Dannay and Lee wrote most of the more than thirty novels and several short story collections in which Ellery Queen appeared as a character, and their books were among the most popular of American mysteries published between 19.

Ellery Queen is a pseudonym created in 1929 by American crime fiction writers Frederic Dannay and Manfred Bennington Lee and the name of their main fictional character, a mystery writer in New York City who helps his police inspector father solve baffling murders. Undeterred, the cousins took their novel to other publishers, and The Roman Hat Mystery was published in 1929. Van Dine, their entry won the contest, but before it could be published, the magazine closed. Inspired by the formula and style of the Philo Vance novels by S.S. They decided to use as their collective pseudonym the same name that they had given their detective. Ellery Queen was created in 1928 when Dannay and Lee entered a writing contest sponsored by McClure's magazine for the best first mystery novel. Under their collective pseudonym, the cousins were given the Grand Master Award for achievements in the field of the mystery story by the Mystery Writers of America in 1961. During the 1930s and much of the 1940s, that detective-hero was possibly the best known American fictional detective.

Pastedown titled illustration within a gilt border at the front panel and gilt titles and black design at the backstrip, which also shows raised bands. Frontispeice illustrated with tritone sepia drawing by Norman Walker. NOT a Remainder, Book-Club, or Ex-Library. A like-new copy, structurally sound and tightly bound. Free of any ownership names, dates, addresses, notations, inscriptions, stamps, plates, or labels. Free of any underlining, hi-lighting or marginalia or marks in the text.

Free of creased or dog-eared pages in the text. The binding is square and secure the text is clean.

The Roman Hat Mystery by Ellery Queen