Ellery Queen is the pseudonym of two cousins: Frederic Dannay (1905–1982) and Manfred Lee (1905–1971). Their pen produced 25 detective novels united by a common hero—the detective and author of Ellery Queen crime novels—whose fame matches the popularity of Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot. The brothers’ co-authored work mostly fits within the framework of the classic detective story, where there are enough tangled logical steps, false leads, and ingenious traps.
Ellery Queen is not only a pseudonym for two writers, but also a character appearing in many of their works: a professional maker of detective tales and an amateur detective who comes to help his father, police inspector Richard Queen, when the next criminal nut proves too hard for him.