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t was a 'trouvaille' to introduce inspector Queen in his books, father of a brilliant Ellery, who remained an amateur-sleuth. Father Queen is an inspector with the "New York Homicide Bureau". This combination allowed official police-activities to merge with the unofficial interventions of Ellery Queen, and the possibilities this offered were exhausted by the writers. In my opinion the casting of Inspector Queen as Ellery's dad not only gives him the opportunity to participate in official police business but tremendously adds to the nostalgic feel to the stories. Intended or not, the NYPD corps fighting crime with deductive powers and lots of hard work is omnipresent. Those were the days where police work seem to depend a lot more on people and their knowledge rather then technology!

ew books are full fledged Richard Queen books.
Inspector Queen's Own Case of course and to a certain point it's sequel The House of Brass in which Ellery eventually shows up. "Manny once acknowledged that the character of Ellery's father, Inspector Richard Queen, was modeled after his own dad (Benjamin Lepofsky) as well as his father-in-law (Robert Hugh Brinker) ". (Steinbock EQMM 2005 Jan - Rand B.Lee) Of whom Manny was fond (Rand B. Lee).
Richard is about 1,62 m tall somewhat crooked, thick gray hair and a moustache. Fine gray eyes and slim hands. He's also extremely skinny,  "... . And now the Inspector was denuded, his little sexagenarian hide impaled on the point of a needle. ..." (28) .
His office was situated in Central Street. He used to be captain in an outside N.Y.district. His telephone number at the office was SP 7-3100. Richard Queen appears for the first time in The Roman Hat Mystery and handles an old brown snuffbox. Richard's precious snuffbox is a Florentine antique which he had picked up at an auction. Richard is close to sixty and wears a cheap weddingring. Richard studied in Heidelberg (sometimes wrongly referred to as Neurenberg).
JJMcC first words tell us the Inspector succumb to the blandishments of a charming old lady whose name he had cleared of slander. He eventually gets remarried to Jessie Sherwood (whos name he does clear). It took the Inspector two books to finally tie the knot.

antos Ortega (30 Jun 1899 - 10 Apr 1976)

Prolific radio actor played grandpa Hughes on As The World Turns radio drama; also originated the radio roles of Inspector Queen on Ellery Queen, Perry Mason & Nero Wolfe.
He also gained fame narrating a popular radio show called Gangbusters and is perhaps best remembered as Commissioner Weston on The Shadow.  He died in 1976 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

harles Grapewin (20 Dec 1869 (?) - 2 Feb 1956)

Best known for three of his roles: Grandpa in "The Grapes of Wrath",  Jeeter Lester in "Tobacco Road" and Uncle Henry in "The Wizard of Oz". Often described as grizzled, wheezy, cantankerous, grumpy and a codger in his grandfatherly roles. In the unsuccesful Ellery Queen movies series he played the role of Inspector Queen ... (click on picture for more)

avid Wayne (30 Jan 1914 - 9 Feb 1995)

His crusty Inspector Queen in the Ellery Queen tv-series (1976-1977) must be the definitive depiction of The Old Man although Wayne lacked the moustache so often mentioned in the books. David Wayne was born January 30th , 1914 in Traverse City Michigan. His home life was rather sad as his mother died when he was four years old... ... (click on picture for more)