Typical Ellery Queen mystery with its wonderful use of English, convoluted plot, and interesting characters. Grouchy, shapr tongued harridan Cornelia Potts has a henpecked husband, six miserable children and a penchant for the macabre. While ellery queen is a guest for dinner murder occurs and he must solve the mystery.
An okay example of the mystery story of the 1940's, this is -- at least -- not as outlandishly complicated as many of the Ellery Queen tales are. It has some surprises, but the solution isn't that great a shock. OK, but nothing special.