Queen's departure from the pure puzzle format in Calamity Town and The Murderer Is a Fox suggests the influence of writers outside the field of the formal detective novel. Also suggestive of other influences is Queen's depiction of the small town of Wrightsville. Given that Queen in his magazine, had been publishing the work of writers such as Hammett, it is possible that their treatment of American life had an impact upon his writing. While Queen can never be considered a member of the hard-boiled tradition of detective fiction, his post-1940s work, including The Murderer Is a Fox reveals an attempt to broaden his social vision beyond the confines of the enclosed world of the upper class.

The town of Wrightsville, named perhaps in tribute to S. S. Van Dine, the pseudonym of Willard Huntington Wright, serves as an example of typical middle American life...