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
Masters of True Crime writers describe exploding bombs, missing persons, cold cases, domestic homicides, organized crime, escaped convicts, kids gone wrong, a dead Girl Scout, and even a psychopathic Russian Countess." Masters of True Crime Masters of True Crime: Chilling Stories of Murder and the Macabre is a true crime anthology edited by American crime writer R. Barri Flowers. It was released by Prometheus Books in July 2012. The book includes 17 true-crime short stories by what "True Crime Zine" called "some of the best authors of the genre." Contributing authors include: Burl Barer, Carol Anne Davis, Phyllis Gobbell, Laura James, Douglas E. Jones,