ELLERY QUEEN “The Adventure of the Seven Black Cats.” Ellery Queen. First published in The Adventures of Ellery Queen (Stokes, hardcover, 1934). Reprinted in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, January 2016, the opening story in the first month of the magazine’s year-long 75th anniversary celebration.

   Ellery stops at a pet store thinking perhaps to buy a dog and ends up solving a very strange case involving cats, seven of them, all black, all purchased from the store at a rate of one a week by a bedridden older lady named Euphemia Tarkle, who is known to hate cats. Ellery’s curiosity is aroused. What is going on?

   The owner of the story is one Marie Curleigh, young and very pretty. Realizing he needs assistance in any sort of investigation to follow, Ellery asks: “Miss Curleigh, I’m an incurable meddler in the affairs of others. How would you like to help me meddle in the affairs of the mysterious Tarkle sisters?”

   And of course she does. The story that follows is meticulously planned out, and will be a lot of fun to read by any mystery fan who likes, no loves, following along with the clues. One negative note should be mentioned, however. The culprit at the end can easily be discerned by the judicious process of elimination. Too few suspects there are, that is. (Not that I did, but I could have, and should have.)

   And if asked, I could come up with a couple of other notes. The superintendent of the building where Miss Tarkle lives is named Harry Potter. And Miss Curleigh is such an agreeable assistant in this case that one wishes she might have appeared as well in other tales in Queen canon. I don’t believe she did. She should have.