Ellery is an irritating protagonist, an empty shell of affectations devoid of the complexities and hidden turpitudes of a Wimsey, a Holmes, even a Poirot. And the plot isn’t much more engaging. The how relies on a convoluted trick with poles and string that I could scarcely follow, and when we got the who I had to double check their identity in the cast list at the start of the book. Frivolous nonsense.