Mystery and More Mystery by Robert Arthur

A mysterious knife that does its fatal work without the aid of human hands... An embezzler who hides his stolen money and then finds getting it back is a life's work... A kooky murderer who thinks he is Sherlock Holmes and solves his own crime... A beautiful woman who enters a house on a snowbound hilltop and impossibly disappears...

Originally published in 1966, Mystery and More Mystery is a collection of Robert Arthur's most loved short stories. Featuring 10 tales of varying length the book merges locked room mysteries, impossible crimes, and classic detective stories. I have reviewed each of the impossible crime stories below, though the more traditional mysteries should also appeal to fans of the genre.

The Blow from Heaven

An old lady sleeps alone beside a ceremonial knife. With no-one else in the room, the knife plunges into her chest and kills her.

A simple but neat impossible crime, The Blow from Heaven introduces us to a world of magic, conjuring and possession. While the solution may be easy to spot, the eerie set-up leads to a perfectly readable short story.

Whistle Up The Devil by Derek Smith

A man seals himself in a room, with both the window and the door under constant guard. Despite the precautions, a mysterious killer stabs him in the back and vanishes without a trace. To compound the confusion a potential suspect is later killed in a prison cell, despite no-one having access to the jail...

First published in 1953, Derek Smith's novel Whistle up the Devil contains two interlinked impossible crimes that pay homage to the likes of John Dickson Carr and Clayton Rawson. The story follows amateur detective Algy Lawrence as he investigates the mysterious death of Roger Querrin. With both the detective and the police standing guard outside Querrin's room at the time of his death, the disappearance of the killer raises suspicions of a supernatural murderer. Like many of the classic impossible crime tales, Lawrence is determined to prove there is nothing at all supernatural about Querrin's death.

Tantalizing Locked Room Mysteries Review

"The best puzzle is not merely a mysterious crime but an impossible one - the kind where the murder takes place in a locked room, or in an unapproachable place, or at a non-existent time, or under conditions when there are no possible suspects."

Isaac Asimov headlines the list of editors that also includes Charles G. Waugh and Martin Harry Greenberg. Published in 1982, Tantalizing Locked Room Mysteries features 12 short stories of the genre including Edgar Allan Poe's Murders in the Rue Morgue, Jacques Futrelle's Problem of Cell 13, and many more established classics. Mixed in are a selection of lesser known works, but mystery fans will recognise many of the author names. A brief review of each story is detailed below, as well as links to those works that are available online for free.

Source: Biblioklept

The Murders in the Rue Morgue by Edgar Allan Poe
Story and full review available for free here.

A genre defining story that has been emulated countless times by later authors.

The Adventure of the Speckled Band by Arthur Conan Doyle
Story and full review available for free here.

One of the few Sherlock Holmes stories to feature a true locked room mystery, the solution is a bit of a disappointment.

The Problem of Cell 13 by Jacques Futrelle
Story and full review available for free here.

One of the finest examples of locked room mystery fiction.

The Light at Three O'clock by MacKinlay Kantor
A silent phone call is made from a locked room, the occupant of which died the night before...

Gradually building tension as the hotel phone operator and manager go to investigate, Kantor's short story has a simple solution that, while elegant, defies one of the cardinal rules of locked room fiction.

Death Locked In Review

Compiled by Douglas Greene and Robert Adey, Death Locked in is an anthology of locked-room mysteries. Featuring stories written across the centuries, the book provides some insight as to the origins of the genre, development during the "golden age of detective fiction", and a few more recent examples. Each story is preceded by an introduction to the author, and a brief description of the context in which it was written.

The body was found in a room with the door locked and the windows sealed from within. Only the corpse is there. Clearly murder was done, but where is the murderer? Who could have done it? That's the classic locked-room situation, the impossible crime. 

That too is why the locked-room story never ceases to delight and entertain us. The absolute master of the genre, John Dickson Carr, once wrote that the detective story has three qualities seldom found in the thriller: fair play, sound plot construction, and ingenuity. And in no other form of the detective story is ingenuity as important as in the locked-room crime, for it is here that the author challenges the reader to what Carr called "the grandest game in the world". Not just whodunit, but how?

Since the 19th century, tales of impossible crimes have exerted a fascination upon authors and readers alike. The corpse in a locked room is just a starting point. How about a person entering a house and then completely disappearing? Or the body found strangled in the middle of a beach surrounded by unmarked sand? 

In DEATH LOCKED IN, ingenuity faces the impossible. The gates of the unknown are thrown open, ghosts walk, and witches's curses seem real. Crimes are committed that have no rational, human explanation. Or so it seems ... until the most ingenious of detectives appears on the scene. Sound interesting? Then come on in. One thing is certain: you won't need a key.

At over 550 pages, Death Locked In is fantastic value for any mystery fan. The sheer quantity and variation of the stories is superb, and the small nuggets of insight by the editors before each mystery are both interesting and well-researched.

The Hollow Man (The Three Coffins) by John Dickson Carr

A man is killed in a locked study surrounded by undisturbed snow. The killer vanishes, and leaves no footprints. Shortly thereafter another victim is killed, this time in front of witnesses on a snow covered street. Yet again, the murderer is nowhere to be found, and only the victim's footprints lead to the body...

The Hollow Man (published in the U.S. as "The Three Coffins") is one of JDC's most critically acclaimed works, and in 1981 was voted the best locked room mystery of all time by a panel of mystery authors. The plot follows Dr. Gideon Fell as he assists the police in uncovering the truth behind two interconnected impossible crimes:

1. Professor Charles Grimaud was killed in his study by a mysterious figure. The intruder is seen entering the room, then vanishes in to thin air. Fell and co are quick to inspect the scene, but find no possible route of escape.
2. The illusionist Pierre Fley is shot from point blank range on a snow covered street a few minutes from the scene of Grimaud's death. Witnesses at either end of the street confirm that there was no-one around Fley at the time of shooting, but the angle of the gunshot wound means it cannot have been self-inflicted.

In The Morning I'll Be Gone by Adrian McKinty

The early 1980's, Northern Ireland. On the hunt for notorious IRA terrorist Dermot McCann, detective Sean Duffy comes across the bizarre case of a young woman found dead in a locked pub...

The final entry of a trilogy of books starring the battle-worn detective Sean Duffy, Adrian McKinty's In The Morning I'll be gone is the first to feature a locked room mystery. The core of the book focuses on the manhunt of IRA bomber Dermot McCann, but Duffy is pulled off on a tangent as an informer promises the location of McCann in exchange for re-opening the case of her daughter's death.

Wash Her Guilt Away by Michael Wallace

A young woman is found strangled in a locked cabin, with no footprints in the surrounding snow...

Michael Wallace's Wash Her Guilt Away combines a traditional locked room mystery - a collection of eclectic characters are stuck in a remote location after one of them falls victim to an impossible crime - with the sedate world of fly fishing. The book follows Quill Gordon and his friend Peter Delaney as they head to a waterside cabin for a fishing break, then assist a befuddled detective as their retreat turns murderous.

The first half of the book is almost entirely dedicated to the pursuit of fly fishing, which offers a detailed and slow-burning insight into the techniques and experience of the sport. For fishing enthusiasts, this rather unique prelude to a murder mystery could prove for an insightful, if serene, read.

The Mysteries of Reverend Dean by Hal White

Featuring six short stories, The Mysteries of Reverend Dean follows the exploits of the titular Reverend as he encounters and solves seemingly impossible crimes.

Set in the fictional town of Dark Pine, the book very much follows the "Miss Marple" format - the retired pastor filling his time with the various transgressions of his army of contacts. Similar to the Christie books, the main character's primary motivation is an unquenchable curiosity. The Reverend is a likeable pensioner who seems to have built quite the following during his working life. Hal White masterfully balances his leading man on just the right side of doddery, with an earnest and kind demeanour that turns to stern when the situation necessitates.

The Reverend's profession plays into the plot, with many of the mysteries originating from members of his church. It also allows White to include a few short sections on Christian philosophy, though he wisely opts not to over-do these interludes. They provide a little depth to the Reverend's belief structure, but are not overly intrusive for readers of a different persuasion.

The Eight Strokes of the Clock by Maurice Leblanc

This collection of short stories is one of a number featuring famed detective Arsene Lupin, though in this case acting under the pseudonym of "Serge Renine".

Maurice Leblanc
Source: The 1709 Blog

Often described as France's answer to Arthur Conan Doyle, Leblanc spent much of his career writing Lupin mysteries. The adventures were hugely popular, and The Eight Strokes of the Clock was nominated by Ellery Queen as one of the top 125 detective fiction novels ever.

The plot follows Renine as he meets Hortense Daniel, and quickly develops an affinity for her. After freeing her from a controlling uncle in the first story, Renine exposes her to a life of adventure and mystery in an attempt to win her heart.

The Eight Strokes of the Clock

The collection of short stories is available in its entirety for free at Project Gutenberg. If you want to read on your Kindle you can download it here (send to Kindle instructions here).

Author: Maurice Leblanc

Date: 1922

Word Count: 63,000 (about 250 pages)

Wikipedia page

Review

Serge Renine is an absorbing character who deciphers mysteries with his powers of observation and his skill for compelling argument. His quest to seduce Hortense Daniel propels the two of them through a eclectic mix of mysteries, each of which offers a unique puzzle for the reader.

The Mystery Of The Yellow Room by Gaston Leroux

The Mystery of the Yellow Room has been on my to-do list for a while. It was only after the recent Jonathan Creek s05e01 (which centres its plot around a theatre production of the book) that I was finally ready to take the plunge.

There were two things holding me back, which will also pop up in the review below.

• It's French. Now I have nothing against the French (though being based in Ireland I contractually do have to hate Thierry Henry), but translation combined with over 100 years of language evolution can make for some tricky reading.
• It's a book. A full book. I've always felt that locked room mysteries fit the short story format better than long form. However eye-opening or elegant the solution may be I feel it's rarely worth the commitment required to make it all the way through a feature length. This may also be why the genre has been translated to TV much more successfully than it has to cinema.

The Mystery of the Yellow Room

The book is available to read for free at Project Gutenberg. If you want to read on your Kindle you can download it here (send to Kindle instructions here).

Author: Gaston Leroux

Date: 1908

Word Count: 74,000 (about 300 pages)

Wikipedia page

Review (contains spoilers)

The mystery at the heart of the book involves an attempted murder within a locked room (which happens to be yellow). There are some other smaller puzzles, mainly involving disappearing assailants and over-complicated floor plans, however the crux of the story follows detective Rouletabille and his "Watson" Jean Sainclair as they compete with notorious detective Frederic Larsan to solve the crime.