Ellery Queen was born as the son of an unusual married couple for that time. His mother belonged to the so-called high society, while his father, Richard Queen, worked as simple policeman. Ellery Queen graduated from Harvard University, a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. After the early death of his mother, he inherited their wealth, which made him financially independent. 

The tall amateur detective is interested in antiquarian books and, alongside his work, he is also the editor of a magazine called Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. Father and son live together in a spacious New York apartment. Later Ellery Queen moves into the fictional town of Wrightsville in the New York area.

Inspector Richard Queen, who has been working as an investigator in the homicide unit of the New York Police Department, is always advising his son when it comes to solving a particularly complex case. Thanks to his strict logical reasoning and analytical abilities, Ellery Queen is often a great help to his father in the resolution of such cases.

In addition to some other things, financial independence is one of the factors achieving a similarity between Ellery Queen and the English amateur detective Lord Peter Wimsey.

Ellery Queen was represented as a snob in his early cases, looking through his monocle at the world and roaming the city with a Duesenberg sports car. In his later cases, this snobbery turns into greater empathy, which can sometimes come in handy during his cases.

However, even this empathy is not permanent and in subsequent investigations, the amateur detective solves his cases with an emotional detachment, characterized by logical considerations. The cases of Ellery Queen are classic Whodunit crime films, that is, the reader accompanies the detective after he arrived at the crime scene.