Originally published in This Week, December 28, 1952, and reprinted in QBI as “Embezzlement Dept: The Myna Birds,” this one is so unbelievable that the reader just has no recourse but to relax and enjoy the ride.
Three suspects, as usual, and a clue left by a bird who keeps crying out “cut, cut, cut.” Ellery takes a while to realize that the bird isn’t describing the mode of murder, but that the three suspects cut cards to determine who would commit the foul deed. The characters may have been bridge players, but there was no bridge traversing the waters covering this bottom feeder of a story.
Reading Ellery Queen 