Queen's Full by Ellery Queen (1965)

 

This title includes three novellas (they call them 'novelets') and two short stories (they call then 'short shorts'.

The Death of Don Juan (novella): Scutney Bluefield buys the vacant Bijou theatre in Wrightsville, and sets out to revitalize it. He produces The Death of Don Juan and brings in washed-up Equity actor Mark Manson to star. But Manson injures himself, and they scramble to find a last-minute substitute: hard-drinking Foster Benedict. He trashes the first act, going off-script and making improper advances to the heroine, played by Joan Truslow. Before the second act can begin, someone stabs Benedict in his dressing room.

The Wrightsville Heirs (novella): Bella Livingston, wealthy widow, announces to her three stepchildren that she is writing a new will - putting her live-in companion, Amy Upham, first in line to inherit her millions instead. This, naturally, results in Bella's murder before (as the murderer thinks) she can do so. Then someone is trying to do away with Amy to speed up the process. And, there is something strange about the will too. 

The Case Against Carroll (novella): Attorney John Carroll is challenged by partner Meredith Hunt - he has discovered Carroll has 'borrowed' $20,000 from a client's account. Hunt is then found shot, and Carroll is the #1 suspect. Carroll has a solid alibi, although he is loathe to use it - for he was spending the night with Hunt's wife, Felicia. She is the only one who can clear him, and then she is found dead.

E= Murder (short story): This very short story is the typical length found in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. Dr. Agon is found murdered, having left a cryptic name-the-murderer note which no one can understand.

Diamonds in Paradise (short story): Lili Minx, seven-times divorced Broadway star visits a gambling den. A police raid occurs, and in the confusion, her diamond earrings disappear. The thief is quickly found, but falls to his death trying to escape. His dying words are a clue to the location of the diamonds.

Mini-review: An odd aspect of this book is that the table of contents does not list the stories in order, but rather sorts them by length - making navigating the book a bit counter-intuitive. 

The Death of Don Juan is predictable just from the structure of the story - a character is introduced in detail early, but then disappears from the story. I immediately picked that character as the (future) murderer - and I was right. The Wrightsville Heirs is a solid conventional mystery with an interesting twist. The Case Against Carroll is definitely intriguing and different, pay attention with this one - it does not end as you expect. E=Murder relies on some arcane academic knowledge, not quite fair to the reader. Diamonds in Paradise is rather silly, with a typical Queen 'mystery' based upon characters misunderstanding a homonym. 

The Wrightsville Heirs and The Case Against Carroll are definitely worth the read.