ELLERY QUEEN – The Last Man Club. Pyramid R-1835, paperback; 1st printing thus, July 1968. Both stories were originally published as Better Little Books in 1940 and 1942, respectively. Both are novelizations of radio plays.

   Not all of the recent assortment of EQ reprints, of which this is one, are listed with rest of Ellery Queen’s works, and it is not surprising. The writing is distinctly substandard, although the first story does have appeal as a problem in deduction. The print is large, and there aren’t many pages [127], so 50¢ is an exceeding high price for this book.

Overall rating: **½
      —-
“The Adventure of the Last Man Club.” A hit-and-run accident witnessed by Ellery and Nikki leads them to believe a murderer is striking the survivors of an unusual club formed twenty years before. A trust fund of $120,000 to be divided equally if the killer’s obvious goal. A poisoned cordial bottle provides Ellery with the necessary clue.

   A clever and unexpected twist that occurs as the would-be killer is revealed makes the story better than it would otherwise be. Color-blindness is the key, but mailboxes are no longer painted green.    ***½
      —-
“The Adventure of the Murdered Millionaire.” A murdered stockbroker’s gum-chewing habit gives away the killer’s identity in this one, as a baseball scorecard pinpoints his whereabouts the previous afternoon.

   It’s too simple a puzzle, and bad writing shows too clearly. Did EQ actually write this? On page 98, Doc Prouty is dusting for fingerprints. Since he is the medical examiner, what indeed is going on?    *½

— August 1968.