ELLERY QUEEN'S PRIME CRIMES

For the first time the EQ anthology offers brand-new stories--16 of them--and editor SulLivan (the ""Ellery Queen"" byline is now a mere, ghoulish formality) promises one such volume annually from now on. Does newness mean better quality? Well, not really. Among the weaker entries here: a bland, drawn-out Patricia Moyes novella about a London kidnapping; routine twist-items by Edward D. Hoch, Jean Darling, and William Bankier; a hard-working Sherlock Holmes pastiche by John H. Dirckx. But Joan Aiken lends Irish atmosphere to her unsurprising tale of professorial murder and priestly blackmail. Donald Olson makes an old plot (con-man trying to get his hands on an undiscovered old master) seem fresh; Seicho Matsumoto does a solid variation on Witness for the Prosecution. And, while Stephen Wasylyk and Louis Weinstein go the cute route (oldster-sleuths, Jewish-family shtick), Robert Twohy offers a genuinely hilarious, deadpan/absurdist parody--featuring a shamus called Slime. A modestly entertaining group--with promise of better things to come in future all-new volumes.