Podcast appearances and mentions of Manfred B Lee

This story by two American cousins, Frederic Dannay and Manfred B. Lee, writing under the name Ellery Queen, is a classic of Golden Age American detective fiction, narrated for us by the accomplished Brendan Sullivan with his classic smooth voice! I hope you enjoy the story and enjoy Brendan's narration. Tony Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ellery Queen is a pseudonym created in 1928 by the American detective fiction writers Frederic Dannay and Manfred Bennington Lee. It is also the name of their main fictional detective, a mystery writer in New York City who helps his police inspector father solve baffling murder cases. From 1929 to 1971, Dannay and Lee wrote around forty novels and short story collections featuring Ellery Queen as a character. "The Adventure of the Emperor's Dice" was originally written as a script for the Ellery Queen radio drama series and aired on March 31, 1940. It was then adapted into short story form by Frederic Dannay and Manfred B. Lee, the two cousins who wrote under the pseudonym Ellery Queen. The short story version was first published in the April 1951 issue of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. It was included later that year as one of the stories in the anthology collection Calendar of Crime, published by Little, Brown and Company, as part of their year-long series of monthly murder mysteries. In both its radio play and short story iterations, "The Adventure of the Emperor's Dice" featured the character Ellery Queen, his father Inspector Richard Queen, and secretary Nikki Porter investigating a baffling murder case involving an inherited set of ancient dice. In the late 1920s when Dannay and Lee first created the Ellery Queen character and stories, the detective fiction genre was still heavily influenced by the "Golden Age" embodied by writers like Agatha Christie and the clue-puzzle mysteries popularized in the 1920s. The Ellery Queen mysteries represented an American take on this tradition, with intricate plots and a focus on following clues and deductive reasoning. However, by the 1940s when "The Emperor's Dice" first aired as a radio play, the genre was starting to evolve with the rise of hardboiled detective fiction spearheaded by writers like Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler. Their pioneering work injected more gritty realism into crime stories. "The Emperor's Dice" straddled these two eras. While adhering to the classic clue-puzzle format the Queen stories were known for, it also incorporated more modern elements like an atmospheric opening scene, hints of psychologically damaged characters, and flashes of noir-esque descriptions. When it was published in print form in 1951's Calendar of Crime anthology, detective fiction was further evolving with writers like John D. MacDonald blending elements of the traditional and hardboiled styles. "The Emperor's Dice" can be seen as an important transitional work that helped evolve the American detective novel from its golden age into a more modern psychological suspense style. With its deft blending of puzzle-solving and mood, clever plotting and character insights, "The Emperor's Dice" exemplified how Dannay and Lee masterfully kept the Ellery Queen stories vital and distinctive even as the genre changed around them. It remains an influential and important work in the development of American mystery writing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

EQMM was brought into the world by two writers who collaborated on nearly every piece of fiction they wrote, Frederic Dannay and Manfred B. Lee. This month we feature a story by two writers who have collaborated with each other several times, most recently on a story for EQMM. Michael Bracken is the author of well over a thousand published short stories and he's a recipient of the Edward D. Hoch Memorial Golden Derringer Award for Lifetime Achievement, among other honors. Sandra Murphy is a Derringer Award winner who has had a collection of stories published by Untreed Reads. She is the reader for this recording of “Sit. Stay. Die.” by Michael Bracken and Sandra Murphy, first published in the July/August 2022 issue of EQMM. http://www.crimefictionwriter.com

A classic from EQMM's founding editors, Frederic Dannay and Manfred B. Lee (writing as Ellery Queen), is read for listeners in this episode of our podcast series by EQMM managing editor Jackie Sherbow. Don't miss the chance to solve this classical puzzle mystery yourself in Ellery Queen's hallmark Challenge to the Reader.https://www.elleryqueenmysterymagazine.com/https://www.purple-planet.com/

As part of EQMM's 80th anniversary celebration, we offer a podcast this month featuring some of the characters from the Ellery Queen novels and stories, written by Frederic Danny and Manfred B. Lee (EQMM's founders). Dale C. Andrews is a longtime, devoted Ellery Queen fan and he's written several Ellery Queen pastiches for EQMM. Here he is reading the most recent of them, “Four Words,” from the September/October 2020 issue of EQMM.https://www.purple-planet.com

“Edgar Allan Poe sostenía que todo cuento debe escribirse para el último párrafo o acaso para la última línea; esta exigencia puede ser una exageración, pero es la exageración o simplificación de un hecho indudable. Quiere decir que un prefijado desenlace debe ordenar las vicisitudes de la fábula. Ya que el lector de nuestro tiempo es también un crítico, un hombre que conoce y prevé los artificios literarios, el cuento deberá constar de dos argumentos: uno falso, que vagamente se indica, y otro, el auténtico, que se mantendrá secreto hasta el fin”. -Jorge Luis Borges- Como hemos visto en el anterior programa, el relato de aventuras policíacas, ligado todavía a la novela popular, es la forma predominante del género policial hasta los años veinte, salvo en los casos ya reseñados de Freeman y Chesterton. Pero en esos años se produce un cambio radical en este tipo de relatos con la aparición de la “novela problema” o “novela enigma”, que cultivarán talentos literarios tan destacados como Agatha Christie y Ellery Queen. En esa época la novela policíaca se aburguesa: autores, personajes y lectores pertenecen cada vez más a esa clase social, y los delitos y sus móviles se amoldan a este nuevo público. Las literaturas anglosajonas, por otro lado, se apropian del género, destacando especialmente los autores norteamericanos. En general, los escritores de este periodo, además de criticar las obras del pasado por sus imperfecciones formales, imponen reglas destinadas a potenciar el juego limpio (fair play) entre autor y lector, para que este último y el investigador cuenten con la misma información. El detective deducirá conclusiones lógicas e inevitables de las pistas que van apareciendo a lo largo del relato. El crimen será forzosamente un asesinato, y el criminal, una persona de clase social elevada, al igual que el resto de los sospechosos. Los móviles del asesino, siempre personales y racionales, excluirán a los profesionales del crimen, a los criados y a los propios detectives. La investigación policíaca se convierte, en virtud de estas normas, en el centro de gravedad de la historia. Se recomienda la unidad de la trama y la limitación del marco espacial. Temáticamente, los autores inciden en el problema del recinto cerrado o se decantan por el concepto del crimen perfecto. Junto a los detectives privados y a los simples aficionados, aparecen los policías profesionales, que actúan guiados por el principio de que “el criminal nunca gana”. Lo que más cambia en la tipología del detective es su aspecto físico. A finales de los años veinte, en conclusión, quedaron establecidos los límites dentro de los cuales deberían operar los escritores de historias detectivescas. Las tiradas de literatura policíaca, en esta época, superaron ampliamente las de cualquier tipo de literatura popular. Y de esta popularidad gozó durante toda su vida la prolífica Agatha Christie (1.891-1,976), que sintetiza los rasgos paradigmáticos de la novela problema. La idea de escribir una novela policíaca se le ocurrió durante la 1ª Guerra Mundial cuando ejercía de enfermera voluntaria en un dispensario, en cuyo laboratorio había toda clase de venenos. Tal vez por ello, en su primera novela, “El misterioso caso de Styles” de 1.920, el propietario de un viejo caserón en Essex es envenenado con estricnina. Pese a que esta obra pasó prácticamente desapercibida, Agatha Christie alcanzaría pronto el éxito con “El asesinato de Rogelio Ackroyd” de 1.926, uno de los clásicos del género, gracias al original planteamiento de estar narrado por el asesino. El misterio es, naturalmente, desentrañado por Hércules Poirot, un orondo y minucioso detective belga que habla con marcado acento extranjero y que está dotado, según la autora, de miles de pequeñas células grises, verdaderos engranajes de su prodigiosa e infalible inteligencia. Poirot descubre en el lugar del crimen los indicios que pueden conducirle al culpable. El interrogatorio de los testigos y sospechosos completa su método para resolver el misterio. A mediados de los años veinte, gran número de escritores norteamericanos se sentirían atraídos por la novela enigma, si bien alcanzarán resultados diferentes de los conseguidos por los ingleses, ya que el marco en el que se desarrollan sus historias es muy distinto: mientras que los novelistas británicos sientes predilección por las mansiones aristocráticas de su campiña y los personajes de clase social elevada, los norteamericanos van a preferir las bulliciosas ciudades, la diversidad racial y la dispar educación de las gentes. Frente al estatismo de la novela inglesa, la acción y el movimiento van a ser los ingredientes habituales de la americana. Curiosamente, el primero en romper el fuego no es un detective americano sino chino, el sargento de policía de Homolulú Charlie Chan, con “La casa sin llaves” de 1.925, debido a la pluma de Earl Derr Biggers, (1.884-1.933). El impacto popular de Charlie Chan se debió a un conjunto de circunstancias: sus originales métodos deductivos, su peculiar lenguaje y su agitada vida como padre de doce hijos. Un año más tarde aparece Philo Vance. Su autor, S.S. Van Dine, seudónimo del crítico de arte Willard Huntington Wright (1.888-1.939), lo ideó como a un verdadero superhombre: casi metro ochenta de estatura, extraordinario deportista, aristócrata, inmensamente rico, elegante y una verdadera enciclopedia de conocimientos. Este pedante esteta, que vive en las dos últimas plantas de un edificio de Nueva York, elabora sus teorías con manifiesto desprecio de las pruebas materiales, que sólo sirven para confirmar sus conclusiones. Al disociar el problema de la realidad, el relato entendido como un rompecabezas llega a su máxima expresión. El éxito obtenido por estos maestros y la enorme demanda de este género provoca la aparición de colecciones y editores consagrados a la literatura criminal y, en consecuencia, la floración de una pléyade de novelistas policíacos procedentes, fundamentalmente, del periodismo. Este es el caso del humorista Anthony Berkeley Cox (1.893-1.970), que hacia 1.925 comenzó a escribir novelas policíacas. A esta inesperada afición debemos el infalible detective Roger Sheringham, que alcanza su mayor resonancia popular en 1.929 con “El caso de los bombones envenenados”. Berkeley Cox, que urde enigmas muy originales, parte del supuesto de Freeman según el cual, para planear un crimen, el asesino debe ser de una inteligencia superior, diestro en falsear las apariencias, y sus motivos simples y poco numerosos. Francis Iles, seudónimo que empleó este autor, es considerado un renovador del género porque, aunque en su primera novela el detective acapara todo el protagonismo, este es desplazado en obras posteriores al asesino, y, finalmente, a la propia víctima, que lo es sólo porque “sospecha” que lo es. A Anthony Berkeley Cox debemos también la fundación en Londres del “Detection Club” en 1.928, asociación que promovió unas reglas generales sobre la novela policíaca….que sus miembros incumplían. Su primer presidente fue nada menos que Chesterton, y una de sus figuras más significativas fue su secretario, Dickson Carr. El escritor norteamericano John Dickson Carr (1.906-1.977), uno de los pocos que durante la revolución del “hard-boiled” permaneció fiel al enigma clásico de estirpe inglesa, se especializó, después de trasladarse a Inglaterra, en novelas problema centradas en crímenes cuyo escenario es una habitación cerrada (uno de los máximos desafíos de la novela de enigma), resueltos con lógica impecable. El propio autor ha teorizado sobre las posibles soluciones de este problema. La novela criminal clásica alcanza su plenitud con la aparición en 1.929 de Ellery Queen, seudónimo de los primos hermanos Manfred B. Lee y Frederic Dannay, americanos como Dickson Carr. El seudónimo empleado por los autores es, al mismo tiempo, el nombre del investigador aficionado protagonista de la aventura. Con este artificio se eliminan las fronteras entre realidad y ficción, entre escritor y detective. Su personaje Ellery Queen, joven autor de novelas policíacas de cierta notoriedad, atlético e intelectual, vive con su padre, el inspector Richard Queen, al que ayuda en la resolución de los casos. Así, Ellery y Richard representan los dos aspectos básicos de la investigación: mientras el padre recoge indicios, el hijo los interpreta. En sus primeras novelas el autor introdujo el llamado “desafío al lector” al preguntarle, en un momento dado, si ya sabe quién es el asesino. Este desafío es el resultado de llevar el juego limpio a sus últimas consecuencias, ya que los autores alardean de haber proporcionado al lector todos los indicios y pistas que posee el detective para solucionar el enigma. La larga duración del personaje, más de cuarenta años, permite observar una evolución tanto en su carácter y personalidad como en el estilo de sus aventuras, que en los últimos años se decantará hacia el realismo crítico algo costumbrista. Otros héroes populares que siguieron la estela de Ellery Queen fueron el abogado Perry Mason, creado por Erle Stanley Gardner (1.889-1.970), y el voluminoso Nero Wolfe de Rex Stout (1.886-1.975, el detective más gordo de la historia, con unos 140 kilos de peso, un verdadero gourmet que no sale apenas de casa, donde cultiva rarísimas orquídeas. La moda de la novela policíaca, que no había dejado de acrecentarse en Francia desde los tiempos de la 1ª Guerra Mundial, llegó en ese país a su máximo grado de expresión en los años treinta con Georges Simenon (1.903-1.986), fecundo autor que escribió más de cuatrocientas novelas, cerca de mil relatos y una quincena de libros autobiográficos y que permaneció al margen de tendencias y modas. Debe su enorme popularidad (se calcula que ha tenido más de cuatrocientos millones de lectores) a la creación del comisario Maigret. Este miembro de la policía judicial, seguro de si mismo, imperturbable y educado, con cierto aire de campesino, es un hombre de más de cuarenta años, extraordinariamente humano, que conserva la curiosidad por las personas y las cosas. La pipa, el abrigo o la gabardina y el sombrero forman parte de la indumentaria que lo ha hecho célebre. Maigret trata de empaparse de la atmósfera, del ambiente que rodea el crimen. Resolver el enigma consiste, de este modo, más que en la acumulación de indicios, en comprender la crisis psicológica que trastorna al asesino en el momento del crimen. Esta perspectiva permite a Simenon trazar una pintura de escenarios grises y mediocres (calles, tiendas, hoteles, cafés… por los que Maigret deambula) y personajes patéticos cuyo drama conmueve profundamente al lector.

Ellery Queen Master Detective - On radio, The Adventures of Ellery Queen was heard on all three networks from 1939 to 1948. During the 1970s, syndicated radio fillers, Ellery Queen's Minute Mysteries, began with an announcer saying, "This is Ellery Queen..." and contained a short one-minute case. The radio station encouraged callers to solve the mystery and win a sponsor's prize. Once a winner was found, the solution was broadcast as confirmation. A complete episode guide and history of this radio program can be found in the book "The Sound of Detection: Ellery Queen's Adventures in Radio" from OTR Publishing, 2002.THIS EPISODE:November 6, 1943. NBC network. "The Adventure Of The Vanishing Magician". Sponsored by: Bromo Seltzer. A has-been vaudevillian promises to disappear from a house to win a $25,000 bet. A good wartime mystery! This is the East Coast broadcast. The West Coast broadcast took place on November 4, 1943. The script was previously used on "Ellery Queen" on September 15, 1940. Sydney Smith, Helen Lewis, Santos Ortega, Ted de Corsia, Charles Paul (organ), Edward Pawley ("Guest Armchair Detective," star of "Big Town"), S. Bigman ("Guest Armchair Detective," editor of "Time" magazine), Ernest Chappell (announcer), Frederic Dannay (writer), Manfred B. Lee (writer), Bruce Kamman (producer, director). 29:04.

The Adventures Of Ellery Queen - Tuska cited Ellery Queen, Master Detective (1940) and Ellery Queen's Penthouse Mystery (1941) as the best of the Bellamy-Lindsay pairings. "The influence of The Thin Man series was apparent in reverse", Tuska noted about Ellery Queen's Penthouse Mystery. "Ellery and Nikki are unmarried but obviously in love with each other. Probably the biggest mystery... is how Ellery ever gets a book written. Not only is Nikki attractive and perfectly willing to show off her figure", Tuska wrote, "but she also likes to write her own stories on Queen's time, and gets carried away doing her own investigations." In Ellery Queen, Master Detective, "the amorous relationship between Ellery and Nikki Porter was given a dignity, and therefore integrity", Tuska wrote, "that was lacking in the two previous entries in the series", made at Republic Pictures before Bellamy and Lindsay were signed by Columbia. THIS EPISODE: January 7, 1943. NBC network. "The Adventure Of The Singing Rat". Sponsored by: Bromo Seltzer. Racketeer Musso has been set up by a stool pigeon. A hollow cigarette holds the secret of murder. This is the West Coast broadcast, the East cast broadcast took place on January 9, 1943. The system cue has been deleted. Carleton Young, Marian Shockley, Santos Ortega, Ted de Corsia, Ann Corio (guest armchair detective), Alfred McKelvey ("a prominent Eastern manufacturer" second guest armchair detective), Ernest Chappell (announcer), Frederic Dannay (writer), Manfred B. Lee (writer), Bruce Kamman (producer, director), Charles Paul (organ). 29:30.

The Adventures Of Ellery Queen - Tuska cited Ellery Queen, Master Detective (1940) and Ellery Queen's Penthouse Mystery (1941) as the best of the Bellamy-Lindsay pairings. "The influence of The Thin Man series was apparent in reverse", Tuska noted about Ellery Queen's Penthouse Mystery. "Ellery and Nikki are unmarried but obviously in love with each other. Probably the biggest mystery... is how Ellery ever gets a book written. Not only is Nikki attractive and perfectly willing to show off her figure", Tuska wrote, "but she also likes to write her own stories on Queen's time, and gets carried away doing her own investigations." In Ellery Queen, Master Detective, "the amorous relationship between Ellery and Nikki Porter was given a dignity, and therefore integrity", Tuska wrote, "that was lacking in the two previous entries in the series", made at Republic Pictures before Bellamy and Lindsay were signed by Columbia. On radio, The Adventures of Ellery Queen was heard on all three networks from 1939 to 1948. During the 1970s, syndicated radio fillers, Ellery Queen's Minute Mysteries, began with an announcer saying, "This is Ellery Queen..." and contained a short one-minute case. The radio station encouraged callers to solve the mystery and win a sponsor's prize. Once a winner was found, the solution was broadcast as confirmation. TODAY'S SHOW: March 28, 1943. NBC network. "The Adventure Of The Circus Train". Sponsored by: Bromo Seltzer. The owner of a circus is killed, three $10,000 bills have been removed from the body! The "Guest Armchair Detective" sequence has been deleted, the mystery is complete. The West Coast broadcast has been researched as being on March 25, 1943, the East Coast broadcast on March 27, 1943. Carleton Young, Marian Shockley, Santos Ortega, Ted de Corsia, Bruce Kamman (producer, director), Charles Paul (organ), Ernest Chappell (announcer), Frederic Dannay (writer), Manfred B. Lee (writer). 28:47. September 7, 1947. NBC network origination, AFRS rebroadcast. "Number Thirty-One". A murdered butler provides the clue Ellery needs to convict Mr. Arkaris of diamond smuggling. AFRS program name: "Mystery Theatre." Don Hancock (announcer), Lawrence Dobkin, Chet Kingsbury (organist), Charlotte Keane, Bill Smith, Ed Latimer, Tom Everitt (writer), Manfred B. Lee (writer), Tom Victor (producer, director). 24:36.

The Ford Theatre. January 4, 1948. NBC net. "The Adventures Of A Bad Boy". Sponsored by: Ford. A fine murder mystery, deduced and solved by Ellery Queen. A good radio production; Ellery picks the killer like a rabbit out of a magician's hat...almost literally! Guy Wallace, Kenneth Banghart (announcer), Charlotte Keane, Brad Barker, Jane Houston, Walter Vaughn, Harold Dryanforth, Avril Harris, Frederic Dannay (writer, as "Ellery Queen"), Manfred B. Lee (writer, as "Ellery Queen"), Santos Ortega, Ted de Corsia, Sarah Fussell, Hugh Marlowe, Anne Seymour, John Gibson.

The FORD THEATER, sponsored by the Ford Motor Company, presented hour long dramas first on NBC for one only season. The series moved to CBS for its second and last season. There were 39 NBC and 39 CBS hour- long shows (not verified). The show initially received an unfavorable review from the New York Times for poor script adaptation but was still highly rated for the actors' performance and overall production. The show was supposed to feature only original scripts but had to forgo that plan due to lack of quality material. The first season on NBC used radio actors under the direction of George Zachary. Martin Gabel announced the first show but was soon replaced by Kenneth Banghart. The second season, on CBS, used Hollywood screen actors in the lead roles, supported by radio actors. Fletcher Markle, who previously produced CBS's STUDIO ONE series, was the producer for the second season. Although a short series, it still has some of radio's best dramas. THIS EPISODE: January 4, 1948. NBC network. "The Adventures Of A Bad Boy". Sponsored by: Ford. A fine murder mystery, deduced and solved by Ellery Queen. A good radio production; Ellery picks the killer like a rabbit out of a magician's hat...almost literally! Guy Wallace, Kenneth Banghart (announcer), Charlotte Keane, Brad Barker, Jane Houston, Walter Vaughn, Harold Dryanforth, Avril Harris, Frederic Dannay (writer, as "Ellery Queen"), Manfred B. Lee (writer, as "Ellery Queen"), Santos Ortega, Ted de Corsia, Sarah Fussell, Hugh Marlowe, Anne Seymour, John Gibson. 1 hour.

Tuska cited Ellery Queen, Master Detective (1940) and Ellery Queen's Penthouse Mystery (1941) as the best of the Bellamy-Lindsay pairings. "The influence of The Thin Man series was apparent in reverse", Tuska noted about Ellery Queen's Penthouse Mystery. "Ellery and Nikki are unmarried but obviously in love with each other. Probably the biggest mystery... is how Ellery ever gets a book written. Not only is Nikki attractive and perfectly willing to show off her figure", Tuska wrote, "but she also likes to write her own stories on Queen's time, and gets carried away doing her own investigations." In Ellery Queen, Master Detective, "the amorous relationship between Ellery and Nikki Porter was given a dignity, and therefore integrity", Tuska wrote, "that was lacking in the two previous entries in the series", made at Republic Pictures before Bellamy and Lindsay were signed by Columbia.THIS EPISODE:April 15, 1948. ABC network. "The Slicer". Sustaining. An unknown madman has murdered nineteen women by attacking them at night while they are alone. The identity of "The Slicer" is quite a surprise, you'll never guess whodunit. The "Guest Armchair Detective" is Gene Handsaker (Hollywood columnist). Paul Masterson (announcer), Gene Handsaker, Anthony Boucher (writer), Manfred B. Lee (writer), Rex Koury (organist), Dick Woollen (producer, director), Lawrence Dobkin, Kaye Brinker, Herb Butterfield, Alan Reed. 29:30.