Calamity Town

by Ellery Queen

Book Overview

Looking for trouble, Ellery Queen descends on a small town At the tail end of the long summer of 1940, there is nowhere in the country more charming than Wrightsville. The Depression has abated, and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 9997528700
• ISBN13: 9789997528704
• Release Date: January 1942
• Publisher: Little Brown, and Company
• Length: 318 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.

Customer Reviews

An unique and thoroughly enjoyable Ellery Queen mystery

As other reviewers have pointed out, this isn't a typical Ellery Queen puzzler nor is it typical for the era. It certainly qualifies as a good puzzler with tragic undertones. The structure of detective fiction in those days doesn't allow the feeling of deep tragedy that you'll find in contemporary novels such as those by Charles Todd, Val McDermid, and others. But there is a fatalistic and tragic flavor here.Others have done well in summarizing the plot. Ellery leaves New York to get the feel of small town America as a setting for a book he's writing and becomes involved in a tragic train of events which culminates in the apparant attempted murder of one woman and death of a second. The culprit apears obvious and this uniquely has a lengthy and well done courtroom sequence which includes Ellery as a reluctant witness for the prosecution.There are minor flaws here and there, but basically it's a good read. I was surprised by the number of lady smokers portrayed because my recollection of a small town at that time is that very few women smoked. Also there is a Biblical goof in which an otherwise learned character confuses David and Goliath with each other. That aside, this is worth reading for those who enjoy classic whodunits.

Ellery's first trip to Wrightsville

Well known mystery writer Ellery Queen has decided to set his next novel in a small town even though he had lived his entire life in New York City. To overcome this lack in his background Ellery has decided to spend the next six months or so living in a small town while writing the book. He has selected the small town of Wrightsville to take up residence and, in order not to become the 'local celebrity', he has decided to live under an assumed name - 'Ellery Smith'. He was surprised to find that there were no hotel rooms available, nor any furnished apartments as Wrightsville was filled to the brim with workers at the defense factory. The only place Ellery could find to stay that October of 1940 was a furnished house, one with an unfortunate history of broken hearts and sudden death. Ellery finds himself being drawn into the family of his landlord, especially the youngest daughter, Pat, and joining in with them through the holidays. Unfortunately for all the celebrations are tainted with plots and murders that are not resolved until the spring. This is a transitional phase in the Ellery Queen series. In the earlier novels a very cerebral Ellery who dabbles in interesting problems writes mysteries as a hobby. In the later novels Ellery is a famous writer who travels often promoting his books and takes frequent breaks to peaceful Wrightsville to relax, usually with unfortunate consequences for at least one local resident. This novel is the first time Ellery visits the little town and, like all the books in the series, is contemporary to the time it is written. Life in a small town in the pre war years is an alien landscape to the 21st century reader. It is a time when people did not book accommodations ahead of time, when people were who they said they were and paid cash for things. As always with this series though the problem was complex and intriguing, one that will challenge the reader to stay ahead of Ellery. Fans of the series will not want to miss seeing Ellery's first trip to Wrightsville but those who are new to the series might be better off starting elsewhere. This is not a typical Ellery Queen story of either the first or second half of the series. It also features some rather prolonged court scenes, something that thankfully did not occur often in the series.

Atypical - But Good Ellery Queen Mystery

Ellery Queen, hoping for anonymity and some quiet time for writing, has rented a house in Wrightsville under the name Ellery Smith. The town, Wrightsville, appears ideal - attractive homes, friendly people, and little crime. The writer Ellery Smith is quickly embraced by the community, especially by the founding family of Wrightsville. All is tranquil, that is, until a series of arsenic poisonings earns Wrightsville the name Calamity Town. Calamity Town (1942) falls chronologically in the middle phase of the Ellery Queen canon and differs considerably from his earlier mysteries. The setting is far from New York City, although the exact location of Wrightsville remains unclear. Several chapters are devoted to an extended courtroom scene that, I believe, is unique to this EQ story. Ellery himself even takes the stand. Ellery's somewhat one-dimensional character is now more fully developed, more complex, more realistic. Unexpectedly, Ellery even becomes romantically involved with an attractive, quick witted, and independent young woman. Most noticeably, the characters and the plot, possibly because the setting is a typical small town, are more conventional than is found in Ellery Queen's more imaginative earlier stories such as The Greek Coffin Mystery, The Egyptian Cross Mystery, and The Siamese Twin Mystery. It is not hard to imagine this story, repackaged somewhat, transformed into a British manor house mystery. This atypical Ellery Queen mystery makes good reading. Calamity Town has often been reprinted and should not be difficult to locate.

Introducing Wrightsville

To refer to the authors, I'll use their real names - Fred Dannay and Manfred Lee - to distinguish them from their chief character, Ellery Queen. CALAMITY TOWN was first published in April 1942, nearly 3 years after THE DRAGON'S TEETH. At this stage, Ellery Queen is in his second incarnation. He's no longer the 'pure reasoner' of the first EQ stories, who had filed for divorce from the human race; he agonizes over the consequences of his investigations, he loves and loses like anyone else. (Mind you, in the right frame of mind, I can enjoy the pure puzzle type of mystery, too, but *this* is a *novel*, where 'why?' can be as important as 'who'.) In fact, Ellery's been fleshed out enough to serve as the viewpoint character for most of the story, though not in first person. The fleshing out of characters and emotional situations is decent, although through Ellery's perception we're often given his take on something rather than being left to draw our own conclusions - i.e., some gracefully handled exposition here and there. Ellery, no longer drawn as a dilettante, takes his writing seriously. Since his next novel will be set in a typical small town, the normally city-dwelling Ellery plans to live in one for the next six months, incognito, researching the setting and producing a draft. Welcome to Wrightsville, Wright County, New York, making the first of its many appearances in the Queen canon. As in most Queen stories, the setting was contemporary when written - in this case, August 1940 - May 1941 - making it a period piece today. Rural Wrightsville, founded by Jezreel Wright in 1701, still has some cobbled streets, and horses are still commonplace in the area. The fact that Ellery can *sign a six-month lease* under an assumed name, with no ID and no credentials (other than 'I'm a writer under a pseudonym' and 'here's 3 months' rent in advance') *really* drives home that this is a vanished world. Even 2 years later, he'd have been a suspicious character, if not actually arrested for espionage or whatnot. (He later avoids being exposed by draft registration by quietly registering in his native New York City.) As it is, the defence industry is rejuvenating Wrightsville's economy, although not yet on a war footing, so Ellery can find only one available furnished rental: Calamity House. The Wrights remain the first family of Wrightsville: John F., bank president; his wife Hermione, holding the reins of Wrightsville society. They built a separate house on their property three years ago as a gift to Nora, their middle daughter, upon her marriage to Jim Haight, a promising young bank officer - but the engagement was broken, Jim left town, and Nora shut herself away, as much to protect herself from the town's petty gossip as from her broken heart. A now-ex newspaper reporter coined the tag 'Calamity House' when a massive heart attack struck down a would-be buyer. Ellery scoffs at the jinx theory, of course: "Calamity House! As sensible as calling Wrightsv

The First of the Wrightsville mysteries

In the first of the Wrightsville mysteries, Ellery seeks the peace and quiet of a small town for his writing, but soon becomes involved in the affairs of the Wright family. When newlyweds Jim and Nora Haight find themselves unwilling hosts to Jim's sister Rosemary, it is only a matter of time until Nora begins to suffer from sudden attacks of illness. However, it is Rosemary who dies on New Year's Eve of arsenic poisoning. What appears to be a straightforward murder case against Jim turns out to be anything but. There are plenty of romantic twists to the satisfying plot.