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Ellery Queen Mysteries Television Show

Ellery Queen Mysteries What a delightful surprise! I did not know about these shows until a Cozy Mystery reader recommended them to me. And boy am I glad she did!

The Ellery Queen Mysteries aired during the mid 1970s, and starred Jim Hutton as Ellery and David Wayne as his father. The premise of the show is: Ellery Queen is a 1940s best selling author of mystery books. Ellery’s father is a police inspector. They live together as only two bachelors could – Ellery has filled their living room (his writing room) with all sorts of murder weapons – guns, knives, even a snake with its venomous fangs exposed. Also, their kitchen seems to be mostly for making their coffee and morning toast.

Richard Levinson and William Link were the two men responsible for this series, as well as shows like Murder, She Wrote, Columbo, Mannix, and many television movies. The Ellery Queen Mysteries were a predecessor to Murder, She Wrote – a show which also featured many weekly guest stars. The good news, however, about the guest stars in the Ellery Queen Mysteries is this: Unlike Murder, She Wrote, the most famous guest star of each episode didn’t always turn out to be the person who committed the crime. For those of you who plan on watching these really good Cozy Mystery shows, the guest stars are big names from when the show aired as well as from the 1940s and 1950s Hollywood movies. People like Larry Hagman, Joan Collins, Eve Arden, Tom Bosley, Eva Gabor, Ed McMahon, and Betty White. (Oops, I guess she qualifies as a star today!)

Ellery tags along to crime scenes with his police detective father and invariably is attracted to some type of minutia. Some of the time Ellery doesn’t even want to be involved with the criminal investigation. A lot of the time he has an editor’s deadline he must hurry to meet, but something about the crime scene catches his attention. Why did the victim drag herself to the television set’s plug? Why did the comic book author mark a particular item?

Ellery loves to solve the cases with all of the suspects gathered togethrer (à la Hercule Poirot) – but this only happens after Ellery takes a “private moment” with the television audience. He looks into the camera and goes over all of the clues – asking us if we have figured out the solution.

I absolutely love the relationship between Ellery and his father. The chemistry is undeniable… you would think these two are truly related. David Wayne (Ellery’s dad) frets over his son – making sure he wears his coat in cold weather, giving him fatherly advise on taking care of his cold, etc. He is endearing. You don’t see such displays of father-son affection in very many television shows.

I don’t want to end this entry before mentioning that actor John Hillerman plays the host of a mystery theme radio show – “The Casebook of Simon Brimmer.” Hillerman is delightful as he somehow interjects himself into many of the cases. His ultimate goal is to find the culprit before Ellery or the police do, in order to publicly take the credit for the solving of the crime. Usually he “solves” the mystery only to have to amend his solution when he finds that Ellery has once again beat him at finding the correct solution to the mystery. As big a twit as Simon Brimmer is, John Hillerman is able to make him a likable know-it-all!

(PS>>> I have not read the Ellery Queen mystery books, so I cannot vouch for how true to the books these shows are.)

If you would like to see more TV and Movies suggestions, click here.

Comments

  1. I used to see Ellery Queen Mysteries at the checkout sections of local stores like Krogers and Wal Mart but I haven’t seen these for a long time. These were little booklet type magazines-I don’t know what they were actually called. They were pretty good little booklets. They had some good stories. Now I see Betty & Veronica, which are still good after all these years.

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    • Linda, those Ellery Queen Mysteries magazines remind me of the Alfred Hitchcock magazines my father used to enjoy. I remember Betty and Veronica from the old Archie comic books…

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      • What I liked about the Alfred Hitchcock series was when the murder was solved the show ended. The viewer got a chance for him/herself to decide what was going to happen to the bad guy/girl. I do remember the magazines as well. Today.s mysteries on TV really aren’t mysteries at all. We know up front who was murdered and who was the muderer-no mystery at all.

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    • The were the Ellery Queen mysteries. I have some of them along with some of the Alfred Hitchcock. If you are looking for them try eBay. I have sold a lot of them on eBay (not now).

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  2. Danna: I was lucky enough to buy the dvd set as a gold box special from Amazon. My husband and I have been watching one or two a week on Sunday night as a special treat. It is a great show and we loved seeing all the “old time” TV actors (of course, you have to be of a certain age to recognize them!). We watched the interview with the original producer and he said that they were committed to making it a show that families could watch together. Imagine!

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    • Laura, we are really enjoying watching these Ellery Queen television shows. Unfortunately, they didn’t make enough of them!

      It does seem a while since they made shows the entire family could watch together. Every fall/autumn I go through the major channel television night time rosters to see if anything stands out to me. I have to admit that I try quite a few pilots, but don’t seem to find very many shows. And those shows I do think are good are usually canceled within weeks…

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  3. I remember watching the show and how enjoyable it was. What I wouldn’t give for a remake or reruns – course there are always DVD’s. I remember reading the Ellery Queen Mystery magazines , my grandparents would mail them to me. Thanks, I had forgotten about EQ.

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  4. That’s fun! I’ll have to check that out. I vaguely remember that Ellery had a (mild) romantic interest in the books–I think her name started with an “N.” Does she appear in the series? Or am I remembering a different series.

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  6. September 19, 2011

    Every month I use to buy the Ellery Queen Magazine booklets, and stopped after awhile because sometimes they would introduce a new mystery writer I would find at my library…………smile.
    The Ellery Queen Mystery books in the early years I loved because there were a lot of “RED HERRINGS” and trying to figure out who did it………….I really enjoyed all he wrote and that was 45 yrs ago. grin. but now go to Alibri used bookstore on line and find these books. Since it’s been so many years it’s new books I feel I am reading and trying to solve. One of my favorites was called “THE SIAMESE TWINS MYSTERY” I know I spelled that big word wrong. haha.
    Ellery lived with his Dad who was the head of the police and was very grouchy to everyone except Ellery. If you haven’t read any of the early Ellery Queen Mysteries and if you haven’t you will love them and be delighted whether you can or can’t solve them. I started reading them I think in the 60’s, but alot of them were written, I think in the 40′ or 50’s. Have fun.

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    • Shirley, Ellery’s dad is pretty grouchy in this television mystery series, also. Jim Hutton and David Wayne are terrific as the father/son duo!

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      • September 30, 2011

        Hi Danna;
        There was an Ellery Queen series in the 50’s I think….
        I really (liked) this actor who played Ellery and the older father who played the Dad; actually there was a goofy side kick that his Dad would have watch Ellery so he didn’t get hurt, etc. Actually was always funny because Ellery always gave him the slip..etc. I have not been able to find the series….so did watch the one Jim Hutton. Oh well, we all have favorites don’t we? grin.

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  7. I enjoyed the Ellery Queen TV Shows very much. Towards the end of the show , he would turn to the TV screen and ask “have you spotted the essential Clue” and then gather all the suspects into the living room. I also enjoyed a fine character actor named John Hillerman in a recurring role. I have kept quite a few of the “Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine” because it had short stories from some of the best Authors of the day. I am also glad you have added Ron Goulart. If you like a good mystery with fun and humor you will like his Groucho Marx series. Good Day to all.

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    • I really enjoy the episodes with John Hillerman… He brings such humor to his part.

      Thanks for commenting on Ron Goulart’s Groucho Marx Mystery Series. It does look like it might be a lot of fun…

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  8. One of the writers of the TV show was Helene Hanff who wrote the book 84 Charing Cross Road. The TV show moved much faster than the books.

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    • Nina: Thanks for this interesting bit of information. Maybe that’s why the show was so good, because the writing was excellent. I just read “Apple of My Eye” by her (not a mystery).

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  9. One of the local libraries that I visited today had copies of Ellery Queen mysteries in large print. That library also had some new copies of Agatha Christie old books. I picked these up. I didn’t pick up the Ellery Queen novels.
    I visit 3 local libraries in this area and I find all three have large selections of large print books. I can also go to visit the library in our local community college. This library has a nice selection of books as well.
    I really enjoy the larger print. Plus if these libraries don’t have a book in large print the librarians will try to find copies for me. Nice, huh!! I picked up enough books to last me this week.
    Maybe this way I won’t spend so much time responding to this blog!

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    • Linda, you’re really lucky that your local community college lets you check out books. Also, that your librarians are so helpful tracking down large print books.

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      • We have some very , nice, helpful librarians in this area. That is why I don’t mind voting for the library levys when these come up for a vote. Someone made the statement that libraries will be a thing of the past! This someone needs to go into the libraries and see just how busy these places are.
        The book ” The Shack” had a waiting list of 17 people when I placed a hold on the book!!!

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  10. I am so glad you added this information! Just a few days ago I was checking a list of possibilities to add to my queue on Netflix, and the Ellery Queen tv series was one I considered but didn’t add. Now I’m going to add it for sure! After reading the other comments here, I think I do remember watching it and liking it. Thanks so much!

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    • Deborah, you must mean Quikster. (Referring to Netflix separating into two entities… not a very popular event…)

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  11. The TV series is wonderfully fun and I love seeing the old movie stars, too. The novels are very good, solid, classic mysteries, particularly the ones from the 1940’s golden age. The magazine is still in production today, I’ve submitted a few cozy style short stories but am sad to say have not been published there – yet! The real Ellery Queen was actually a team, two cousins who entered a story writing contest in the late 1920’s and won!

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  12. I remember watching the show for a while, but didn’t watch a lot of TV at that time anyway. It was enjoyable. I’ll have to see if it’s available on Netflix as it would be fun to watch it again.

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  14. I thought I had better add this description from my “Q” page on the site, since I didn’t include this information in my entry about the Ellery Queen television show:

    “Ellery Queen Queen is the pseudonym of cousins (Manfred Bennington Lee and Frederic Dannay) who collaborated on the Ellery Queen novels and stories… While they used the name “Ellery Queen” as their pseudonym, they also used the name “Ellery Queen” as the character who is a novelist as well as a sleuth. And, of course, let us not forget the very popular Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine which has been in publication since 1941…”

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  15. I vaguely remember the Ellery Queen Mysteries from when I was a child, but my sister talked about them for years after the show ended…this making the DVD set a great Christmas present for her last year. 🙂

    For myself, I enjoyed watching Timothy Hutton, who bears a strong resemblance to his late father, show up at a masquerade ball (on his show, “Leverage”) dressed as Ellery Queen…or rather, dressed as Jim Hutton dressed as Ellery Queen.

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    • Julia, I have watched Timothy Hutton in a few of the Nero Wolfe episodes, as well as several of his movies, and agree about him looking a lot like his father…

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  16. September 30, 2011 I found a cozy mystery called “Pleating for Mercy”, by Melissa Bourbon. It’s a new series and quite a delightful mystery. A blend of mystery, magic and dressmaking, with a cast of masterful characters. You will want to read the first, enjoy and then look for the second which comes out soon. I loved it………………..! grin.

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    • Shirley, I am getting six NEW authors ready to post on the site, and Melissa Bourbon is one of them.

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  17. My Mother, Sister and I loved the Ellery Queen Mysteries. We watched every week the first season and we were so dissappointed it didn’t return. I had no idea it made it to DVD. I just ordered it!!! My other fav. was the Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries (yes I know they were a little juvenile but I was a teen at the time). Again very short lived, only three seasons. I did get season 1 and 2 on DVD but 3 was never released. I still enjoy them. The ’70s were great for mysteries. Even the Mystery Movies that were on regularly were fun. I really like the Hallmark Channel Mystery Woman and McBride movies. I was not crazy about Jane Doe and was hoping for more of the Murder by Conviction (former Nun turns sleuth). But alas they stopped filming them as well.

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    • Margaret, I wonder why they stopped the Ellery Queen Mysteries just after the first season. They replayed the Mystery Woman and and McBride movies recently, and I tried to tape them all so that my husband could watch them with me this time. I wan’t crazy about the Jane Doe movies, either, and I didn’t even know about the Murder by Conviction shows. I’ll have to see if they are replaying those…

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      • Danna-There was only one Murder without Conviction (my mistake with the title sorry) but it was really good. The Sleuth was a young woman who leaves the Sisterhood and stumbles upon a mystery at her Cousin’s group home. Autistic Twins accused of killing their Mother when they were young. She sets out to prove their innocence. Looks like it may be on 10/23 at 10:00 p.m. Mystery Women is my favorite, it is the coziest. Luckily Hallmark does show them regularly.

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        • Margaret, thanks for telling us about the Murder without Conviction’s airing date. I will go set it up to tape. Hallmark shows a lot of movies that go toward the Cozy side of things… which is a real nice change from a lot of the gruesome things regular channels seem to think they “owe” the viewer.

          When did it become so important to have make-up artists who are so talented at their crafts, that it actually looks like some of the camera shots show us real decaying, maggot-infested corpses? Personally, I’m not interested in those types of scenes… (Even typing about it just now makes me uneasy!)

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          • Margaret, the plot of Murder without Conviction sounds like the first Christine Bennett book by Lee Harris – The Good Friday Murder. She has a whole series – all with a different special day (some holidays and some things like birthdays).

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    • Keep in mind the name of the 1975 series was just “Ellery Queen.” Universal just added the word “Mysteries” on the DVD so people who weren’t familiar with show or character would know what kind of series it is.

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  18. Oh, Judith and Margaret, if this is the movie based on the Lee Harris mystery series with Christine Bennett as the sleuth, I believe I saw that when it aired years ago.

    I just checked… Yes, this is the 2004 movie with Patty Duke in it.

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    • Hi Judith and Danna, yes that is the Book the Movie is based on. I just looked at the synopsis. When I had first watched the Movie I remember it said “based on…” but I couldn’t remember the Author or Book Title. Thanks for filling me in. It was a great T.V. Movie. After reading your post Judith, I looked for some other Books by Lee Harris and some seemed enjoyable. Thanks!!

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  19. Every night I put an Ellery Queen dvd on and listen as I doze off. I’ve watched every episode endless times, but the theme music and the familiar actors’ voices help me drift off to sleep while drowning out other sounds.

    The chemistry between father and son, yes, so very endearing it warms me. Breaks my heart this was only one season, yet so very grateful to have it.

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    • Helen, when my husband is really tired, he turns on How It’s Made>>> It only takes me five minutes to fall asleep.

      I cannot understand why they cancelled the Ellery Queen Mystery show after only one season.

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  20. I first found the Ellery Queen novels in the library. There were many of them and they were EXCELLENT! Too bad they seem mostly out of print now. The TV series I found on A&E long time ago, and grieved when I found out it was so short. Oh what a happy day when my husband found the whole set at the local Costco. The cousins also authored a short series featuring an actor/sleuth called Druary Lane.

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    • Linda L, how lucky were you to find this excellent package of Ellery Queen mysteries at your local Costco?! I still wonder how in the world the network cancelled this series. What a shame! Much better than anything you can find being put out now…

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      • So true! Most of the current ones are so oriented towards law enforcement and violence. I myself prefer the cozies because of the touch of fantasy that buffers the underlying violence. I also love the introduction theme music and the images to the show. The stork, and chess board, the broken chess piece…

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        • Linda L, you’re right. The current shows are much “harder”. I am now at a stage in life where I am saying things I vowed never to say: “They don’t make them like they used to.”!!!

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  21. Danna, Love this list! I watch a LOT of cozy and cozy-ish mystery series on DVD. Some of my favorites that I watch over and over again (including a couple that I do not spot on your list but that I highly recommend) are:
    ELLERY QUEEN, starring Jim Hutton (aired 1975-1976)
    NERO WOLFE, Seasons 1 and 2 (A&E) starring Timothy Hutton and Maury Chaykin (based on Rex Stout mystery series) (aired 2001-2002)
    PERRY MASON, Seasons 1-9, starring Raymond Burr, Barbara Hale, William Hopper, William Talman (based on Erle Stanley Gardner mystery series) (aired 1957-1966)
    AGATHA CHRISTIE POIROT, starring David Suchet, Now remastered and in original U.K broadcast order from ACORN Media, Series 1-13
    ROSEMARY & THYME
    LOVEJOY, starring Ian McShane, BBC Home Entertaiment, 22-disc set (based on Jonathan Gash mystery series)
    THE YOUNG MONTALBANO, MHZ Italy, Episodes 1-3, Episodes 4-6, in Italian with English subtitles (based on Andrea Camilleri’s Detective Montalbano mystery series): fabulous, setting is Sicily
    MYSTERY WOMAN, triple feature
    …

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    • Ellen, there are so many great shows that are now available in all types of formats. I’ve never heard of The Young Montalbano. Makes me sorry my husband won’t watch shows with subtitles. (He says he doesn’t like “to work” while watching a movie.) I guess I could watch it alone. I’ll go takea look at it. Thanks!

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    • I enjoy the Agatha Raisin series. I read them all and then found them availwble on PBS. I have watched alot of PBS british cozies and excellent Master piece series. Call the Midwives isn’t really a cozy but heart warming every episode and my favorite presently All Creatures Great and Small

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  22. Ralph Bellamy played Ellery Queen, in the 50’s he was also in many movies, you might remember him from the mini series Called “The Winds Of War” and “War and Remembrance” he played president Roosevelt, boy we need him now, anyway you can find and watch many of the Ellery Queen movies at youtube for free and they were very well done, but for me Hutton Was the Best, His Death so soon after the 1st series was a shame he was too young, but maybe
    Someone will convince his son (the actor from the series Leverage) to carry the torch , one never knows…………Ben

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    • Ben, thank you for telling us about the Ellery Queen movies with Ralph Bellamy. I just looked up their order:

      Ellery Queen, Master Detective (1940)
      Ellery Queen’s Penthouse Mystery (1941)
      Ellery Queen and the Perfect Crime (1941)
      Ellery Queen and the Murder Ring (1941)

      Now I’ll go see if I can find them on Youtube. Thanks, again!

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  23. Ellery Queen is my favorite mystery author. I have read everything he has written. Great writing. I love this series. I watched it faithfully when it was on. This series played fair with viewer. Not so with to-day’s series. Trivia notes: Frederic Dannay liked the series a lot. When it was cancelled it was decided to launch The Eddie Capra Mysteries using left over scripts.

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