As author of the popular Ellery Queen novels and short stories, as literary historian and critic, and especially as editor of the renowned Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine–Ellery Queen was the single greatest force in the mid-1900s for the survival and health of the detective-crime short story. Queen’s indefatigable and enthusiastic promotion of his favorite form of fiction was vital to its continuing popularity after the passing of Doyle and Chesterton and Christie and Hammett and its other famous authors of the early- and mid-20th Century.

This critical study presents the first thorough examination of the role Queen played in the flourishing of the detective-crime short story with particular focus on the importance of Frederick Dannay as editor of EQMM and scores of short story anthologies. Many of the authors ( Old Masters,
New Masters, and tec tyros alike), detectives, and stories that Queen promoted and championed are listed and described, including authors who won Edgars, EQMM Contests, Pulitzer and Nobel Prizes, famous authors from other genres such as Baum, Borges, Dreiser, Whitman, Wells, and even William Butler Yeats, lost and forgotten stories of classic authors, and auspicious debuts of authors and detectives who were to become famous. With over 50 years as author, historian, and editor, Queen was the detective-crime short story’s guardian angel, patron saint, and publisher. Without the influence of Queen, the detective-crime short story may not have survived, for Queen was the last bastion of short mystery fiction ; he was the detective-crime short story.