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
PEN/Nabokov Award The prize money was increased from US$20,000 to US$50,000, and the name was changed from PEN/Nabokov Award for Fiction to PEN/Nabokov Award for Achievement in International Literature. The criteria of the award was changed to those born or residing outside the United States, meaning previous winners Ozick, Roth, and Gass wouldn't have qualified for this version of the award. The award is one of many PEN awards sponsored by International PEN affiliates in over 145 PEN centres around the world. The PEN American Center awards have been characterized as being among the "major" American literary prizes. PEN/Nabokov Award The PEN/Nabokov