COP OUT - An Ellery Queen Mystery by Queen, Ellery (pen name used by Frederic Dannay and Manfred B. Lee) - 1969

London: Gollancz, 1969. 190 pp. Red boards lettered in gilt on the spine. Light rubbing at the corners of the dustjacket; price clipped; no interior markings. Criminals on the run invade the home of some ordinary citizen and force the family, at gun point, to provide them with food and shelter until the hue and cry dies down. What they didn't realize was that the husband - the father - was a cop... Ellery Queen quickly became an American institution, from the first book in 1929, The Roman Hat Mystery. The Ellery Queen stories caught on and spread to other media. A radio show started in 1939 and ran until 1948. On TV, Ellery Queen began in 1950 and survived an assortment of incarnations until 1975/1976 with the series starring Jim Hutton, David Wayne, Tom Reese, John Hillerman and many others. As for movies, the first one was in 1935 with Donald Cook as Ellery Queen. The bulk of the movies, though, were made during the 1940s with Ralph Bellamy in the lead role, although William Gargan played the role a couple of times. And then there was the Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, launched in 1941 and still going. As well, there were the comic books and graphic novels, the board games and jigsaw puzzles... and the theatre, with an assortment of awards being won along the way, including the Grand Master Edgar Award.. First UK Edition. Hardcover. Very Good/Very Good. 8vo. Book.