The Finishing Stroke the young heir, was born in 1905. This is at odds with accounts in the earliest Queen stories, but Frederic Dannay and Manfred B. Lee, who co-wrote the novels under the "Ellery Queen" pen name, were both born in 1905. To quote some negative criticism of the novel: "Rhymed threats of murder, accompanied by symbolic objectives, bewilder the guests and annoy the reader. The pervasive vulgarity renders the trick plot even less believable and justifies the contempt of those who dismiss all crime fiction as puerile." The Finishing Stroke The Finishing Stroke is a mystery novel by Ellery Queen, published
Helen Smith (writer) Helen Smith (writer) Helen Smith is an English novelist and dramatist. She's a member of the Mystery Writers of America, English PEN and the Crime Writers Association. She lives in Brixton, London. Helen Smith is a novelist and playwright who lives in London. She has one daughter, Lauren, with the writer Damon Rochefort. When her daughter was small, they travelled extensively in Australia, South East Asia, Hong Kong and South America before returning to the UK where her first novel, Alison Wonderland, was published. Helen Smith was a winning writer in the IRDP London Playwrights Festival and was the recipient