A Fine and Private Place

By: Ellery Queen

Narrated by: Mark Peckham

The final novel by the legendary Ellery Queen, A Fine and Private Place ranks with Queen's incomparable best.

The nine-word clue was one of nine cryptic notes that had been sent to taunt Inspector Queen and his son Ellery nine days after the murder. Nino Importuna had been obsessed with the number. He had lived by it. Now the killer who brought a trio of gory deaths to Nino's ninth-floor penthouse at Number 99 East wascamouflaging his identity in a jungle of nines - and daring Ellery to find him. The case was destined to be a dazzling contest of wits - to the ninth degree!

©1971 Ellery Queen (P)2014 Blackstone Audio

Not my fav Ellery queen but good

I found other stories more enjoyable but Ellery always satisfies…. Fans will like it maybe more than others, don’t let this be the first Ellery you read!

Easy to follow.

a fun one to have read to me. I was able to follow while performing other tasks interspersed with with occasional serious listening.

Interesting relatively obvious Plot

Typical Ellery Queen story with good performance and text. The plot is clever but the solution is obvious for some longish time. Listen was pleasant if not exciting.

Good puzzle, but not much of a whodunit!

This was an odd one. Really, really good in some aspects. Not so in others. It almost seemed like a throwback to the early Queen books, in that the PUZZLE is the main attraction to the story. And what a puzzle. A murder where 9s show up everywhere! Even the murder weapon resembled a nine. The trouble comes with the actual solution. Since there are so few characters (and most of them have been killed!) it's not hard to figure out the murderer. Hell, flip a coin! This isn't so much a whodunit as a "find the clue" mystery.

Love the Nines

If you like numbers and quirky people, you will like this book. It has the typical E.Q.. formst, but also some really interesting characters. Nino Importuno is one of the best murder victims ever. There were so many things to study about him. Ellery's confusion over the nines had me totally confused. I had to play that back again several times to figure out where he was going. It was most amusing. This is a great mystery with a surprise ending. It is well worth your time and energy-it will invigorate your mind. Enjoy!