["A Fine and Private Place"] exhibits all of the virtues and defects of the Queen books. It is full of stale literary devices, such as a simply preposterous diary. The writing is arch and labored. ("I'd better totter off and tuck my lil ole self into beddy-snooky-bye.") Any character capable of delivering this sentiment deserves all that is coming to her … But if Ellery Queen doesn't write too well, he can plot. In this story—about the murder of a jinx-haunted super-tycoon and a wife who inherits under curious circumstances—there is the usual rash of well-planted clues, real or fake; and the outré paraphernalia of the murderer; and a couple of familiar characters, now growing older. There always will be a market for this kind of old-fashioned puzzle. (p. 38)
Newgate Callendar, in The New York Times Book Review (© 1971 by The New York Times Company; reprinted by permission), June 20, 1971.
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