A Fine and Private Place

By: Ellery Queen

Narrated by: Mark Peckham

Length: 6 hrs and 52 mins

Publisher's summary

The final novel by the legendary Ellery Queen, A Fine and Private Place ranks with Queen's incomparable best.

The nine-word clue was one of nine cryptic notes that had been sent to taunt Inspector Queen and his son Ellery nine days after the murder. Nino Importuna had been obsessed with the number. He had lived by it. Now the killer who brought a trio of gory deaths to Nino's ninth-floor penthouse at Number 99 East wascamouflaging his identity in a jungle of nines - and daring Ellery to find him. The case was destined to be a dazzling contest of wits - to the ninth degree!

©1971 Ellery Queen (P)2014 Blackstone Audio

Meh

Not terrible, but the dialogue between characters was frustratingly drawn out and I personally found it exhausting to listen to. Won’t read/listen to another one of his books if this is his typical style.

Easy to follow.

a fun one to have read to me. I was able to follow while performing other tasks interspersed with with occasional serious listening.

Not my fav Ellery queen but good

I found other stories more enjoyable but Ellery always satisfies…. Fans will like it maybe more than others, don’t let this be the first Ellery you read!

"He's Wrong" shoved down your throat

There has to be a better way to show the super smart detective is a fallible human than to make them go against all of their established habits and methods.

Clever story

Good story you just have to wade through innocuous details. I guessed who it was towards he beginning.

Interesting relatively obvious Plot

Typical Ellery Queen story with good performance and text. The plot is clever but the solution is obvious for some longish time. Listen was pleasant if not exciting.

Good puzzle, but not much of a whodunit!

This was an odd one. Really, really good in some aspects. Not so in others. It almost seemed like a throwback to the early Queen books, in that the PUZZLE is the main attraction to the story. And what a puzzle. A murder where 9s show up everywhere! Even the murder weapon resembled a nine. The trouble comes with the actual solution. Since there are so few characters (and most of them have been killed!) it's not hard to figure out the murderer. Hell, flip a coin! This isn't so much a whodunit as a "find the clue" mystery.

Love the Nines

If you like numbers and quirky people, you will like this book. It has the typical E.Q.. formst, but also some really interesting characters. Nino Importuno is one of the best murder victims ever. There were so many things to study about him. Ellery's confusion over the nines had me totally confused. I had to play that back again several times to figure out where he was going. It was most amusing. This is a great mystery with a surprise ending. It is well worth your time and energy-it will invigorate your mind. Enjoy!

Worst Ellery yet

Planning through the nine month development of a fetus each month being described at the beginning of every chapter through the ninth month its not only boring but I believe it detracts from the story. Not one of Queen‘s best adventures.

Couldn't finish the book

This was the first book from Ellery Queen I set out the try. I found myself trying hard to hold on to the story, not because of the suspense but of the lengthy dialogue among the characters. I'm a big fan of mystery genre, this book was just very hollow in every aspect.