''The Murderer Is a Fox'' is a

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...

that was published in 1945 by

Ellery Queen 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 ...

. It is a

mystery novel Mystery is a fiction genre where the nature of an event, usually a murder or other crime, remains mysterious until the end of the story. Often within a closed circle of suspects, each suspect is usually provided with a credible motive and a reas ...

primarily set in the imaginary town of Wrightsville, US.

Plot summary

Ellery Queen investigates a murder that took place a number of years ago and has blighted the present-day lives of members of the Fox family.

For the twelve years following the death of Davy's mother Jessica, and the trial of his father, Davy Fox has suffered inner torture. Davy knew he loved his wife ... as well as he knew he was going to kill her. He didn't know just when it was going to happen – but when a man is born to be a murderer, it's only a matter of time before he claims his birthright. Love turns out to be a matter of life and death – and it's up to Ellery Queen to make the choice!"

Literary significance & criticism

After many popular mystery novels, a radio program and a number of movies, the character of Ellery Queen was at this point firmly established. This novel is the second to take place against the setting of the imaginary New England town of Wrightsville (following ''

Calamity Town ''Calamity Town'' is a mystery novel by American writers Manfred B. Lee and Frederic Dannay, published in 1942 under the pseudonym of Ellery Queen. It is set in the fictional town of Wrightsville, a place that figures in several later Queen books. ...

'') and, as is common in the Wrightsville novels, depends more on characterization, atmosphere and the observed minutiae of small-town American life than many other Queen novels, especially earlier ones, which are more stylized puzzles.

Very intelligently, Dannay and Lee used this change in locale to loosen the structure of their stories. More emphasis was placed on personal relationships, and less on the details of investigation. For a time this worked well. ''Calamity Town'' (1942) and ''The Murderer is a Fox'' (1945) are two books in which the transition from one kind of crime story to another is successfully managed, although a feeling lingers that they would be even better books if Ellery did not appear in them.Symons, Julian. (1974) ''Bloody Murder'' (second, revised edition), London: Penguin.

In Wrightsville Ellery gets invariably separated from the New York Police Department and thus his normal ''modus operandi''. He has to rely on his reputation as sleuth to give him access to any police investigations. The more fallible side to Ellery is essentially emphasized. ... EQ's second visit to Wrightsville brings his most vividly involving character studies; on this level, it's EQ's masterpiece. A pity that the final resolution is based on rather thin evidence.An Ellery Queen Website
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Footnotes

External links

1945 American novels Novels by Ellery Queen {{1940s-mystery-novel-stub