Why did the last survivor of a wealthy family bring together six people whom he didn't know and had never seen? Why did he decide to make these perfect strangers his heirs? And where was old Hendrik's fortune hidden? Ellery Queen's latest adventure is a satirical murder-comedy of the turned-on sixties which combines hilarity with the deadly macabre, and, of course, the full Queen-quota of fair-and-square deduction and endless surprise.

"You are invited to a murder"

Inside cover reads: The House of Brass stood in Sleeply Hollow-a squat, rambling structure of wayward ells sprouting a crop of mushroom chimney stacks. The original building was 16th-Century Dutch Colonial, shaded by crouching trees that still trembled-you could swear-from the hoofbeats of the Headless Horseman. And the front door was of solid shimmering brass. To each of the invited guests Hendrik Brass's ancestral relic promised much; dreams come true, new riches...and with this, the first faint gnawings of an inexpressible fear. Why did the last survivor of a wealthy family bring together six people whom he didn't know and had never seen? And where was old Hendrik's fortune hidden?

Another IQ in retirement tale, and a direct sequel to "IQ's Own Case." Not that much plot, but there's a neat double twist and EQ has to come up with the real answer. Dad ties the knot with Jessie Sherwood. Avram Davidson apparently considered writing a third Ellery Queen novel and began negotiations, but this book was ultimately written by Theodore Sturgeon.