The Roman Hat Mystery

as a matter of fairness to himself, the meeting and the transfer of papers should take place in the theatre under a cloak of absolute secrecy. Field was agreeable and was easily persuaded to purchase the eight tickets at the box-office. He himself realized that the six extra tickets were needed to insure privacy. He sent Barry seven and Barry promptly destroyed them all except LL30 Left.”

The Inspector rose, smiling tiredly. “Djuna!” he said in a low voice. “Some more coffee.”

Sampson stopped the boy with a protesting hand. “Thanks, Q., but I’ve got to be going. Cronin and I have loads of work on this gang affair. I couldn’t rest, though, until I got the whole story from your own lips.⁠ ⁠… Q., old man,” he added awkwardly, “I’m really sincere when I say that I think you’ve done a remarkable piece of work.”

“I never heard of anything like it,” put in Cronin heartily. “What a riddle, and what a beautiful piece of clear reasoning, from beginning to end!”

“Do you really think so?” asked the Inspector quietly. “I’m so glad, gentlemen. Because all the credit rightfully belongs to Ellery. I’m rather proud of that boy of mine.⁠ ⁠…”

---

When Sampson and Cronin had departed and Djuna had retired to his tiny kitchen to wash the breakfast dishes, the Inspector turned to his writing-desk and took up his fountain-pen. He rapidly read over what he had written to his son. Sighing, he put pen to paper once more.

Let’s forget what I just wrote. More than an hour has passed since then. Sampson and Tim Cronin came up and I had to crystallize our work on the case for their benefit. I never saw such a pair! Kids, both of ’em. Gobbled the story as if it were a fairytale.⁠ ⁠… As I talked, I saw with appalling clarity how little I actually did and how much you did. I’m pining for the day when you will pick out some nice girl and be married, and then the whole darned Queen family can pack off to Italy and settle down to a life of peace.⁠ ⁠… Well, El, I’ve got to dress and go down to headquarters. A lot of routine work has collected since last Monday and my job is just about cut out for me.⁠ ⁠…

When are you coming home? Don’t think I want to rush you, but it’s so gosh-awful lonesome, son. I⁠—No, I guess I’m selfish as well as tired. Just a doddering old fogey who needs coddling. But you will come home soon, won’t you? Djuna sends his regards. The rascal is taking my ears off with the dishes in the kitchen.

Your loving,
Father

Endnotes

1. “The Mimic Murders.” This crime in its fiction form has not yet reached the public.

   —⁠J. J. McC.

   ↩

2. Ellery Queen made his bow as his father’s unofficial counsel during this investigation. ↩

3. Chicago Press, January 16, 191‒. ↩

4. Ellery Queen was here probably paraphrasing the Shakespearian quotation: “O thou invisible spirit of wine, if thou hast no name to be known by, let us call thee devil.” ↩

5. The plan illustrated in the frontispiece and drawn by Ellery Queen was designed from Manager Panzer’s map.

   —⁠The Editor

   ↩

6. Inspector Queen’s statement here is not altogether true. Benjamin Morgan was far from “innocent.” But the Inspector’s sense of justice compelled him to shield the lawyer and keep his word regarding silence.

   —⁠E. Q.

   ↩

List of Illustrations

1. Map of the Roman Theatre Drawn by Ellery Queen

2. A Roman Theater play program with handwritten notes. The notes include multiple instances of the words “Monte Field,” and the numbers 930, 815, and 50,000 in a column on the far right side of the program.

3. A line drawing of a bedroom, with capital letters marking various areas of interest. The letter A is on the ceiling, the letter B on the door into the bedroom on the right of the back wall, the letter C on a mirror on the wall to the left of the door, and the letter D on a small table beneath the mirror. The letter E is on the floor-to-ceiling curtains that surround the bed, on the far left of the room; there is a shaded area on all four sides of the tops of the curtains.

Colophon

The Roman Hat Mystery
was published in 1929 by
Ellery Queen.

This ebook was produced for
Standard Ebooks
by
Vince Rice,
and is based on a transcription produced in 2025 by
An Anonymous Volunteer
for
Project Gutenberg
and on digital scans from the
Internet Archive.

The cover page is adapted from
Maxime Dethomas,
a painting completed in 1896 by
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.
The cover and title pages feature the
League Spartan and Sorts Mill Goudy
typefaces created in 2014 and 2009 by
The League of Moveable Type.

The first edition of this ebook was released on
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