Calamity Town

In post-Depression America, an amateur sleuth uncovers a small town's dark side in "the best mystery produced by Ellery Queen" (The New York Times).

At the tail end of the long summer of 1940, there is nowhere in the country more charming than Wrightsville. The Depression has abated, and for the first time in years the city is booming. There is hope in Wrightsville, but Ellery Queen has come looking for death.

The mystery author is hoping for fodder for a novel, and he senses the corrupt...