A millionaire ... murdered as she was about to be saved...

'A new Ellery Queen book has always been something to look forward to for many years now' Agatha Christie

'Ellery Queen is the American detective story' New York Times

The son of a police detective, Ellery Queen is no stranger to death, and has seen more than his fair share of dead bodies. Yet the thought of seeing a living person sliced open makes him ill. So when a doctor invites him to sit in on an operation, Queen braces himself.

The patient is a millionaire in a diabetic coma. To prepare her for surgery, the hospital staff has stabilised her blood sugar level and wheeled her to the operating theatre - but just before the first incision, the doctors realise she is dead, strangled while lying unconscious.

Now Ellery Queen moves from observer to detective in his most mysterious case yet.