The Roman Hat Mystery: A Problem in Deduction

New York: Grosset & Dunlap. Very Good+. [1931] (c.1929). Reprint (stated 6th printing). Hardcover. (lacking the original dust jacket, but encased in a professionally-made facsimile reproduction of the first edition jacket; see 2nd image posted with this listing) [a nice-looking copy with only light shelfwear, faint age-toning to edges of text block, one-time owner's name plus date & place of purchase and brief comment written in ink on front endpaper]. The first mystery novel by "Queen," which also marked the debut of the authorial team's eponymous protagonist, a writer and bibliophile, who was forever being enlisted to assist his father, Inspector Richard Queen, in the solving of some baffling crime -- in this instance, the murder of a sleazy lawyer in the audience during a theatrical performance. Barzun and Taylor, in "A Catalogue of Crime," pronounce this book "a landmark rather than a cornerstone, perhaps," and are somewhat disdainful of the father-son duo's "immense thoroughness and almost fatiguing pertinacity" as well as their "egregious bonhomie," while still allowing as how "the neatness of the plot involving a missing hat in a theater murder cannot be denied." Per the jacket blurb, the book had been "chosen from more than 100 selected manuscripts to represent the [original publisher's] contribution to the mysterio-detective literature of 1929," and by any measure it was an auspicious debut -- and for once justified an enthusiastic jacket-blurb writer's declaration that "Ellery Queen bids fair to join that immortal group to which Sherlock Holmes, Lupin and few others belong." Indeed Ellery Queen did become a household name -- even if it was not so much due to the quality of the authors' prodigious output as for the ubiquity of the EQ imprimatur throughout the mid-20th century: Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, innumerable mystery fiction anthologies under their editorship, "Queen's Quorum," the Queen's Awards, etc.) NOTE again that this book bears a FACSIMILE of the first edition dust jacket, to serve the dual purpose of protecting the book from further wear and enhancing its appearance on the shelf; its presence has not been factored in to our pricing. A further NOTE about the dating of this book: although Grosset & Dunlap printing statements (e.g. "Sixth printing, September 16, 1930" in this book) are not always to be taken as accurate -- often their editions were reprinted from the original publisher's plates, and whatever printing information appeared there was simply carried over -- in this case I believe the printing of this book quite likely was very close from early 1931. This is based primarily on the fact that of the many books advertised in the nine pages of ads at the back of the volume, I didn't see any title that was published any later than 1929, and also because this title was advertised in a book distributor's catalogue as newly-available in a "Popular Copyright" edition (this one, basically) for the 1931-1932 season. At any rate, it's a very nice copy and will not disgrace your shelves while you're saving up your pennies to buy a true first in jacket. .