11 h 0 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 11 h 0 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
A man lies dead in a crowded theatre, but why does his missing top hat matter so much?
At New York’s Roman Theatre, a full house watches Gunplay while lawyer Monte Field dies in his seat. He has many enemies, and the medical examiner finds poison. With the doors under watch, Inspector Richard Queen turns to the audience, the staff and everyone connected with the play.
Richard’s bookish son, Ellery Queen, treats the murder as a problem in logic. Field arrives in formal evening dress, yet his top hat is missing. In The Roman Hat Mystery: A Problem in Deduction, the reader sees the same facts as the detective. The challenge is to work out what those facts mean.
What you’ll discover
- A theatre full of suspects Follow the inquiry through a crowded house where audience and staff become sources of clues.
- Father and son at work Watch Richard Queen’s police experience meet Ellery’s scholarly mind and quick reasoning.
- The missing top hat Consider how one absent object turns an evening’s formal dress into a central riddle.
- A fair chance to solve Study the same facts as Ellery and test your own deductions against his.
- Reasoning rather than luck Enjoy an orderly puzzle where scenes unfold like moves in a game.
Who will love it
You will enjoy this if you like puzzles you can solve beside the detective, 1920s New York, and clever father and son partnerships. It rewards readers who love clues, suspect lists and logic working step by step.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A noisy play conceals a murder
- The missing hat becomes a clue
- Small details establish the murder window
- Suspicious behavior does not prove murder
- Money and secrets connect the clues
- Deduction requires every step to hold
- Fear gives a blackmailer his power
- The reader receives the same clues
- Every clue narrows what remains possible
Who’s who
- Ellery QueenA bookish writer in a pince-nez who solves puzzles by pure reasoning and wants to get back to his rare books.
- Inspector Richard QueenA small, gray police inspector with a snuffbox, a kind manner and a sharp, patient mind who needs his son's insight.
- Monte FieldA wealthy and crooked lawyer, drunk and cheerful at the theater, who has a deal to close that night.
- Thomas VelieA solid, unemotional detective sergeant who runs the searches and checks every lead for the Inspector.
- Benjamin MorganField's former law partner, a respectable man who lies to protect a private secret that Field has used against him.
- Frances Ives-PopeA rich young society woman whose evening bag turns up in a dead man's pocket, and who fears scandal.
- Angela RussoField's loud and shifting companion, who swings between grief and bargaining and knows more than she says.
- Louis PanzerThe nervous manager of the Roman Theatre, who wants his play back on the stage and his house full.
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The Roman Hat Mystery: A Problem in Deduction
by Ellery Queen · 1929
A man dies unseen in the last row of a packed Broadway theater, and his top hat vanishes.
Medium level5–10 hours to read2 languages
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In short
A man in evening dress slumps to the floor in the last row of a packed Broadway theater. Onstage, pistols crack in a noisy crime drama, while a bookkeeper hears the dying man whisper that he has been murdered.
The Roman Hat Mystery: A Problem in Deduction at a glance
- Reading time
- About 6 h 15 min5 h fast, 7 h 30 min slow
- Length
- 89,700 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1929by Ellery Queen
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A murder hides inside a noisy play
The story opens on a wet Monday night in late September at the Roman Theatre. The play is Gunplay, the season's busiest hit, stuffed with pistol shots, machine guns and screams. Every seat is sold, and the audience adores the din. That din is exactly what covers a death.
In the last row, a nervous bookkeeper named William Pusak tries to leave his seat. A man blocks the way, then slides to the floor, grips Pusak's hand, whispers something about murder, and goes limp. Pusak stumbles to the back and finds a policeman named Doyle. Doyle acts fast. He fetches a doctor, has ushers posted at every door, and sends for old man Queen by name.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 14 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1929
- Language
- English
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Queen, Ellery. The Roman Hat Mystery: A Problem in Deduction. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-roman-hat-mystery-a-problem-in-deduction.
Queen, E. (2026). The Roman hat mystery: A problem in deduction. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-roman-hat-mystery-a-problem-in-deduction (Original work published 1929)
Queen, Ellery. The Roman Hat Mystery: A Problem in Deduction. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-roman-hat-mystery-a-problem-in-deduction.
@book{queen2026roman,
author = {Queen, Ellery},
title = {The Roman Hat Mystery: A Problem in Deduction},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-roman-hat-mystery-a-problem-in-deduction},
note = {First published 1929}
}
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What is The Roman Hat Mystery about?
A lawyer named Monte Field is poisoned in the last row of a packed New York theater, and his top hat vanishes. Inspector Richard Queen and his son Ellery question suspects and search for the reason the hat was stolen.
Who is Ellery Queen?
Ellery Queen is both the book's author name and its detective. In the story he is a mystery writer in a pince-nez who helps his father, Inspector Queen, solve cases using logic and a keen eye for small details.
Why does the missing top hat matter so much?
Someone took the dead man's hat from a closed theater, so the Queens ask why. The answer must be in what the hat held or what it showed. Following that question shapes the whole investigation.
The author
Ellery Queen
American detective fiction writing duo
Ellery Queen was the shared pen name of American cousins Frederic Dannay (1905–1982) and Manfred B. Lee (1905–1971). Both were born in Brooklyn, New York, and lived in the United States. They wrote detective novels, beginning with The Roman Hat Mystery in 1929. Dannay edited Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine from 1941.
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