In a poll of 17 detective story writers and reviewers, this novel was voted as the eighth best locked room mystery of all time.

[1] A wealthy publisher and collector of precious stones and Chinese postage stamps has a luxurious suite in a hotel that serves to handle his non-publishing business and the comings and goings of his staff, his relatives, and his female friends.

It takes the considerable talents of Ellery Queen to sort through the motives and lies and arrive at the twisted logic that underlies every aspect of this very unusual crime.

The character of Ellery Queen and the locked room mystery aspect were probably initially suggested by the novels featuring detective Philo Vance by S.S. Van Dine, which were very popular at the time.

Other details of the lives of the fictional Queen family contained in earlier introductions have now disappeared and are never mentioned again; the introductory device of "J.J.