A review by dasbooch
The Roman Hat Mystery by Ellery Queen

5.0

A fantastic dive into the “Golden Age of Detective Fiction”. This is the first Ellery Queen book I have read and although I admit it can be dry at times and is a product of its era (1929) in more ways than one, it was a real enjoyment and classic “who done it”. The tale starring bookworm Ellery Queen and his father inspector Richard Queen, feels more down to earth, and realistic than the often super human detective abilities of other heroes of the genre at the time such as the Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot. It could be slow at times, possibly too slow and dry for some contemporary readers, but really picks up towards the second half of the book. It really has a feel of a different era and I often imagined the scene like a well directed noir film of the forties.