"This Was the Most Thorough Search in the Long and Honorable History of Spy-Catching"

AS AMAZING as it may seem, there actually is a solution to the problem of . . .

"The Little Spy."

The Puzzle Club No. 1.

By Ellery Queen (1905-71 and 1905-82; FictionMags, 4 pages HERE).

First appearance: Cavalier, January 1965.

Reprinted in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine (EQMM), September 1966; Ellery Queen’s Anthology #33, Spring/Summer 1977; and Murder in Mind (1967).

Short short story (8 pages in text).

Online at The Luminist Archives (HERE; go to text page 213).

   "Ellery was pulling on his nose, a sure sign of deep cerebration."

Usually Ellery Queen (the editor) throws a "CHALLENGE TO THE READER" with an expectation that the solution won't be easy, assuming you even arrive at one. In today's 

story, though, the sabot is on the other pied as Ellery Queen (the detective) is himself 

challenged to solve the problem of how a spy under the greatest scrutiny imaginable 

could ever hope to smuggle secret war plans to the enemy . . .

Principal characters:

~ Ellery Queen (the detective):

  ". . . Wednesday evening found him, at 7:30 to the tick, pushing the bell of a penthouse foyer in the nobbiest reaches of Park Avenue."

~ Syres:

  ". . . one of the ten wealthiest men in the United States."

~ Darnell:

  ". . . who was being mentioned frequently these days for the next opening on the Supreme Court."

~ Dr. Vreeland:

  "Other people meet regularly to play bridge. We meet to mystify each other . . ."

~ Emmy Wandermere:

  ". . . a wisp of a woman with shocking blue eyes and the handclasp of a man."

~ Dr. Arkavy:

  ". . . the Nobel Prize winning biochemist . . ."

~ J. Aubrey Tarleton:

  "A spic-and-span, courtly old gentleman out of a long-dead age."

  

References and resources:

- "a living room vast enough for a hidalgo's rancho":

  "In literature the hidalgo is usually portrayed as a noble who has lost nearly all of his family's wealth but still held on to the privileges and honours of the nobility. The prototypical fictional hidalgo is Don Quixote, who was given the sobriquet 'the Ingenious Hidalgo' by his creator, Miguel de Cervantes." (Wikipedia HERE.)

- "any other association in gamesmanship":

  "Gamesmanship is the use of dubious (although not technically illegal) methods to win or gain a serious advantage in a game or sport. It has been described as 'Pushing the rules to the limit without getting caught, using whatever dubious methods possible to achieve the desired end'. It may be inferred that the term derives from the idea of playing for the game (i.e., to win at any cost) as opposed to sportsmanship, which derives from the idea of playing for sport." (Wikipedia HERE.)

- "to do his bit for Uncle Sam":

  "Uncle Sam (which has the same initials as United States) is a common national personification of the federal government of the United States or the country in general. Since the early 19th century, Uncle Sam has been a popular symbol of the U.S. government in American culture and a manifestation of patriotic emotion." (Wikipedia HERE.)

- "an ex-civil servant":

  "In the United States, the federal civil service was established in 1871. The Civil Service is defined as 'all appointive positions in the executive, judicial, and legislative branches of the Government of the United States, except positions in the uniformed services.' (5 U.S.C. § 2101). In the early 19th century, government jobs were held at the pleasure of the president—a person could be fired at any time. The spoils system meant that jobs were used to support the political parties. This was changed in slow stages by the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act of 1883 and subsequent laws. By 1909, almost two-thirds of the U.S. federal work force was appointed based on merit, that is, qualifications measured by tests." (Wikipedia HERE.)

- "a Colonel Blimp mustache":

  "Colonel Blimp is a British cartoon character by cartoonist David Low, first drawn for Lord Beaverbrook's London Evening Standard in April 1934. Blimp is pompous, irascible, jingoistic, and stereotypically British, identifiable by his walrus moustache and the interjection 'Gad, Sir!'." (Wikipedia HERE.)

- "his collection of eighteenth century miniatures by Richard Cosway and Ozias Humphry":

  "Miniature art includes paintings, engravings and sculptures that are very small; it has a long history that dates back to prehistory. The portrait miniature is the most common form in recent centuries, and from ancient times, engraved gems, often used as impression seals, and cylinder seals in various materials were very important." (Wikipedia HERE.) 

  "Richard Cosway RA (1742–1821) was a leading English portrait painter of the Georgian and Regency era, noted for his miniatures." (Wikipedia HERE.)

  "Ozias Humphry (or Humphrey) RA (1742–1810) was a leading English painter of portrait miniatures, later oils and pastels, of the 18th century." (Wikipedia HERE.)

- "shortly before D-Day":

  About twenty years before our story: "The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as D-Day, it is the largest seaborne invasion in history. The operation began the liberation of France, and the rest of Western Europe, and laid the foundations of the Allied victory on the Western Front." (Wikipedia HERE.)

- The Puzzle Club stories have passed through several hands (FictionMags data):

Frederic Dannay & Manfred B. Lee:

  (1) "The Little Spy," (ss) Cavalier #139, January 1965, as by Ellery Queen (above)

  (2) "The President Regrets," (ss) The Diners Club Magazine, September 1965, as by Ellery Queen (online HERE)

  (3) "The Three Students," (ss) Playboy, March 1971, as by Ellery Queen

  (4) "The Honest Swindler," (ss) The Saturday Evening Post, Summer 1971, as by Ellery Queen

  (5) "The Odd Man," (ss) Playboy, June 1971, as by Ellery Queen.

Josh Pachter:

  (6) "The Adventure of the Red Circles," (ss) Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, January/February 2020

  (7) "Their Last Bow," (ss) Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, January/February 2022.

- Our most recent EQ story was "Terror in a Penthouse" (HERE).

Unless otherwise noted, all bibliographical data are derived from The FictionMags Index created by William G. Contento & edited by Phil Stephensen-Payne.

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