First edition good

El macabro envío de un perro muerto y un misterioso mensaje, fueron el instrumento asesino que paró de un golpe el débil corazón de Leander Hill, socio fundador de la poderosa firma de joyeros , Hill & Priam. El mensaje y el cuerpo del perro muerto desaparecieron, y la policía de Hollywood se negó a creer la historia de un crimen por terror; sin embargo, Laura Hill no se dio por vencida y obligó materialmente a Ellery Queen para que aceptara investigar la muerte de su padre. Pero al terminar el caso, no sólo se descubrió quién era el asesino, sino también la forma tan sucia en que los socios obtuvieron su fortuna y algunas otras cosas que desconcertaron a la policía

A dead dog killing anybody struck Ellery as worth a tentative glance. And there was something about the girl - a remote, hardened purpose - that interested him. "Sit down again. She betrayed herself by the quick way in which she came back to the pony skin chair, by the way she folded her tense hands and waited. "How exactly, Laurel, did a dead dog 'kill' your father?" "It murdered him."

ELLERY QUEEN was sun-bathing in the doorway of his Hollywood bedroom when the pretty young girl appeared. She was dressed in zebra-striped culottes and bolero over a bra-like doodad of bright green suede. Green open-toed sandals on her tiny feet. A small and slender number, but three-dimensional where it counted. "You are sort of pale, aren't you?" she said. "And your ribs stick out." And then: "I don't think there's anything funny in a dead dog, do you?" "Dogs die all the time," Ellery said in a kindly voice. The girl stared down at her cigaret. "He was a ... gift, and it killed my father." "How exactly did a dead dog 'kill' your father?" "It murdered him."

Hate, greed and murder and wonderful cover design - woman in red underwear.