I THOUGHT IT WAS ONLY IN BOOKS.

I don't recall much about the Ellery Queen mystery, The King is Dead. I remember I really enjoyed it as I did every one of his mysteries (I should say their as they were written by a team). Recently I tried to buy it again and found it completely unavailable, as are all their novels. What I recall, possibly wrongly, is that King was a ruthless businessman. He was charismatic, cruel and attractive, ruthless, egocentric and vain. At the climax of the book he is exposed as an ordinary looking man transfigured by padding, makeup, a wig and other devises of disguise.  I also seem to remember that once his true appearance was revealed so was his complete lack of any real power or intelligence. At least that's what I recall from a book I read 63 years ago. I wonder what made me think of it now.