The Four of Hearts

By: Ellery Queen

Narrated by: Mark Peckham

It was a script that could only have come from Hollywood: the wedding of two superstars after a scandal-filled courtship... a wild trip by private plane to a hideaway... a deadly double overdose of drugs...

These corpses weren't play-acting. Once again, Ellery was cast in the role of master detective, as he found nothing was quite what it seemed in the never-never land of moviedom - except sudden, violent death...

Here is a grand mystery with an extremely ingenious, intricate, and watertight plot. The setting is Hollywood, and something is happening all the time. It's fantastic and uproarious, and full of Hollywood patter at its lushest. It's expertly solved, with an effective extra turnover at the end resulting in a surprising and thrilling finish.

©1938 Ellery Queen (P)2013 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Entertaining Queen Set in Hollywood

Well, not all murders can take place in New York or Wrightsville, so Hollywood gets a few Queen cases. This one is pretty fun, although it's dated. But we get Ellery falling in love, so there's that. I had no idea who the murderer was, and in my defense it was really tricky. I like how, after the solution, Queen gives us a scene where a "guesser" matches wits with the "reasoner."

Slightly below average mystery

Story was dull at times with the murder not being very interesting and overdoing the romances. Narrator did an excellent job.

Ending was better than previous entries

This went better than the previous two entries in the series (so far).Enjoyably complex and didn't say or belabor the inevitable too much.The mystery was appropriate convoluted,I felt.

Very good tale

This Ellery Queen tale takes a few notes from other tales but puts together a great tale. Famous couples, feuds, threats and predicting cards take this story on a wild ride.

great book

another great Ellery Queen book, that you will not solve... And they did a good job picking the correct narrator for the buck.... I give it two thumbs up and you will too