I just found this interview with Chuck Palahniuk where he reminisces about a youthful enthusiasm for Ellery Queen, both in the books (he slightly exaggerates their number) and the Jim Hutton-led TV series. It's interesting to see how they might have shaped his own identity as an author, particularly as both the Queen series and The Big Valley―with which I'm not really familiar―depicted single-parent families.
I just reread Double, Double. This is a good mystery but an oddity in the series of Ellery Queen books. A young woman hires him to investigate the death of her father, which seems a little off considering that he's a novelist and not really a PI. His father, Inspector Richard Queen, only makes a one-paragraph cameo despite his importance in the series overall. The new client also briefly works as Ellery's secretary, so Nikki Porter seems to have been forgotten for the time being. I sort of suspect that Danny and Lee roughed this out for another character and added Ellery later. The bare bones of his personality do appear, though.
Ten Days' Wonder, by contrast, could only be about Ellery Queen. It might be the most psychological book its authors ever wrote. The amateur sleuth's wit and background give him hints, but also cause him to have blind spots about the other characters, leading to tragedy. Claude Chabrol filmed this one, although for some reason he replaced Ellery Queen with an alternate fictional character.
2 comments:
I'm pretty sure I read two books by Chuck Palahniuk, but the only one I remember is Fight Club and, to be honest, the far more memorable movie with Brad Pitt and Edward Norton. It certainly is the single greatest social critique of the consumer era even if it's not my favorite movie - I've seen too many to be able to choose any of them in particular. Palahniuk himself had an interesting life even before he became a well-known author, becoming a diesel engine mechanic to support himself was a wise move. I wasn't really familiar with his other influences but I can understand how much he appreciated Ellery Queen's novels (after Encyclopedia Brown).
Unfortunately, I never did read much Ellery Queen but you made Double Double sound interesting enough and I'm thinking it's at least as complicated a plot as I've heard of making up his mysteries. We really enjoyed watching the television series with Timothy Hutton. His Dad and Sgt Velie were great characters and Simon Brimmer was always reliably irritating.
Ten Days Wonder sounds like an appealing mystery novel, one I'd read if it was available but it's next to impossible these days considering the fact the library here doesn't have it (I checked) nor does Russel's and the shipping charges from Abe or Thrift for an old $2 paperback can be $10 or more. I miss good second hand bookstores.
I've read a few Palahniuk novels but not Fight Club. Basically, I had already seen the movie and didn't think the book could live up to it. I have read Choke, which was also adapted into a film, but I haven't seen that one. As an author, he's got a vision. A sort of taste for eye-poking, that you may enjoy or might not. (It's hard to not be influenced by Encyclopedia Brown,)
I've been rewatching the Jim Hutton series recently. They only made one season, but by and large the episodes they did make are excellent. One thing I realized is that, on paper, the character wasn't changed much. Aside from obviously being the smartest guy in the room, the 70s Queen is as much an urban sophisticate as he's ever been. But Jim Hutton's presence transforms the character, making him seem much more affable.
There are a lot of books that have been out of print for so long that even finding a mediocre print edition can be next to impossible. Which is a shame. Used bookstores, when you can find them, seem like they're more immune to the politics and trend chasing that have infected too many indie bookstores.
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