Ellery Queen, which was introduced on CBS Radio as The Adventures of Ellery Queen, was a detective series that featured Hugh Marlowe as the title character. The show was originally a replacement for the Screen Guild Theater, which was a popular anthology series. It was broadcast on three radio stations, starting on CBS Radio from June 18, 1939 to September 22, 1940, then on NBC Radio from 1942 to 1944, back to CBS radio from 1945 to 1947, and finally on ABC Radio on 1947-1948. The basic format of the show was that, a mystery would be presented, then the guest celebrities would try to solve it.

During a very prestigious 1920's writing contest, the cousins, Fred Dannay and Manfred B. Lee, created the character. The cousins were looking for a Sherlock Holmes and Watson all rolled into one character; Ellery Queen was their answer. Ellery Queen was an author who solved mysteries in his spare time and then wrote about his harrowing adventures; his sidekick was his own father, Richard Queen.

After the cousins won the contest, they proceeded to write novels about Ellery Queen. It was during this time when the media wanted a glimpse of Ellery Queen. Usually, Dannay would disguise himself, shroud his face, and assume the identity of Ellery Queen. The media bought the whole get-up.

The novels were then turned into a weekly old time radio show that followed the mystery-solving duo around on their escapades. It was in 1932 when the cousins came up with a series of novels with a character that was mentioned in the past Ellery Queen books, Barnaby Ross. After the publishing of the four novels, Lee and Dannay announced that Barnaby Ross was actually Ellery Queen. The publishers then went back and changed all the Barnaby Ross novels into Ellery Queen novels. The publicity stunt was, in turn, very effective. This spun even more old time radio shows that lasted from 1943-1967.

This collection contains the 30-minute Ellery Queen mystery shows - for the highly abbreviated sister series, see also Ellery Queen Minute Mysteries.

Much to the CBS executives' surprise, the show was such a huge hit among many listeners. In fact, on October 8, 1939, at the show's "The Mother Goose Murders" episode, the station suddenly went off air, and got back with only 9 minutes left for the show, causing a lot of listeners to call and complain. Knowing that the show was really popular, Ellery Queen remained on air for 8 seasons. Click here to read more about Adventures Of Ellery Queen, The