen. "There is no particular reason for expecting to find the key—here. Besides, I can't s…
The French Powder Mystery — 11
Loose Ends "As I understand it, Mr. Lavery, you are responsible for this exhibition of modernistic house-furnishings?" Inspector Queen's vo…
The French Powder Mystery — 12 (1)
Out the Window.... A policeman pushed his way into the room, looked about as if to catch the eye of authority, was summoned peremptorily by…
The French Powder Mystery — 12 (2)
"Why, dad!" Ellery's eyes opened wide in honest astonishment. "What do you mean? If you've any suspicion of poor Wes, disabuse your mind of…
The Second Episode
"As for the word CLUE, we are indebted for its genesis to mythology.... Clue has descended etymologically from CLEW (in common with many ot…
The French Powder Mystery — 13
At the Apartment: The Bedroom Ellery and Westley Weaver picked their way unnoticed through the throngs on the main floor. At the rear of th…
The French Powder Mystery — 14
At the Apartment: The Lavatory "I hardly know what we may expect to find here," said Ellery dubiously, as they stood in the glittering bath…
The French Powder Mystery — 15
At the Apartment: The Cardroom He strode purposefully from the lavatory, marched through the bedroom, entered the library once more. Weaver…
The French Powder Mystery — 16 (1)
At the Apartment: Again the Bedroom Weaver flung open the outer door to admit two women. Sergeant Thomas Velie loomed solidly behind them.…
The French Powder Mystery — 16 (2)
She paused in her work, looked undecidedly at the shoe-bag, then up at the shelf, hesitated, turned to Ellery. "I can't be sure," she said…
The French Powder Mystery — 17
At the Apartment: The Library They sat down, Ellery at the comfortable swivel-chair behind the desk, Weaver in one of the leather-covered c…
The French Powder Mystery — 18
Scrambled Signs Within five minutes the private corridor outside French's sixth floor apartment was crowded with a score of people. Two pol…
The French Powder Mystery — 19 (1)
Opinions and Reports Inspector Queen stood Napoleonically in the center of the library, staring vindictively at the anteroom door. He mutte…
The French Powder Mystery — 19 (2)
"Bernice and Mr. French?" Weaver sighed. "About what you would expect under the circumstances. If the Old Man's anything, he's fair. Almost…
The Third Episode
"Manhunting is by all odds the most thrilling profession in the world. Its thrills ... are in exact proportion to the temperament of the ma…
The French Powder Mystery — 20
Tobacco Cyrus French's house fronted the Hudson River, on lower Riverside Drive. It was old and dusky, set well back from the Drive and sur…
The French Powder Mystery — 21
Keys Again Ellery looked quickly about the garish room and strode over to a large door on the side wall. He opened it and uttered a low exc…
The French Powder Mystery — 22
Books Again The three men stood uncomfortably in old Cyrus French's bedroom. The nurse fluttered about in the hall, a solid door separating…
The French Powder Mystery — 23
Confirmation They found Marion and Weaver sitting glumly in the drawing-room, hands clasped, and suspiciously silent. The Inspector coughed…
The French Powder Mystery — 24 (1)
The Queens Take Stock Dusk was descending on the city when Velie took leave of the Queens outside the French mansion to manipulate the offi…
The French Powder Mystery — 24 (2)
"As a matter of fact, while there is no evidential method whereby we may tell when exactly that lighter felt appeared, there is one corrobo…
The Fourth Episode
"Oriental police set far smaller store by the criminal alibi than do Occidentals.... We know only too well what warped cunning is capable o…
The French Powder Mystery — 25
Ellerius Bibliophilus The hearth of the Queen domicile was housed in one of the West 87th Street's lingering brownstones. That the Queens c…
The French Powder Mystery — 26
The Trail to Bernice The Inspector prowled about the apartment in a fever of restlessness. Ellery completed his toilet in the bedroom and l…
The French Powder Mystery — 27
The Sixth Book Weaver shook hands all round, expressed surprise at the presence of Crouther—who shuffled his feet awkwardly and grinned—rub…
The French Powder Mystery — 28
Unraveling Threads They all looked at Ellery in sudden disquiet. Crouther, his mouth half-open, shut it and began to scratch his head. Weav…
The French Powder Mystery — 29
Raid! The police van, crammed with detectives and officers, rushed through the West Side, headed uptown. Traffic opened magically before it…
The French Powder Mystery — 30
Requiem They stood about in one of the dusty, deserted rooms—an old-fashioned parlor, with the battered remains of a Victorian fireplace mu…
The French Powder Mystery — 31
Alibis: Marion-Zorn Muttering imprecations upon the elusive head of James Springer, the Inspector departed for a flying visit to Headquarte…
The French Powder Mystery — 32 · The French Powder Mystery — 33 · The French Powder Mystery — 34
The French Powder Mystery — 32 Alibis: Marchbanks Marchbanks glowered. He bore himself with the sullenness of a man who nurses a grudge. He…
The French Powder Mystery — 35
Alibis: Gray John Gray folded his gloves neatly, deposited them in his rich black derby, and handed them with a cheerful smile to Djuna. Th…
The French Powder Mystery — 36 · The Last Episode
The French Powder Mystery — 36 "The Time Has Come ..." The Queens had dinner in silence. Djuna served in silence, and in silence cleared th…
The French Powder Mystery — 37
Make Ready! They came in one by one—furtive, curious, impassive, bored, reluctant, openly nervous. Quietly they came in, conscious of the t…
The French Powder Mystery — 38 (1)
The End of All Things It had been Ellery Queen's hand on the knob—a subtly changed young man with drawn features and a sharpened glance tha…
The French Powder Mystery — 38 (2)
"It seemed, then, that Mrs. French and Miss Carmody had both been in the apartment Monday night, that Miss Carmody had smoked her unusual c…
The French Powder Mystery — 38 (3)
"What is the inference? Surely that the caller was not Miss Carmody, but a hireling or accomplice of the murderer, who prompted the call in…
The French Powder Mystery — 38 (4)
"And now," continued Ellery, turning to the disturbed Gallic features of Paul Lavery, "we come to you. Don't be afraid!" he smiled—"you did…