" The House of Darkness (1935) and The Treasure Hunt (1935) show EQ's skill with elaborate, surrealistic backgrounds for his fiction. Both stories are also good mystery puzzles, not too realistic, but imaginative in their plotting. The estate of the retired General in Treasure Hunt recalls that of retired actor Drury Lane in The Tragedy of X (1932). The cubist inspired designer of the "The House of Darkness" is a Frenchman, and recalls the similar French designer of the Art Deco furniture in The French Powder Mystery (1930). Another noteworthy feature of the early EQ stories is the presence of black people among the suspects. EQ is clearly trying to treat them in non-stereotyped ways. They are most fully present in The House of Darkness. The Bleeding Portrait (1937), has some good atmosphere in its first half, but which never builds up much of a mystery plot.

After writing 14 short stories, including a novella, in the three years 1933-1935, EQ largely gave up the form in the next three, publishing only two mediocre shorts in 1936-1938. In 1939 EQ returned to the short tale with a series of four stories, all with sports backgrounds. Each co stars Paula Paris, with whom EQ fell in love in The Four of Hearts (1938). She is a good character, but unfortunately she seems never to have returned after these works. The first three stories are well done, and even the weaker final tale ("The Trojan Horse") is a game attempt with some pleasant mystery; like "The Treasure Hunt" it involves a long search for some stolen jewels. "Man Bites Dog" has some affinities with the minimalist tales of poisoning EQ was essaying in these years, such as The Four of Hearts and Calamity Town (1942). "Long Shot" returns to the turf of The American Gun Mystery (1933), with a tale combining Western characters, horses, and guns, the same elements of the earlier book." (Michael E.Grost)

In How to Read a Short Story by Marjorie L. Burns plot is discussed as having four elements. First the author reveals the situation that the characters find themselves in. The problem or conflict is exposed either by narrative or immediate action. Second, events and actions grow out of the conflict if it was fully revealed at the outset of the story. If the conflict is not immediately revealed because the author starts with action rather than narrative, then the readers must discover the conflict by carefully reading and observing what the characters do and say. This part of the plot is called rising action. Readers identify opposing forces in the story, perhaps two characters, a character and a force of nature (a storm), or a character and the problem he faces. Third is the turning point or climax in which the action reaches its acme and one opposing force wins and the other loses. In mystery or detective fiction the crime is solved. Fourth, the author shows the results of whatever was decided or revealed at the climax. The resolution in mysteries can be the explanation of the crime as only the detective or private eye could have determined it.

“Man Bites Dog” is a good example of a story which is heavily reliant on plot and can be classified as an American version of the formal detective novel. The setting is the seventh game of the world series between the New York Yankees and the New York Giants. The characters include EQ, his date, gossip columnist Paula Paris, Inspector Queen and Sergeant Velie in one box behind the Yankee dugout. Below them are two boxes occupied by one couple each Big Bill Tree, ex-pitcher and Lotus Verne, shapely movie star, in one. In the other box were Big Bill’s estranged wife Judy Starr, Broadway celebrity and her escort Jimmy Connor, song-and-dance man. The exposition is in the introduction of the characters and the tension between the two couples, who are being closely scrutinized by Ellery Queen. To define “rising action”, one would examine all of the characters’ by-play.