The Greek Coffin Mystery

FOREWORD

I find the task of prefacing The Greek Coffin Mystery one of especial interest, since its publication was preceded by an extraordinary reluctance on the part of Mr. Ellery Queen to permit its publication at all.

Mr. Queen’s readers will perhaps recall, from Forewords in previous Queen novels, that it was sheerest accident which caused these authentic memoirs of Inspector Richard Queen’s son to be recast in the mould of fiction and given to the public―and then only after the Queens had retired to Italy to rest, as they say, on their laurels. But after I was able to persuade my friend to permit publication of the first one, the initial Queen affair to be put between covers, things went very smoothly indeed and we found no difficulty in cajoling this sometimes difficult young man into further fictionizations of his adventures during his father’s Inspectorship in the Detective Bureau of the New York Police Department.

Why, then, you ask, Mr. Queen’s reluctance with regard to publication of the Khalkis case-history? For an interesting duality of reasons. In the first place, the Khalkis case occurred early in his career as unofficial investigator under the cloak of the Inspector’s authority; Ellery had not yet at that time fully crystallized his famous analytico-deductive method. In the second place―and this I am sure is the more powerful reason of the two―Mr. Ellery Queen until the very last suffered a thoroughly humiliating beating in the Khalkis case. No man, however modest―and Eliery Queen, I think he will be the first to agree, is far from that―cares to flaunt his failures to the world. He was put to shame publicly, and the wound has left its mark. “No,” he said positively, “I don’t relish the notion of castigating myself all over again, even in print.”

It was not until we pointed out to him―his publishers and I―that far from being his worst failure, the Khalkis case (published under the present title of The Greek Coffin Mystery) was his greatest success, that Mr. Queen began to waver―a human reaction which I am glad to point out to those cynical souls who have accused Ellery Queen of being something less than human . . . . Finally, he threw up his hands and gave in.

It is my earnest belief that it was the amazing barriers of the Khalkis case that set Ellery’s feet in the path that was to lead him to such brilliant victories later. Before this case was done, he had been tried by fire, and . . .

But it would be rude to spoil your enjoyment. You may take the word of one who knows the details of every single affair to which―I trust he will forgive my amicable enthusiasm―he applied the singing keenness of his brain, that The Greek Coffin Mystery from many angles is Ellery Queen’s most distinguished adventure.

Happy hunting!

J. J. McC.

February, 1932

“In science, in history, in psychology, in all manner of pursuits which require an application of thought to the appearance of phenomena, things are very often not what they seem. Lowell, the illustrious American thinker, said: “.A wise scepticism is the first attribute of a good critic.” I think precisely the same theorem can be laid down for the student of criminology . . . .

“The human mind is a fearful and tortuous thing. When any part of it is warped―even if it be so lightly that all the instruments of modern psychiatry cannot detect the warping―the result is apt to be confounding. Who can describe a motive? A passion? A mental process?

“My advice, the gruff dictum of one who has been dipping his hands into the unpredictable vapours of the brain for more years than he cares to recall, is this: Use your eyes, use the little grey cells God has given you, but be every wary. There is pattern but no logic in criminality. It is your task to cohere confusion, to bring order out of chaos.”

―Closing Address by Prof. Florenz Bachmann to Class in Applied Criminology at University of Munich (1920)