The Ellery Queen stories deserve a revival of their own. They rank among the most carefully plotted tales in the whole detective canon. These whodunits were the work of a partnership between Frederic Dannay and his cousin Manfred Bennington Lee—the former specializing in constructing the crimes and clues, while the latter took on responsibility for turning them into slick mass-market narratives. In an odd metafiction twist, the duo used the pseudonym Ellery Queen—who was also the detective in the stories. The King is Dead is one of their best efforts, full of the zip and energy of mid-century pulp fiction, but with amusing characters and one of the wildest locked room premises I’ve read. It’s all a bit goofy and dated, but even today you could turn this into a fun and campy film.