Greek Coffin Mystery
Read Greek Coffin Mystery Online
Authors: Ellery Queen
Ellery Queen
To
M. B. W.
WITH GRATITUDE
CHARACTERS
GEORG KHALKIS
art dealer
GILBERT SLOANE
manager, Khalkis Galleries
DELPHINA SLOANE
Khalkis’ sister
ALAN CHENEY
son of Delphina Sloane
DEMMY
Khalkis’ cousin
JOAN BRETT
Khalkis’ secretary
JAN VREELAND
Khalkis’ traveling representative
LUCY VREELAND
Vreeland’s wife
NACIO SUIZA
director of Khalkis’ art-gallery
ALBERT GRIMSHAW
ex-convict
DR. WARDES
English eye-specialist
MILES WOODRUFF
Khalkis’ attorney
JAMES J. KNOX
millionaire art-connoisseur
DR. DUNCAN FROST
Khalkis’ personal physician
MRS. SUSAN MORSE
a neighbor
JEREMIAH ODELL
plumbing contractor
LILY ODELL
Odell’s wife
REV. JOHN HENRY ELDER SEXTON
HONEYWELL WEEKES Khalkis’ butler
MRS. SIMMS
Khalkis’ housekeeper
PEPPER
Assistant District Attorney
SAMPSON
District Attorney
COHALAN
D. A. detective
DR. SAMUEL PROUTY
Assistant Medical Examiner
EDMUND CREWE
architectural expert
UNA LAMBERT
handwriting expert
“JIMMY”
fingerprint expert
TRIKKALA
Greek interpreter
FLINT, HESSE, JOHNSON, PIGGOTT, HAGSTROM, RITTER
staff detectives
THOMAS VELIE
detective sergeant
DJUNA
INSPECTOR RICHARD QUEEN
ELLERY QUEEN
I
FIND THE TASK
of prefacing
The Greek Coffin Mystery
one of especial interest, since its publication was preceded by an extraordinary reluctance on the part of Mr. Ellery Queen to permit its publication at all.
Mr. Queen’s readers will perhaps recall, from
Forewords
in previous Queen novels, that it was sheerest accident which caused these authentic memoirs of Inspector Richard Queen’s son to be recast in the mold of fiction and given to the public—and then only after the Queens had retired to Italy to rest, as they say, on their laurels. But after I was able to persuade my friend to permit publication of the first one,
*
the initial Queen affair to be put between covers, things went very smoothly indeed and we found no difficulty in cajoling this sometimes difficult young man into further fictionizations of his adventures during his father’s Inspectorship in the Detective Bureau of the New York Police Department.
Why, then, you ask, Mr. Queen’s reluctance with regard to publication of the Khalkis case-history? For an interesting duality of reasons. In the first place, the Khalkis case occurred early in his career as unofficial investigator under the cloak of the Inspector’s authority; Ellery had not yet at that time fully crystallized his famous analytico-deductive method. In the second place—and this I am sure is the more powerful reason of the two—Mr. Ellery Queen until the very last suffered a thoroughly humiliating beating in the Khalkis case. No man, however modest—and Ellery Queen, I think he will be the first to agree, is far from that—cares to flaunt his failures to the world. He was put to shame publicly, and the wound has left its mark. “No,” he said positively, “I don’t relish the notion of castigating myself all over again, even in print.”
It was not until we pointed out to him—his publishers and I—that far from being his worst failure, the Khalkis case (published under the present title of
The Greek Coffin Mystery)
was his greatest success, that Mr. Queen began to waver—a human reaction which I am glad to point out to those cynical souls who have accused Ellery Queen of being something less than human. … Finally, he threw up his hands and gave in.
It is my earnest belief that it was the amazing barriers of the Khalkis case that set Ellery’s feet in the path that was to lead him to such brilliant victories later. Before this case was done, he had been tried by fire, and …
But it would be rude to spoil your enjoyment. You may take the word of one who knows the details of every single affair to which—I trust he will forgive my amicable enthusiasm—he applied the singing keenness of his brain, that
The Greek Coffin Mystery
from many angles is Ellery Queen’s most distinguished adventure.
Happy hunting!
J. J. McC.
*
The Roman Hat Mystery,
Frederick A. Stokes Company, publisher (1929).
FLOOR PLAN OF KHALKIS HOUSE
A—KHALKIS’ LIBRARY
B—KHALKIS’ BEDROOM
C—DEMMY’S BEDROOM
D—KITCHEN
E—STAIRS TO 2ND FLOOR
F—DINING ROOM
G—DRAWING ROOM
H—FOYER
J—SERVANTS’ ROOMS
K—BATHROOMS
L—VREELANDS’ ROOM
M—SLOANES’ ROOMS
N—JOAN BRETT’S ROOM
O—DR. WARDES’ ROOM
P—CHENEY’S ROOM
Q—SECOND GUEST ROOM
ATTIC NOT DIVIDED INTO ROOMS
“I
N SCIENCE, IN HISTORY,
in psychology, in all manner of pursuits which require an application of thought to the appearance of phenomena, things are very often not what they seem. Lowell, the illustrious American thinker, said: ‘A wise scepticism is the first attribute of a good critic.’ I think precisely the same theorem can be laid down for the student of criminology. …
“The human mind is a fearful and tortuous thing. When any part of it is warped
—
even if it be so lightly that all the instruments of modern psychiatry cannot detect the warping
—
the result is apt to be confounding. Who can describe a motive? A passion? A mental process?
“My advice, the gruff dictum of one who has been dipping his hands into the unpredictable vapours of the brain for more years than he cares to recall, is this: Use your eyes, use the little grey cells God has given you, but be ever wary. There is pattern but no logic in criminality. It is your task to cohere confusion, to bring order out of chaos.”
—Closing Address by
PROF. FLORENZ BACHMANN
to Class in
Applied Criminology
at University of Munich (1920)
