Ellery Queen’s Anthology. Volume 38, Fall/Winter 1979
Grateful acknowledgment is hereby made for permission to reprint the following:
The Clue of the Screaming Woman by Erle Stanley Gardner; copyright 1948, 1949 by The Curtis Publishing Company, copyright renewed by Jean Bethell Gardner; reprinted by permission of Thayer Hobson & Company.
A Stroke of Genius by Victor Canning; © 1964 by Victor Canning; reprinted by permission of Curtis Brown, Ltd.
Cut of the Dream Stumbling by Florence V. Mayberry; © 1964 by Davis Publications, Inc.; reprinted by permission of the author.
As in Alibi by Lawrence Treat; © 1965 by Davis Publications, Inc.; reprinted by permission of the author.
The Last One To Know by Robert Edward Eckels; © 1974 by Robert Edward Eckels; reprinted by permission of the author.
Jericho and the Studio Murders by Hugh Pentecost; © 1975 by Hugh Pentecost; reprinted by permission of Brandt & Brandt Literary Agents, Inc.
The Man Who Never Did Anything Right by Robert Bloch; © 1968 by Davis Publications, Inc.; reprinted by permission of Scott Meredith Literary Agency Inc.
The Killer with No Fingerprints by Lawrence G. Blochman; © 1964 by Lawrence G. Blochman; reprinted by permission of Curtis Brown, Ltd.
Blood Money by Phyllis Ann Karr; © 1974 by Phyllis Ann Karr; reprinted by permission of the author.
Have You a Fortune in Your Attic? by Lloyd Biggie, Jr.; © 1963 by Davis Publications Inc.; reprinted by permission of the author.
The Lonely Habit by Brian W. Aldiss; © 1966 by Davis Publications, Inc.; reprinted by permission of Scott Meredith Literary Agency, Inc.
Just Like Inspector Maigret by Vincent McConnor; © 1964 by Davis Publications, Inc.; reprinted by permission of the author.
Operation Bonaparte by James M. Ullman; © 1963 by Davis Publications, Inc.; reprinted by permission of the author.
The Raffles Bombshell by Barry Perowne; © 1974 by Philip Atkey; reprinted by permission of Curtis Brown, Ltd.
Uncle from Australia by Ellery Queen; © 1965 by Ellery Queen; reprinted by permission of the author.
Captain Leopold Gets Angry by Edward D. Hoch; © 1973 by Edward D. Hoch; reprinted by permission of the author.
The Theft of Nick Velvet by Edward D. Hoch; © 1973 by Edward D. Hoch; reprinted by permission of the author.
The Spy at the End of the Rainbow by Edward D. Hoch; © 1974 by Edward D. Hoch; reprinted by permission of the author.
Editor’s Note
Dear Reader:
Every mystery has its secret.
Its innermost secret.
Let us divide the crime-mystery story into two all-inclusive categories — the tale of crime with detection and the tale of crime without detection.
In the first category — crime with detection — there are subdivisions: deductive, intuitional, and procedural detective stories, dealing with both realistic and bizarre situations, the latter including the locked room, the miracle problem, and the impossible crime; all these subgenres contain a detective, amateur or professional, or a law-enforcement agency whose common purpose is to discover the culprit and uncover the secret of the mystery.
In the second category — crime without detection — there is obviously no sleuth, no man or woman hunter; but even when the reader knows the identity of the criminal from the beginning, there is still a secret to be penetrated and disclosed. If it is not the secret of who, it could be the secret of how, or of when or where, and often of why — why did the criminal commit the crime, why did the victim invite or cause the crime?
In the 18 stories chosen for this collection you will be challenged by many different secrets — who did it, how was it done, when did it occur, where did it take place, why did it happen? The secrets are in the hearts of the stories, in the hearts and minds of the characters, and it is for you to investigate at the side of the detective or the author, matching wits wit for wit — or to be your own detective, probing, questing, examining...
“Nothing is secret which shall not be made manifest.” So saith Luke, and so, in the 18 stories which follow, you can look behind the scenes, pull aside the curtains, push away the screens, peer through the veils, remove the masks, break the seals, open the doors — expose the deep, dark secrets of mystery. You will have the help of some of the greatest mystery writers and detectives of the past and present — Erle Stanley Gardner’s Sheriff Eldon; Edward D. Hoch’s Captain Leopold, Jeffery Rand, and Nick Velvet; Hugh Pentecost’s John Jericho; Lawrence G. Blochman’s Dr. Daniel Webster Coffee; Lloyd Biggie, Jr.’s Grandfather Rastin; Barry Perowne’s A. J. Raffles; Lawrence Treat’s Homicide Squad; Ellery Queen’s E.Q. — they won’t let you down, they won’t fail you.
Ellery Queen
Erle Stanley Gardner
The Clue of the Screaming Woman
This short novel, complete in this anthology, has been “lost” for 30 years. So far as we have been able to check, “The Clue of the Screaming Woman” has never been reprinted since its original appearance in “Country Gentleman,” issues of January through April 1949, and has never been including in any of Erle Stanley Gardner’s books, hardcover or paperback. The story features Sheriff Eldon, a modern Leatherstocking in a contemporary setting.
Erle Stanley Gardner is claimed to be “the best-selling American author of all time,” and his sales, figures substantiate that claim. His 96 books, most of them about lawyer-detective Perry Mason, have sold 185,000,000 copies in the United States alone, and approximately 225,000,000 worldwide. That’s popularity!
Now, read about Frank Ames who came to the mountains to get away from people, to recuperate from the ravages of a prisoner-of-war camp, and learn how his solitude was shattered by a woman’s scream...
Frank Ames surveyed the tumbling mountain torrent and selected the rock he wanted with great care.
It was on the edge of the deep water, a third of the way across the stream, about sixty feet below the little waterfall and the big eddy. Picking his way over half-submerged stepping stones, then across the fallen log to the rounded rock, he made a few whipping motions with his fishing rod to get plenty of free line. He knew only too well how much that first cast counted.
Up here in the high mountains the sky was black behind the deep blue of interstellar space. The big granite rocks reflected light with dazzling brilliance, while the shadows seemed deep and impenetrable. Standing down near the stream, the roar of the water kept Frank Ames’ ears from accurately appraising other sounds, distorting them out of all semblance to reality.
The raucous abuse of a mountain jay sounded remarkably like the noise made by a buzz saw ripping through a pine board, and some peculiar vagary of the stream noises made Frank Ames feel he could hear a woman screaming.
Ames made his cast. The line twisted through the air, straightened at just the right distance above the water and settled. The Royal Coachman came to rest gently, seductively, on the far edge of the little whirlpool just below the waterfall.
For a moment the fly reposed on the water with calm tranquillity, drifting with the current. Then there was a shadowy dark streak of submerged motion. A big trout raised his head and part of his body up out of the water.