The central character in The Murderer Is a Fox is Ellery Queen. Although he remains relentlessly analytical, he is less emotionally detached here than in many previous works. His involvement in the affairs of the Fox family affect him as a human being, and his attempt to solve the mystery is prompted, not so much by his fascination with puzzle decipherment, as by his desire to help Davy and Linda Fox discover happiness. Ellery, having abandoned his pince-nez and walking stick, has ceased to be the pure logician and the snobbish prig. Significantly, along with Ellery's growth into a rounded character comes the creation of three-dimensional supporting figures in his adventures. The portraits of the death-obsessed Davy Fox, the caring wife Linda, and the falsely convicted Bayard, while not flawless, reveal an important development in Queen's abilities in the field of characterization.

Rather than serving as mere plot...