Ellery Queen Dannay and Lee also commissioned other authors to write crime thrillers under the Ellery Queen authorial name, but not featuring Ellery Queen as a character. Daniel Nathan, professionally known as Frederic Dannay (October 20, 1905 – September 3, 1982), and Emanuel Benjamin Lepofsky, professionally known as Manfred Bennington Lee (January 11, 1905 – April 3, 1971), were American cousins from Brooklyn, New York. In addition to writing most of the novels and short stories starring the brilliant amateur detective Ellery Queen, Dannay and Lee edited more than thirty popular anthologies of crime fiction and true crime, which were also published
Hack writer Hack writer A hack writer is a pejorative term for a writer who is paid to write low-quality, rushed articles or books "to order", often with a short deadline. In a fiction-writing a hack writer is paid to quickly write sensational, "pulp" fiction such as "true crime" novels or "bodice ripping" paperbacks. In journalism, a hack writer is deemed to operate as a "mercenary" or "pen for hire", expressing their client's political opinions in pamphlets or newspaper articles. Hack writers are usually paid by the number of words in their book or article; as a result, hack writing has a