Sturgeon ghost-wrote an Ellery Queen mystery novel, "The Player on the Other Side" (Random House, 1963). This novel gained critical praise from critic H.R.F. Keating, who "had almost finished writing "Crime and Mystery: the 100 Best Books", in which I had included "The Player on the Other Side" ... placing the book squarely in the Queen canon" when he learned that it had been written by Sturgeon. Similarly, "William DeAndrea, author and ... winner of Mystery Writers of America awards, selecting his ten favorite mystery novels for the magazine "Armchair Detective", picked "The Player on the Other Side" as one of them. He said: 'This book changed my life ... and made a raving mystery fan (and therefore ultimately a mystery writer) out of me. ... The book must be 'one of the most skilful pastiches in the history of literature. An amazing piece of work, whomever did it'."