title: The Four of Hearts: An Ellery Queen Mystery
author:  Ellery Queen 
description: 1994, trade paperback edition (of a title first published in 1938), Harper Perennial, NY. 250 pages. Ellery Queen was a pen name for two cousins who, in the 1920s, 30s and 40s, along with Rex Stout, led the way re. American mystery writers. Most of the biggest names in the field were British, but Queen was one of the ones who turned things around. Our man Ellery has been hired as a writer out West on a major motion picture shoot. Something is about to happen to our two very visible super stars.
zlib_text: 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  The Earl of Hearts
  
  When Melony Farramond’s betrothed was disfigured in a horrific fire eleven
  years ago, she succumbed to her fears and terminated the engagement, unable to
  face the prospect of a long life with a crippled monster. Now a lonely
  spinster, she’s overcome by regret and wishes only to see him one more time,
  so that they might both put the past behind them.
  
  Lord Hartley Kentigern was badly scarred in the fire that took the lives of
  his father and younger brother, and the tragedy became unbearable when his
  fiancée broke off their engagement soon after. Sinking deeper and deeper into
  a morass of cynicism and bitterness and haunted by a rejection he can never
  excuse, he now lives a solitary life on his estate, resigned to enjoying only
  fleeting comforts in the arms of an occasional willing woman.
  
  With the annual Valentine masquerade ball approaching, Hartley’s concerned
  sister hatches a scheme to bring Melony and her brother together once more, in
  a final e