The tales in this volume is yet another varied collection of short fiction. They were written in parallel with those that were presented in volume four, but are all longer. The final two stories here are novellas, well over 15 000 words each. This longer format gives the authors the opportunity to put in some more characterisation and background to the story.
All stories except the very last one were written during period 3 (more exactly between 1953 and 1958). The last story was published in 1962. The small town of Wrightsville finally makes several appearances in this volume, and several characters return throughout them.
The first story here is "The Robber of Wrightsville". When Ellery arrives in town, a young man is accused of robbing his stepfather, and Ellery needs to be on his toes while investigating the case, clearing the young man and finding the real killer.
A well hidden killer and an interesting setup makes this a good beginning to the volume.
We stay in Wrightsville for "Eve of the Wedding". A young woman about to get married receives several threatening letters, and Ellery needs to step in before something worse happens.
The solution here is yet another variation of a certain Queen classic that we should recognise by now. Another good one.
Believe it or not, the same town provides the backdrop for "The Wrightsville Heirs". Here three stepchildren have come home to visit their stepmother. Of course she is murdered and Ellery needs to make himself useful again.
Sadly, this story doesn't reach the same quality as the two preceding ones. What Ellery believes himself able to prove with the trap he sets at the end of the tale, I don't rightly know, and it's hard to see exactly how he manages to reach the solution.
The four following tales are shorter, but differ from the "fun and games" stories in the previous volume by having an overarching theme. Each one tries to throw some light on a certain social problem.
First of them is "Object Lesson". Ellery is invited to a school to speak about the detective profession, but needs to make the lesson more hands-on when he has to find out which of the school children has stolen money from the teacher.
Youth crime is the theme for this story, but the whole thing feels a bit too slight - impossible crime though it is - for such a heavy theme.
In "No Parking", Ellery has trouble finding a parking space, which means a woman is murdered. On the other hand, without these parking problems he wouldn't have been able to draw the conclusions he does, so I guess that evens out in the end.
A fairly weak story which tries to shine a light on urban problems.
In "No Place to Live", a shady landlord is killed and 3 000 dollars are stolen from a poor soldier.
If the soldier had only said where he hid them to begin with, the story wouldn't even have happened. Probably the worst tale in this collection - this one discusses housing problems in New York.
Luckily, "Miracles Do Happen" is better than its three predecessors. A moneylender is found killed and one of his debtors is suspected of the crime until Ellery steps in.
A surprising killer in this story which tries to take on poverty and the substandard social safety net in the US. A step up.
After these short stories we get the two novellas. First of these is "The Case Against Carroll". Mr Carroll is suspected of murder, and when Ellery manages to find out that he actually has an alibi, the witness who could confirm it is killed.
A minor masterpiece, this. A very well-written story with a surprising sting in the tail.
"The Death of Don Juan" brings us back to Wrightsville where a theatre play is being rehearsed. The aging professional actor who's been hired is murdered after the first act. He manages to say a few syllables before dying, and Ellery shows us how the most obvious interpretation doesn't necessarily need to be the correct one.
Another surprising solution, though perhaps not quite as well founded as the previous one. Still, a very good read.
Conclusion
The longer stories here are to the advantage of the reading experience for most readers. But most importantly, there are quite a few really good plots here - the first two and the final two tales come to mind. And even though the collection sags a bit in the middle, those stories are so short it doesn't really matter that much.
There's just the one impossible crime here, and that's not the best I've ever seen. So I'll forego including that in my project.
My copy of "Q.E.D." does not have "The Case Against Carroll"; that story appears in "Queens Full." Perhaps the editions were different?
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