The Last Woman in His Life

By: Ellery Queen

Narrated by: Mark Peckham

John Lovering Benedict had more than most men - more money, more mansions, more cars, but most of all more women, including three ex-wives with little in common but their extraordinary physiques. For Ellery Queen the question was which one of them had bashed in Benedict's skull with a hunk of iron statuary? The clues were many…but puzzling. All had been planted at the scene of the crime, but by whom, and for what purpose? And who was the last woman in John Benedict's life?

©1970 Ellery Queen (P)2014 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Gave me a great idea for a social history paper

Homophobia in Early 1970s Popular American Literature and Entertainment: young person should write it!

Not Queen's finest hour

I read a review from someone who gave this one away (without the Spoiler Alert tag!) so I knew from the start whodunit. So here we go: Spoiler Alert. The rest of this review gives things away!
Sigh. I read it, therefore, to see if one could guess the outcome from the clues. I'm sure it would have been harder to guess when this book was written, but today...oh, it was so obvious!
That being said, I was expecting worse. Yes, there were a few digs at homosexuals being "not normal" and even mentally unbalanced, but it wasn't overplayed. And bear in mind, at the time homosexuality was still considered a mental illness. And Queen does seem to blur the lines, equating homosexuality with transvestitism. Not all queers, Queen, like to dress in women's clothes!
I was pleasantly surprised that we returned to Wrightsville for this caper. And Mark Peckham still is my favorite Queen reader. His Inspector Queen is wonderful! And, like I said, I was expecting the story to be much worse from what I'd read. Still...not my favorite Queen, by a long shot.

Great Ellery Queen

A superb mystery placed back in Wrightsville. Interesting and exaggerated characters. A who done it that will keep you guessing until the last chapter.

Very dated, but still a good puzzle.

This book was published in 1970 and language and morality has changed a lot, but as always, the puzzles are fun to work out and the mystery holds up.

Very problematic

As true to the conventions of an Ellery Queen book this is, it is hopelessly irreparably outdated in its treatment of its homosexual character(s).To the point of discomfort at times and then it just jumped way over the edge of offensive.

It was a lesson to me in how bassackward the entire SWM attitude toward LGBTQ folks used to be. Thank goodness the world is changing.

Avoid! Avoid this book or avoid the other reviews

The reviews give too much away. They made me curious so I listened. Mistake. Very few readers will enjoy this book as it is simply poorly written regardless of the plot and characters and their motives.
I would advise listening only if you have already heard all the other EQ books and feel you must be complete. The only other slight appeal would be dated novelty. (I remember being impressed when James Bond had a telephone in his car at about the time this book was written. But I wouldn’t replay that movie now as it just wouldn’t be novel anymore. Approximately the same novelty value. It’s a distant analogy as I do not want to give anything away)

Ellery loses his edge

The Ellery Queen books written post 1960 are not as good as the original mysteries.