User Reviews

Ellery Queen gets put into jail by Richard Queen because he threatens a comic book publisher (Tom Bosley) who is working on making Queen into a kids comic book hero. That makes Ellery a suspect when Bosley turns up dead. He is shot three times and the murder weapon turns up at the bottom of Ellery's gold fish tank.

This one provides some amusing twists & turns along the way as there are lots of suspects because this Bosley is not your typical Mr. C if you know what I mean.

In the guest cast a Donald O'Conner who is not someone who makes a lot of guest shots by 1975. Guessing the killer here is not an easy task, but I will tell you Ellery & his fish are not guilty.

With guest stars like Donald O'Connor and Tom Bosley and an interesting setting in a comic book publishing company, this episode couldn't help but be a fun outing. A comic book editor decides to use Ellery as a "super hero" character in one of his comic books which, of course, greatly upsets Ellery. Ellery storms into the editor's office and kind of threatens him and tells him to desist, which the editor refuses to do. When the editor is soon thereafter found murdered, Ellery is the logical prime suspect. The episode features one of my favorite television character actors, Ken Swofford as an annoying newspaper reporter. Swofford's typical loudmouthed, blow hard characterization is amusing and almost endearing. On the other hand, Lynda Day George, a prolific television actor of the 60s and 70s, was just not convincing and her accent was awful. I like this series and fortunately not because of the solution to the mystery. The solution to this one was another highly improbable one.

The story begins with a humorous scene, setting the tone for the episode, which was clearly funnier than most episodes. We see Ellery, upset, inside an office talking to someone working at a table and we quickly learn that he is working on a comic book story involving a square-jawed character named Ellery Queen, who seems to be the more typical fictional detective, quick with his fists, in stories that vary greatly from the ones Queen wrote—both our hero in this series and the stories attributed to Queen over the decades. Ellery is told by the man he is arguing with, Kenny Freeman (Donald O'Connor), that he only does the lettering, and to go to another desk in the room. He does just that, and is soon re-directed to "the desk in front" a couple of times, and he goes around the room, meeting the guy who does the backgrounds, the coloring, and the figures, before getting into the private office of the man whose name appears as the writer, Bud Armstrong, played by Tom Bosley.

Bosley's character is extremely different from his regular roles as Sheriff Amos Tupper on Murder, She Wrote, Howard Cunningham on Happy Days, and as the star of the Father Dowling Mysteries. He promptly tells Queen that the new contract he signed with his publisher gives Armstrong the right to make this new comic book series and there's nothing Queen can do about it. An angry Ellery tells him he's going to fight him, insisting that he's going to find a way to "kill it." Clearly he meant kill the comic book, but the not-so-brilliant secretary who was in the room (Lynda Day George) later remembered only the "kill" part without the "it" helping it to sound like Ellery threatened to kill Armstrong.

The cartoonist's staff is seen in Armstrong's office where he berates all but the letterer for doing sloppy work. We learn that they have ironclad contracts that prevent them from quitting and getting another job in the industry. They leave except Freeman who asks what Armstrong thinks about his idea for a comic book titled Swamp People, a Pogo-like series about animals in a swamp. Freeman hates the violence and sex-filled stories Armstrong puts out and believes the genre is changing. Armstrong tells him to stick to the one thing he can do—lettering, and Freeman leaves.

Back at the Queens', Ellery can't concentrate on work so he goes for a walk in the park. Meanwhile we see Armstrong, alone in the office until someone comes in, unseen by viewers. Outside, the cleaning woman hears a gunshot then a pause, a second shot another pause and a third gunshot.

Richard Queen and Sgt. Velie take Ellery to the scene. They realize immediately that Ellery is a suspect because of the "threat" and because the victim left a dying clue that seems to point to him. On a cartoon drawing a large X has been drawn right over the captioned words ELLERY QUEEN. Specifically, the whole caption has one of the characters saying "Not Ellery Queen" and the X is over the entire dialog in that box. Since one often marks "the spot" with an "X" and nobody would think a man would leave a dying clue that simply says who didn't kill him, the X is figured by all to be pointing at Ellery, rather than away from him.

Enter a new series semi-regular, reporter Frank Flannigan, of the New York Gazette, who writes a crime column. He is tipped off about the murder by the husband (Herbie Faye) of that cleaning woman we saw. Flannigan shows up at the precinct, boisterous, essentially accusing the inspector of covering up the fact that his son is the number one suspect in this killing. To help his dad, Ellery turns himself in to the jail and spends much of the episode there, reading comic books, learning about what their stories depict.

Of course, Inspector Queen and Velie spend most of their time checking out the other suspects. While the letterer Freeman doesn't have a good alibi, the other three on the staff all went to a bar together, verified by the bartender, who says they came in around 9 and were there until closing at 2 a.m. The murder was done about 10 p.m.

Flannigan is sent an Ellery Queen novel, The Disappearing Gun, and from reading it, is next seen being discovered inside the Queens' apartment, looking for the murder weapon, which he finds—further incriminating Ellery.

Ellery is sent for by his father to help figure out certain clues and actually gets the key clue that lets him put it together from Flannigan, who I thought was one of the funniest characters in the series and would have loved to see more of him—although I realize he couldn't have been on too often or his brash manner would have worn thin.

As always in this brilliant series, all the clues Ellery used to solve it were revealed to us at the time. There was no revelation, like Jessica Fletcher or Perry Mason did so often, where only after the murderer is named do we hear, "I learned that such-and-such…" when they reveal something we viewers never heard before that led them to their conclusion. In this series, you really can figure out the murderer and state the telltale clue on your first viewing—provided you are sharp enough to put the clues together. On so many other whodunits, all the viewer/reader can do is guess the identity of the killer and say, "I just had a feeling." Because this episode was so loaded with funny stuff, from the way Ellery kept getting redirected around the office to the lingo used by Flannigan, and because the logic of how the murder was committed and solved, I thought it was one of the series best, and give it a 10.

Everything works wonderfully in this, the Best So Far episode of Ellery Queen. Besides that, this episode is absolutely hysterical! Ellery gets laughs. Inspector Queen gets laughs. The mean, cruel, extremely nasty and lecherous murder victim gets laughs. (Before he gets murdered, that is!)

Then there's infamous Tabloid Reporter, Frank Flanigan. This guy, while a thorn in Ellery and Inspector Queen's very souls, is a non-stop laugh riot. A shame he himself couldn't get through reading his own biography. He probably would have laughed himself to death. Thankfully, Frank Flanigan is destined to return for more pestering and annoying of the lead characters in future episodes.

After one year (at the time, 1975) of playing the friendly, great-advice providing father on "Happy Days", actor Tom Bosley gets to go all out as the despised comic book publisher murder victim. This is one time it would have been great if the victim could have stuck around for the entire episode. He is so horribly awful to everyone who comes into his presence, that even Inspector Queen would probably have ended up wanting to bump the guy off.

Lynda Day George guest stars as the murder victim's secretary. The actress is obviously having a ball playing the heavily New Yawk accented beauty who has to ward off her bosses extremely unwanted advances, which are then replaced by spurned venom.

There's nice bookending here involving Ellery dismayed at a comic book portrayal of himself punching out an attacking, escaping criminal. Ellery declares himself, "not a violent person". He later punches out an attacking, escaping criminal. Very nice work there from the writers.

This is a terrific script start to finish. It's filled with numerous suspects all working in the comic book industry, hoping to make their fortune while catering to a young audience. A young audience whom the murder victim publisher regards somewhat rather negatively, exclaimed in what is one of the episode's funniest lines.

There are carefully provided clues to whodunnit, which is exactly what the series promises (yet doesn't always come through with.) The viewer just needs to pay the required price: Attention. This episode delivers loads of laughs - and interest - if the viewer does just that.

Ken Swofford as gossip columnist Frank Flannigan isn't bad. He livens up a rather dull episode. So does Tom Reese as Sgt. Velie, who manages to steal every scene he's in. Kudos to veteran second banana Tom Reese, and Swofford as well. Swofford brings some nuance to Flannigan, who is a blowhard but manages to be three-dimensional. Unlike Simon Brimmer in his first appearance a few episodes ago. I like how Flannigan kinda/sorta apologizes to Ellery for "ruining his reputation"... but doesn't. Like blaming his editor for not publishing his apology, rather than him (or the script) just coming out and saying that he didn't want to publicly admits that he was wrong. And when he admits that he hasn't written his own ghost-written autobiography.

I also liked the scene where Richard catches Flannigan breaking into the Queens' apartment. Credit to both actors.

The plot itself doesn't make much sense. How did the killers initially know that Ellery had no alibi for the time of the murder? Later, when they frame him, it makes sense (sorta: is it public knowledge?) that they know Ellery doesn't have an alibi. But early on?

And as Richard and the production staff gaslight, Bud's dying clue doesn't make any sense. He crosses out the lettering to both indicate that Ellery should look into his murder, and Kenny the letterer isn't the killer. And Bud is trying to incriminate the three men who shot him? Even if Bud didn't have time to write down the first letters of his three killers' name, couldn't he have made three lines to indicate three killers? Instead he makes two lines to cross out Ellery's name. Is this the kind of thing a dying man would think? "Three men killed me, so I'll cross out the lettering of the one staff member who didn't kill me?" Huh.

Lynda Day George appears to be having a ball, so good for her. She plays the flighty compulsive liar who inadvertently does everything to make herself guilty. Like lying to Richard because "he won't believe her". Yeah, lying to the police in a murder case is a good idea. Not.

There are some feeble jabs at cartoon violence in the 40s. Ooh, how topical. Donald O'Connor makes a good Walt Disney stand-in, even though his characterization is all over the place. He goes from a mild-mannered letterer, to a tyrannical boss, then at the end mellows again when Alma confirms he's not a sexual harasser like Bud.

And Ellery gets some mild characterization, hating the two-fisted hard-boiled PI that Bud has turned him into for the comics. But apparently he's an avid comic book fan: note his glee reading comic books in the jail cell. His punching Lyle at the end comes out of left field: when did he become a two-fisted fighter? Alma's sound effects as Ellery punches Lyle as just too cute.

Overall, other than Swofford's performance, the episode is kind of a drag. It gives Ellery a personality, but the punching part is at odds with the character. The dying clue is incomprehensible, and the plot borrows heavily from "Murder on the Orient Express". Granted, Ellery solving the dying clue doesn't break the case, but it does show the killers are kinda dumb. What was the point of buying the bullets but not the gun? Particularly when the bullets are just incriminating: the mystery is who-dunnit, not how-did-they-do-it?

But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?

This is my opinion. I love Ellery Queen. The books and this show. This is great episode. You get to see Donald O'Connor, Lynda Day George and Ken Swofford. Swofford was great as Flanagan. Too bad the people in charge cancelled the series too soon.