A Fine and Private Place
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The final novel by the legendary Ellery Queen, A Fine and Private Place ranks with Queen's incomparable best.
The nine-word clue was one of nine cryptic notes that had been sent to taunt Inspector Queen and his son Ellery nine days after the murder. Nino Importuna had been obsessed with the number. He had lived by it. Now the killer who brought a trio of gory deaths to Nino's ninth-floor penthouse at Number 99 East was camouflaging his identity in a jungle of ninesâand daring Ellery to find him. The case was destined to be a dazzling contest of witsâto the ninth degree!
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Ellery Queen is a pseudonym used by two American cousins from BrooklynâDaniel Nathan, alias Frederic Dannay (1905â1982), and Manford (Emanuel) Lepofsky, alias Manfred Bennington Lee (1905â1971)âto write detective fiction. In a successful series of novels that covered forty-two years, Ellery Queen served as both the authorsâ name and that of the detective-hero. The cousins also cofounded and directed Ellery Queenâs Mystery Magazine, one of the most influential English crime-fiction magazines of the twentieth century. They were given the Grand Master Award for achievements in the field of the mystery story by the Mystery Writers of America in 1961.
Mark Peckham is an actor and director based in Rhode Island. In addition to working with Trinity Rep, Virginia Stage Co., and many Boston-area theaters, he was the voice of Joseph Smith in the award-winning PBS documentary American Prophet with Gregory Peck.
