Line #87 Series/ElleryQueen


1	[[quoteright:306:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ellery_queen.jpg]]
2
3	''Ellery Queen'' was an American television detective mystery series that ran for one season (1975–76) on Creator/{{NBC}}. Created by [[Creator/LevinsonAndLink Richard Levinson & William Link]], it starred Creator/JimHutton as Ellery Queen and Creator/DavidWayne as his father, Inspector Richard Queen. Other characters include Sgt. Thomas Velie (Creator/TomReese), Inspector Queen's right-hand man; Simon Brimmer (John Hillerman), a radio sleuth who tries to solve the crimes before Ellery does (and always fails); and Frank Flannigan (Creator/KenSwofford), a newspaper columnist who greatly annoys Inspector Queen by inserting himself into murder investigations looking for the latest developments.
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5	Set in post-World War II New York, the show closely followed the format of the early Creator/ElleryQueen mystery novels, where just prior to the presentation of the solution to the mystery, a "Challenge to the Reader" was issued, in which the suspects and clues were reviewed and the reader challenged to guess the solution to the crime. In the show, this tradition was preserved by having Ellery break the fourth wall and speak directly to the viewer prior to the commercial break that led into the final act. The final act always employed the time-honored detective cliché of calling together all the suspects, with Ellery presenting the solution to the group, frequently upstaging and skewering the solution proposed by whichever rival sleuth was also in the episode.
6
7	Notable guest stars include: Creator/DonAmeche, Creator/EveArden, Creator/JimBackus, Creator/TomBosley, Creator/JoanCollins, Creator/EvaGabor, Creator/LarryHagman, Creator/RobertLoggia, Creator/RoddyMcDowall, Creator/RayMilland, Creator/DonaldOConnor, Creator/WalterPidgeon, Creator/VincentPrice, Creator/PernellRoberts, Creator/CesarRomero, Creator/DeanStockwell, Creator/RayWalston and Creator/BettyWhite.
8	----
9	!!Tropes used in ''Ellery Queen'' include:
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11	* AbsentMindedProfessor: Ellery
12	* AdaptationDecay: Unlike Ellery in the original stories, Jim Hutton and the writers portray Ellery as absent-minded and vague. In the original stories, Ellery is more of a cipher.
13	* AdaptationDecay: InUniverse!
14	** In "The Adventure of the Comic Book Crusader", Ellery is ''not'' pleased with a comic book series about him.
15	** In "The Adventure of the Sinister Scenario", the script based on Ellery's novel is said to be not only horrible, but getting worse with each revision.
16	* AffablyEvil:
17	** Plenty of murderers with somewhat selfish motivations are still fairly pleasant and benevolent to the people around them, and/or somewhat graceful about being caught, such as [[spoiler:Oscar Eberhart]] in The Adventure of [[spoiler:The Chinese Dog]], [[spoiler:Louise Demery]] in [[spoiler:Miss Aggie's Farewell Performance]], [[spoiler:Eddie Morgan]] in "The Adventure of [[spoiler:the Black Falcon"]], [[spoiler:Doc Sanford]] in The Adventure of the [[spoiler:Sunday Punch]], [[spoiler:Leo Campbell]] in The Adventure of the [[spoiler:Wary Witness]], [[spoiler:Dave Pierce]] in The Adventure of [[spoiler:The Sinister Scenario]], and [[spoiler:Buddy Parker]] in The Adventure of [[spoiler:The Tyrant of Tin Pan Alley]].
18	** Frank Anthony and Benny Franks, The RedHerring mobsters from "The Adventure of the Sunday Punch" And "The Adventure of Caesars Last Sleep" are also fairly polite, cordial figures. Anthony tells Ellery that he likes him at the end of their conversation, and it will be a shame if he has to break his legs. Franks compliments Ellery's books, while adding that reading about murders makes him feel relaxed, and that the only thing he doesn't like is how the culprit is always caught.
19	* AliceAllusion: "The Adventure of the Mad Tea Party" is full of them, including [[spoiler: the WarOfNerves that Ellery plays with the suspects in order to unnerve the killer enough to make him confess where he'd hidden the body - the only evidence against him.]]
20	* AmateurSleuth
21	* AmbiguouslyAbsentParent: Ellery's mother, and presumably Richard's wife, is never mentioned. Whether she's dead, or divorced from Richard, is never stated.
22	* AndStarring: The opening titles of Simon Brimmer episodes always end with "And John Hillerman as Simon Brimmer".
23	* AssholeVictim: Most of the victims were not nice people.
24	** Several characters in "The Adventure of the Wary Witness" think that Lin Hagen should be acquitted of the murder of Nick Danello, not because they think Lin is innocent, but because they believe Nick was such a scourge on society that killing him was a public service.
25	* AteTheSpoon: In "The Adventure of the Disappering Dagger", Ellery uses a trick spoon designed to dissolve in hot water to explain how the crime was committed.
26	* BadToTheLastDrop: Ellery's coffee. In one episode, Ellery's father (who, it should be pointed out is a homicide detective and therefore used to bad coffee) takes one sip and pours his cup down the sink. After a moment's thought, he follows this by pouring the entire pot down the sink.
27	* BeneathSuspicion: The killer in "The Adventure of [[spoiler:the Pharaoh's Curse]]". This was one of only two episodes where the killer was not one of the suspects named in the opening monologue. (The other was "The Adventure of [[spoiler:the Chinese Dog]]".)
28	* BetterManhandleTheMurderWeapon: How the suspect claims his prints got on the murder weapon in "The Adventure of the Wary Witness".
29	* BigGuyLittleGuy: Ellery and his dad. (Creator/JimHutton was 6ft 4, whilst Creator/DavidWayne was 5ft 7.)
30	* BookEnds: in "The Adventure of the Mad Tea Party". The episode opens with Ellery and a guest character heading to a country house on a train, where the poor conductor gets quite a shock hearing them argue about killing a character and that another would be better (it isn't clear that they're characters and not real people). At the end of the episode, the same conductor comes along as Ellery is explaining a few details to his father and the GirlOfTheWeek as they return to New York on the train; the conductor is obviously convinced that Ellery is some kind of serial killer and quickly runs off. It gets finished off with Ellery's BrickJoke:
31	--> '''Ellery:''' Wait, don't you want to punch my ticket?
32	* BookSnap: In the two hour pilot "Too Many Suspects", Ellery does it when his young cousin Jenny, who he agreed to watch for her parents, gets upset at his continually having his nose in a mystery book and [[FelonyMisdemeanor tells him who the murderer is]].
33	* TheBoxingEpisode: "The Adventure of the Sunday Punch"
34	* BreakingTheFourthWall: Ellery's OnceAnEpisode "Challenge to the Viewer".
35	* {{Burlesque}}: In "The Adventure of Veronica's Veils", the VictimOfTheWeek is an impresario re-opening a burlesque theatre, and the suspects include several burlesque dancers.
36	* BusmansHoliday:
37	** In "The Adventure of the Chinese Dog", the Queens go upstate for a fishing trip. A murder takes place, and one of the locals recruits Inspector Queen and his son to investigate.
38	** In "The Adventure of the Mad Tea Party", Ellery is going to meet with Spencer Lockridge about the adaptation of his novel into a theatrical play. Lockridge disappears shortly after Ellery meets him.
39	** In "The Adventure of the Sinister Scenario", the Queens visit Hollywood to observe the filming of a movie based on one of Ellery's novels. The star of the movie is murdered, and Ellery takes it upon himself to find the killer.
40	* CanonForeigner: Simon Brimmer and Frank Flannigan were original characters created for the television series, not part of the Ellery Queen literary canon.
41	* CartoonBugSprayer: One of the comedians in the burlesque show uses a comically oversized one as a prop in his act in "The Adventure of Veronica's Veils". [[spoiler:It was also the murder weapon; used to spray poison in the face of the VictimOfTheWeek]].
42	* CasualtyInTheRing: Seems to happen in "The Adventure of the Sunday Punch" but it turns out to be a poisoning disguised as an accidental death.
43	* ChessMotifs: Toyed with, punnily, in the opening titles. These show [[MisterSandmanSequence a series of period- and place-establishing objects]] laid out on a checked surface. The next-to-last image is a pawn sitting next to a typewriter; the last is a broken, overturned queen. (The DVD menus continue this, with a silhouetted queen superimposed on the currently-selected title on the episode selection screens.)
44	* CigarChomper: Sgt. Velie is rarely seen without a cigar in his mouth or hand.
45	* CitizenshipMarriage: A major plot point of [[spoiler:"The Adventure of the Blunt Instrument". Magda is an illegal alien; Edgar Manning knew about this and held it over her, which is what provides her potential motive for his murder. When Magda reveals that Cliff Waddell had proposed marriage to her, Ellery realizes that Cliff also knew Magda was in the country illegally, and used this knowledge to frame her for Manning's murder.]]
46	* ClassyCravat: Mystery writer and radio host Simon Brimmer wears an ascot in 1940s New York City. He projects an image of himself as A ManOfWealthAndTaste in contrast to Ellery's absent-minded genius.
47	* ClearTheirName: In "The Adventure of Caesar's Last Sleep", Velie is accused of the murder and Inspector Queen and Ellery have to clear his name.
48	** Ellery must [[ClearMyName clear his own name]] in "The Adventure of the Comic Book Crusader".
49	* ClockDiscrepancy: In "The Adventure of the Hard-Hearted Huckster", an important clue is that the victim always had his watch set 5 minutes fast, and his secretary did too because her boss did it.
50	** A variant in "The Adventure of the Mad Tea Party" - Ellery is staying at a country house, and comes downstairs in the middle of the night to get a book to read. The discrepancy is that he ''doesn't'' see the glow-in-the-dark numbers of a wall clock in a pitch-dark room.
51	* ColdCash: In "The Adventure of Colonel Nivin's Memoirs", a search of the Queens' apartment fails to find the files the searchers were looking for because Ellery had absent-mindedly placed them in the refrigerator.
52	* CompromisingMemoirs: The compromising memoirs Colonel Nivin is planning to publish provide the motive for his murder in "The Adventure of Colonel Nivin's Memoirs".
53	* ContractOnTheHitman: In "The Adventure of Caesar's Last Sleep", the killer provides the police the location of a hitman who had bungled an earlier attempt on the victim, knowing that the hitman will shoot it out with the police rather than being taken alive. The killer does this so the hitman won't identify them as the person who hired him.
54	* CouchGag: Every episode started with an offscreen narrator saying "This (current episode's victim) is about to be murdered. Was it the ( list of suspects )? Match wits with Ellery Queen and see if you can tell...Whodunit?" (This opening was EditedForSyndication for the A&E reruns, but was restored for the DVD release.)
55	* DeadArtistsAreBetter: In "The Adventure of the Two-Faced Woman", the victim-to-be's husband scoffs at her for bidding on a painting whose artist is still alive.
56	* DeadManWriting: "The Adventure of Veronica's Veils" opens with a group of people being attending a funeral and then being shown a film in which the dead man says that if they are watching this then he has been murdered and that one of them is the killer.
57	* DeadStarWalking: The most recognizable name in an episode's cast would often be the person playing the victim. A prominent example is George Burns in "The Adventure of Veronica's Veils".
58	* DeathInTheClouds: "The Adventure of the Disappearing Dagger" involves a man being stabbed to death while on a plane in flight.
59	* DetectiveMole: The killer of "The Adventure of [[spoiler:the Chinese Dog]]" turns out to be [[spoiler:the sheriff in charge of the murder investigation]].
60	* DisabilityAlibi: In "The Adventure of the Blunt Instrument," one of Cliff Waddell's war injuries would have made it physically impossible for him to lift the Blunt Instrument Award high enough to bash it into Edgar Manning's head. [[spoiler: Waddell ''is'' the murderer--he actually killed Manning by kicking him in the head with the built-up shoe he uses to cope with another injury, then smeared blood on the award to make it look like it was the murder weapon.]]
61	* DisconnectedByDeath:
62	** In "The Adventure of Auld Lang Syne", the VictimOfTheWeek is stabbed in the phone booth while trying to phone his lawyer to disinherit his relatives. Rendered unable to speak, he uses his final moments to phone a complete stranger for reasons nobody can fathom. Once Ellery arrives on the scene, he deduces almost immediately that the victim had [[spoiler:dialed his killer's name. Ellery proves this was indeed the case when he calls the stranger's house without being told the phone number.]]
63	** In "The Adventure of the Blunt Instrument", the VictimOfTheWeek is on the phone to Ellery when he is murdered.
64	* DiscreetDrinkDisposal: In "The Adventure of the Pharaoh's Curse", Inspector Queen discreetly pours a cup of Ellery's awful coffee down the sink, and then follows it by pouring the entire pot out. Ellery then attempts to refill his cup from the empty pot and only notices anything is wrong when he takes a sip from his cup and finds it empty.
65	* DrivesLikeCrazy: Ellery's distractedness causes him to ignore minor details like red lights.
66	* DyingClue: Used frequently. Ellery even refers to it by name in "The Adventure of Miss Aggie's Farewell Performance" when he realises that a dying clue that should have been there is absent.
67	** The VictimOfTheWeek in "The Adventure of Auld Lang Syne" is murdered in a phone booth. Stabbed in the throat, he attempts to use the phone to leave a clue before dying.
68	** Mentioned by name in the two hour pilot "Too Many Suspects". Inspector Queen catches up Ellery as his son arrives at a murder scene where a victim [[spoiler: pulled a plug out of the wall, stopping both her clock and tv]].
69	--> '''Inspector Queen''': "Almost as far fetched as one of your books...a dying clue which makes absolutely no sense...which means of course it's right up your alley."
70	** Subverted in "The Adventure of [[spoiler:the Tyrant of Tin Pan Alley", when the alleged dying clue turns out to be a red herring planted by the killer.]]
71	** Played with in "The Adventure of [[spoiler:the Black Falcon". The victim grabs a particular bottle of wine from the racks to indicate the person who killed him, but he was unaware that the racks had recently been rearranged, causing him to grab a different bottle of wine from the one he intended. To make matters worse, the bottle he grabbed happens, by sheer coincidence, to be the ''perfect'' choice to frame one of the ''other'' suspects.]]
72	* ElevatorButtonsMash: In "The Adventure of the 12th Floor Express", the victim pushes certain buttons in an elevator [[spoiler:to indicate the office number of his killer]].
73	* EntertaininglyWrong: This is Simon Brimmer's key trait. He always brags about figuring out the solution before Ellery and ''every'' time is wrong (although in one episode he did ferret out an ''attempted'' murderer). Ellery never mocks Simon for it as he'll note how Simon's deductions are quite logical and follow the evidence. It's not his fault he misses the one tiny detail Ellery spots to figure out the truth (and in some cases - like the pilot, "Too Many Suspects" - it's a detail Brimmer couldn't know because he didn't have access to the crime scene or police reports like Ellery). That being said, there are some episodes (such as "The Pharaoh's Curse") where Ellery was going to tell Simon information that could have either let him figure out the right killer or kept him from accusing the wrong one, but Simon [[NotNowKiddo brushes Ellery off due to thinking the detail unimportant or believing that he's already solved the case and wanting all of the credit.]]
74	* EurekaMoment: OnceAnEpisode
75	* EverybodyDidIt: Not ''everybody'', but in "The Adventure of [[spoiler:the Comic Book Crusader]]", three of the five suspects end up being guilty of the murder.
76	* EveryoneIsASuspect:
77	** Even Ellery is arrested in "The Adventure of the Comic Book Crusader". (Inspector Queen doesn't want to do it, but Ellery turns himself in so as to spare his father public humiliation.)
78	** In "The Adventure of Caesar's Last Sleep", most of the evidence seems to point to Sgt. Velie as the killer. Velie doesn't actually get arrested, but he does turn in his badge when the case against him seems hopeless. (Ellery does, however, tell the viewer in his challenge to the viewer segment that Velie didn't do it.)
79	** The opening narration of "The Adventure of Auld Lang Syne" lists Guy Lombardo (who is shown leading the orchestra but plays no actual role in the episode's plot) amongst the suspects. The narrator jokingly says, "Could it be... Guy Lombardo?"
80	** In "The Adventure of the Lover's Leap", Ellery, during his challenge to the viewer, jokingly includes Simon Brimmer in the list of suspects.
81	** Averted in "The Adventure of Colonel Nivin's Memoirs", when Ellery tells the audience that the killer is definitely ''not'' [[GirlOfTheWeek Jenny]].
82	* {{Expy}}: Simon Brimmer would eventually be retooled into the character Jonathan Higgins from ''Series/MagnumPI'' (also played by John Hillerman).
83	* FaintInShock: In "The Adventure of the Chinese Dog", Julia swoons into Ellery's arms when she's informed that Gordon might be the killer.
84	* FairplayWhodunnit: The clues necessary to solve each case are always fairly presented within the body of the episode. Often, Ellery will helpfully recap them for the viewer near the end of each episode.
85	* FingerLickingPoison: The murder method in "The Adventure of [[spoiler:Caesar's Last Sleep]]".
86	* FollowThatCar: Played straight in "The Adventure of Colonel Nivin's Memoirs".
87	* ForWantOfANail:
88	** In several episodes where Simon names the wrong person as the killer and humiliates himself, its largely his fault for missing an obvious clue or trying to showboat too much but in "The Adventure [[spoiler:of the Lover's Leap]]" Simon really does have a genuinely good reason for accusing that person (who is in fact guilty of attempted murder) while Ellery only solves the case due to a clue which he'd heard and Simon hadn't. At the end of the episode Simon sounds sincerely frustrated in a way which indicates that he would have understood that clue and solved the case first if he'd been there when Ellery heard it.
89	** In "The Adventure of Caesars Last Sleep" the titular gangster would have died during the first attempt on his life (preventing Inspector Queen and Velie from getting implicated in the second, successful, attempt, with that second method of murder also leaving behind the necessary evidence to solve the case) if a rained out baseball game hadn't caused Ralph Caesar to walk away from his radio in the living room seconds before a stick of dynamite was tossed through the window.
90	* FrightDeathTrap: The Scared Stiff version is used "The Adventure of the Pharaoh's Curse", with a fatal fright being delivered to a man with a weak heart.
91	* GadgeteerGenius: Lamont Franklin in "The Adventure of the Eccentric Engineer".
92	* GilliganCut: In "The Adventure of Colonel Nivin's Memoirs", Ellery insists that Jenny isn't going with him to see Marcel and "that's that". Cut to a scene of Jenny with Ellery at Marcel's apartment.
93	* GirlOfTheWeek: Ellery had several girlfriends in the series, none of whom appeared in more than one episode.
94	* HatesTheJobLovesTheLimelight: This seems to be the case with Simon Brimmer. The actual production of his radio show is always shown to leave him exasperated, but he jumps at the chance it affords him to play sleuth on real cases.
95	* HeKnowsTooMuch:
96	** The reason that the title character in "The Adventure of Colonel Nivin's Memoirs" was killed.
97	** This was also the reason for the main target's death in "The Adventure of [[spoiler:the Sinister Scenario". Mike Hewitt knew that the killer had been culpable in the accidental death of someone else, and the killer had become fearful that Hewitt would soon decide to talk.]]
98	* HorribleHollywood: "The Adventure of the Sinister Scenario" had the Queens, father and son, witness this for themselves when they go on the set of an adaptation of one of Ellery's books. This being an Ellery Queen mystery, this trope's horrible aspects culminate in murder.
99	* IRememberBecause: In the pilot movie, a bartender cites several reasons he remembers when a particular customer had an alibi visiting his bar on a particular night (he was late to work that day because it was his granddaughter's birthday, the suspect made a large donation to a charity box while collecting his change, and they left together while the bartender was stepping out to get a newspaper right after it was delivered).
100	* IconicItem: Ellery's Bear Bryant fedora.
101	* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming: All the episodes title begin "The Adventure of..."
102	* ImprovisedWeapon:
103	** The title object in "The Adventure of the Chinese Dog". [[spoiler:The choice of this weapon ends up being a plot point, as Ellery realizes that it would have been much easier to kill Eben Wright with the nearby fireplace poker.]]
104	** Subverted in [[spoiler:"The Adventure of the Blunt Instrument". It appears that Edgar Manning was killed with the award trophy he received earlier that night. However, the murder was actually the result of a kick to the head with a built up shoe. The killer then smeared blood on the trophy to make it appear to be the murder weapon.]]
105	* IncurableCoughOfDeath: [[DiscussedTrope Discussed]] in "The Adventure of Miss Aggie's Farewell Performance" when Ellery interviews the soap opera writers about their plans for killing off Miss Aggie.
106	--> '''Olivia''': Vera Bethune had an exaggerated view of her importance to this program. Her contract was running out and her salary demands were exorbitant.
107	--> '''Alvin''': So we were ready to do what we always do: stick the old babe in the hospital with a cold. If she plays ball, the cold gets better. If not... pow, double pneumonia, and out she goes!
108	* InformedFlaw: The cold opens which discuss the various suspects of the episode sometimes describe various suspects as being far sleazier than they are (or at least a sleazier than they come across until the reveal for some of the murderers). For instance, in "The Adventure of the Two-Faced Woman", Celeste is described as "The kissing cousin", when nothing in the episode suggests romantic feelings between Celeste and her cousin on either party's side.
109	* InSeriesNickname: Ellery has a couple; Frank Flannigan usually calls him "Junior", despite there being no Ellery Queen Senior. Sergeat Velie constantly calls Ellery "Maestro".
110	* InspectorLestrade: Simon Brimmer, the host of a radio mystery series who fancies himself a real detective. He proves to have a knack for ferreting out useful information but always names the wrong person as the killer.
111	* InsuranceFraud: "The Adventure of [[spoiler:the Judas Tree]]" ultimately turns out to be a case of insurance fraud, with two suspects making a suicide look like murder so they can still claim the life insurance.
112	* IntrepidReporter: Recurring character Frank Flannigan is a newspaper columnist who has a habit of barging in on murder investigations looking for a hot scoop, much to Inspector Queen's annoyance.
113	* ItTastesLikeFeet: In "The Adventure of the Hard-Hearted Huckster", Flannigan complains about the taste of a cigar:
114	-->"You call this a cigar? It tastes like the inside of a lumberjack's boot!"
115	* ItWillNeverCatchOn:
116	** In the pilot episode, Inspector Queen grumpily refers to the television set in the victim's apartment and mentions a friend of his who is constantly pestered by guests who want to visit him and watch his new set. Ellery reassures him that TV is a novelty that will never last (which is additionally funny when it happens in a television production).
117	** When Flannigan's TV show is cancelled in "The Adventure of the Hard-Hearted Huckster", one of the execs suggests that they instead do a VarietyShow with [[Series/TheEdSullivanShow Ed Sullivan]] as the host. Flannigan scoffs at the notion.
118	-->"Ed Sullivan? That stone-faced zombie won't last two weeks!"
119	** In "The Adventure of the Tyrant of Tin Pan Alley", singer Gary Swift is trying out a new song called "Mona Lisa" and is unimpressed. "Who wants to hear [[Music/NatKingCole a song about]] [[Music/PanicAtTheDisco a painting]]?"
120	* JackBauerInterrogationTechnique: One of the characters in "The Adventure of the Blunt Instrument" is a mystery writer whose detectives tend to behave this way.
121	--> '''Nick''': You ever read any of my stuff?
122	--> '''Ellery''': Yeah, a little.
123	--> '''Nick''': Then you know how the hero gets information from the guy that won't talk, don't you?
124	--> '''Ellery''': Yeah, he... punches it out of him. (''beat'') Nick, did you just threaten me?
125	* TheKillerWasLeftHanded:
126	** In "The Adventure of the Pharoah's Curse", Ellery realizes someone had taken Norris' heart pills out of his jacket because they were in the left pocket. (Ellery notes that a heart attack usually paralyzes the left arm, and thus any heart patient would keep his pills in his right pocket.) In the story-within-a-story, Ellery mistakenly writes a murderer as right-handed when he early wrote him as left-handed.
127	** Ellery says this after surveying the crime scene in "The Adventure of the Judas Tree".
128	* LockedRoomMystery: "The Adventure of the Disappearing Dagger"
129	* TheMafia: "The Adventure of the Wary Witness" concerns the murder of the son in a prominent crime family. Mobsters also figure prominently in the plots of "The Adventure of the Sunday Punch" and "The Adventure of Caesar's Last Sleep". [[spoiler:In both cases, it's a red herring, as said mobsters have no involvement in the deaths of either victim.]]
130	* MeanBoss: Bud Armstrong in "The Adventure of the Comic Book Crusader", in addition to sexually harassing his secretary, verbally abuses his staff at every opportunity, and taunts them about the fact that they can't quit because of their contracts. [[spoiler:No wonder three of them decide to team up and murder him.]]
131	** That being said, three of his art staff do seem to be genuinely incompetent and just covering for each other, based on how the fourth also criticizes their work after taking over from Bud.
132	* MisplacedVegetation: {{Lampshaded}} in "the Adventure of the Comic Book Crusader" episode where cartoon magnate Bud chews out his backgrounds man for drawing palm trees in Wisconsin. He was apparently supposed to draw ''elm'' trees, although the mistake may have been Bud's, not the backgrounds man.
133	* MurderByMistake: Happens to the first victim in "The Adventure of [[spoiler:the Sinister Scenario]]". The killer then tries again and gets it right. To elaborate: [[spoiler:the star of an Ellery Queen movie is killed when fake bullets are replaced in a prop gun with real ones. Days later, the stuntman is murdered as well. It turns out that the stuntman was the target all along. The scene with the fatal gunshot was originally to have been filmed with the stuntman, but was changed at the last minute to feature the star instead; the killer had not received the most recent script revision.]]
134	* MurderTheHypotenuse: in several cases, including "Too Many Suspects" [[spoiler: where it was the couple's son who murdered his father's mistress]], and "The Adventure of [[spoiler: the Mad Tea Party", where the killer murdered the husband of the woman he wanted as his lover.]]
135	* MysteryMagnet: Ellery
136	* MysteryOfTheWeek
137	* MysteryWriterDetective: Ellery
138	* MythologyGag: In "The Adventure of the Sinister Scenario", Inspector Queen says that he heard that Lee Bowman was offered the role of Ellery Queen and turned it down. Bowman starred as Ellery in the 1950 Ellery Queen television series.
139	* NeverSuicide: Averted in "The Adventure of [[spoiler:the Judas Tree]]", where the death is revealed to be a suicide made to look like a murder.
140	* NewYearHasCome: "The Adventure of Auld Lang Syne" takes place on New Year’s Eve 1946/47.
141	* NotSoFakePropWeapon: In "The Adventure of the Sinister Scenario", a movie is being filmed based on Ellery and the man playing Ellery is killed by a gun that was supposed to be filled with blanks.
142	** The gun that is used to kill Bud in "The Adventure of the Comic Book Crusader" [[spoiler: is a prop, but later loaded with real bullets.]]
143	* ObfuscatingInsanity: Lamont Franklin in "The Adventure of the Eccentric Engineer" appears to have gone senile, wanting to do nothing else but play with his electric trains all day. It's all an act; he's merely pretending to have gone crazy so that he can work on his revolutionary new invention in peace.
144	* PanderingToTheBase: [[invoked]] In "The Adventure of the Comic Book Crusader", Ellery accuses Bud Armstrong of doing this with the unnecessarily violent Ellery Queen comic he is planning.
145	* PinkertonDetective: [[spoiler: Doyle]] in "The Adventure of the Mad Tea Party"
146	* ReadTheFinePrint: In "The Adventure of the Comic Book Crusader", Ellery despises the proposed Ellery Queen comic, but he is legally powerless to stop it because a clause in Ellery's contract stipulates that the company can license his likeness to use in any way they see fit.
147	* SerialKillingsSpecificTarget: This is what appears to be happening in "The Adventure of [[spoiler:the Sinster Scenario]]". It turns out the first victim was actually a case of MurderByMistake, and the similarity of the second victim made it look like a case of this trope.
148	* ScareChord: An all-brass version is built into the middle of the opening theme, over a sudden close-up of a pair of glasses with broken lenses. The theme then does a calming little piano trill, picks up its walking bass again, and continues panning across various clue-like objects, as it had been doing before the scare.
149	* TheShowOfTheBooks: "Too Many Suspects" and "The Adventure of the Mad Tea Party" are direct adaptations; the other episodes are original stories using the characters.
150	* ShowWithinAShow:
151	** Simon Brimmer's radio program "The Casebook of Simon Brimmer".
152	** The movie being filmed in "The Adventure of the Sinister Scenario."
153	** Flannigan's TV show in "The Adventure of the Hard-Hearted Huckster".
154	* SignificantAnagram: In the pilot episode, [[spoiler:the names of the fashion designer/victim's clothing lines are anagrams of the names of her lovers]].
155	* SpinningClockHands
156	* SpinningNewspaper: Used frequently, especially in episodes featuring Frank Flannigan.
157	** Also used in "The Adventure of Miss Aggie's Farewell Performance when Vera is successfully murdered.
158	* SuicideNotMurder: This is what the death in "The Adventure of [[spoiler:The Judas Tree]]" turns out to be. [[spoiler:The victim had a terminal illness, and his wife had begun seeing another man. He got revenge by divesting himself of all his assets so she wouldn't inherit anything, then committed suicide so she couldn't collect his life insurance. The wife and her lover, upon discovering the body, altered the scene to look like a murder.]]
159	* TheSummation: OnceAnEpisode
160	* SummationGathering: Likewise, OnceAnEpisode.
161	* ThemeNaming: The series occasionally liked to use the names of famous mystery writers as the last names of characters.
162	** "The Adventure of the Mad Tea Party" has characters surnamed [[Creator/ArthurConanDoyle Doyle]], [[Franchise/PerryMason Gardner]], [[Creator/MaryRobertsRinehart Rinehart]], and [[Literature/AlbertCampion Allingham]].
163	** "The Adventure of the Lover's Leap" has characters surnamed [[Creator/NgaioMarsh Marsh]] and [[Creator/RaymondChandler Chandler]].
164	* ThirdPersonPerson: Flannigan often drifted into this trope, particularly when picturing headlines.
165	* ThrowTheDogABone: In [[spoiler:"The Black Falcon"]] Simon still fails to solve the case but does get a consolation prize of a nice story involving a reunion between long lost relatives that he played a role in.
166	* TrophyViolence: In "The Adventure of the Blunt Instrument", Edgar Manning, a mystery writer, wins the annual Blunt Instrument Award for his year's work and goes to pick it up at a party. Ellery, who was Edgar's rival for the award, is sidelined because of a nasty cold. So Edgar gleefully phones Ellery and gives a blow-by-blow description of the award ceremony (including describing the trophy) as he leans back in his easy chair. But [[DisconnectedByDeath the phone call is interrupted by a sickening thud]]. Ellery calls out to Edgar but gets no response. Cut back to Edgar, who's now face down on his desk. His skull was shattered by ... The Blunt Instrument, the trophy itself.
167	* VehicularSabotage: In "The Adventure of the Sinister Scenario", a stuntman is killed when the brakes of the car he is driving in a stunt are tampered with.
168	* VictimOfTheWeek
169	* WagTheDirector: InUniverse example. Gilbert Mallory in "The Adventure of the Sinister Scenario" constantly overrides the director's creative decisions and makes it clear that what ''he'' says goes, even forcing the director to apologize for protesting about it.
170	* WheelProgram: After a decade and a half of obscurity, the OneSeasonWonder program found a new audience as cable channel A&E included it in its Mystery Wheel in the early 90s alongside fellow 70's shows ''Series/{{Delvecchio}}'', ''Series/MrsColumbo'', and ''OharaUSTreasury''
171	** The pilot "Two Many Suspects" aired as a "Mystery Movie Special" on ''Series/TheNBCMysteryMovie''.
172	* WhoMurderedTheAsshole: This occurred pretty much every episode. This was to maximise the number of suspects by giving everyone a motive to want the victim dead.
173	* WhoWouldWantToWatchUs: In "The Adventure of the Sinister Scenario", Inspector Queen and Ellery go to Hollywood to watch the filming of movie based on one of Ellery's novels that features both of them as characters. Neither is impressed with the casting, and Ellery takes issue with the director's frequent changes to the source material.
174	* YourApprovalFillsMeWithShame: Done deliberately in "The Adventure of Caesar's Last Sleep" when mobster Benny Franks puts his arm around crusading prosecutor Erwin Murphy, calling him an old pal and saying he loves him like a brother, knowing this will damage Murphy's reputation.
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Context Series / ElleryQueen