Otto Penzler is perhaps best known as the proprietor of the Mysterious Bookshop, perhaps the only still existing brick & mortar bookstore with a focus on mystery and crime literature - at least it's one of very few such shops. He is also the founder of Mysterious Press and editor of several volumes of mystery, horror and other speculative fiction anthologies and collections.
Since there are so many stories here, even though many of them have actually been previously discussed on this blog, I've decided to split this post in two parts.
Edgar Allan Poe - The Murders in the Rue Morgue
Previously discussed in this post.
Jacques Futrelle - The Problem of Cell 13
The Thinking Machine bets that he will be able to break out of a prison cell in less than a week. He is imprisoned in Chisholm Prison, with only such items that a real prisoner would have.
It's interesting that this otherwise ubiquitous story hasn't been selected for any of the other anthologies we've looked at here, because this is a true classic of the genre. It's a bit of a cheat, because the prison cell is made exactly so it fits the Thinking Machine's plans to get out, but still an awesome story.
Wilkie Collins - A Terribly Strange Bed
Previously discussed in this post.
Lord Dunsany - The Two Bottles of Relish
Every lead points to the fact that a man called Otherthorpe has killed a young lady, because she was seen to enter his house, and then she never came out again. And yet no one can find her...
Another one of those true classics in the genre. There are certain features that perhaps explain why it's less anthologised, but it truly belongs in any comprehensive study of the impossible mystery genre.
G. K. Chesterton - The Invisible Man
Previously discussed in this post.
Melville Davisson Post - The Doomdorf Mystery
Previously discussed in this post.
Arthur Conan Doyle - The Adventure of the Speckled Band
Previously discussed in this post.
John Dickson Carr - The Wrong Problem
Previously discussed in this post.
William Hope Hodgson - The Thing Invisible
Previously discussed in this post.
James Yaffe - Department of Impossible Crimes
A stockbroker has been killed in an elevator upon leaving his nephew and his wife. He was seen entering it, but when it reached the first floor, he was lying on the floor with a knife in his back.
A very good setup from Yaffe. It's noticeable that this was his first story, because the solution is fairly obvious, but it's still a fine tale.
R. Austin Freeman - The Aluminium Dagger
Previously discussed in this post.
Gerald Kersh - The Crewel Needle
A former policeman tells the story of the case that forced him to retire - an old lady and her eight year old niece were living together in their flat. One night the niece calls out that her aunt has been killed, and she is found inside their locked bedroom with a needle thrust into her brain.
Well, the seasoned reader will see through this immediately, because it's only the reader's preconceptions that could keep them from solving the impossibility.
Stephen King - The Doctor's Case
Dr Watson solves the case of the killing of Lord Hull, who was found in his locked study with a dagger in his back.
I thought this Sherlock Holmes pastiche was really good fun. I'm not sure the explanation completely holds water, but it's still a pretty imaginative solution.
Manly Wade Wellman - A Knife Between Brothers
In an Indian reservation, an old man has been killed with a knife in his back inside his kitchen. The only person who could have committed the crime is his brother, with whom he shared the cabin.
This was another good story. It's not really a locked room and the killer is fairly obvious, but it's still a clever and interesting tale.
Joseph Commings - The Glass Gravestone
Senator Banner is investigating a case where a United Nations delegate has had his throat cut while travelling alone on an elevator, in full view of several witnesses.
Commings comes up with the goods as usual. Sure, the impossible situation is clearly better than the solution, but it's still an imaginative and fun explanation that Senator Banner gives us.
Edgar Jepson & Robert Eustace - The Tea Leaf
Arthur Kelstern has been stabbed to death in a steam room. The only suspect is Hugh Willoughton, a man with whom he had a quarrel, because they were the only ones present. Willoughton leaves, and some time later Kelstern is found dead, but no weapon can be found anywhere Willoughton has been.
This is another one of those classic impossibilities - probably the one with the most famous solution - so again it's interesting that we've not seen it in any of those previous anthologies. It's a good tale and the solution is really good, no wonder it's still referenced everywhere.
Peter Godfrey - The Flung-Back Lid
Previously discussed in this post.
John Lutz - The Crooked Picture
A compromising photo has been used to blackmail a couple. They got it into their possession, but during the same night the photo disappears again. The blackmailer burgled their place and managed to get the photo, but even though he was shot and killed while running away, the photo cannot be found.
In the course of this fairly short story, we get an extra impossibility with a corpse found in a completely locked room. That impossibility is actually the better one. Otherwise, a fairly fun story to read and as I said, the second impossible situation is not bad at all.
Carter Dickson - Blind Man's Hood
Previously discussed in this post.
Edward D. Hoch - The Man from Nowhere
Simon Ark learns of Douglas Zadig, a man who appeared from nowhere and became a well-known author and prophet. Ark and his friend visit Zadig's house, and that day, he goes for a walk, and while returning he collapses and dies, stabbed, even though he is in full view of several witnesses and no one sees anyone near him.
Another great Hoch tale. It's not all that hard to spot the killer, but Hoch still manages to weave an interesting tale - relying on the old Kaspar Hauser legend - and the solution, though a bit on the obvious side, definitely works.
Fredric Brown - The Laughing Butcher
Previously discussed in this post.
Michael Innes - The Sands of Thyme
Previously discussed in this post.
Samuel Hopkins Adams - The Flying Death
Previously discussed in this post.
A. E. Martin - The Flying Corpse
A married couple are out driving when they come across a man lying naked and dead in a field, some ways off from the main road. He was shot in the head from a very short distance, but there's no tracks anywhere near the man.
It's an imaginative solution, though I think it should have been obvious to all investigators from the beginning knowing the players involved in the drama. Otherwise, it's an all right story, nothing more.
Vincent Cornier - The Flying Hat
A young suitor is found with what looks like a bullet wound, lying in the snow, but no one has seen any shooter in the vicinity. And then suddenly the man's hat comes flying through the air...
I find Cornier's writing tough going, to be honest. And this story is much too involved for its own good. The solution to how the wound came to be is really good, I just wish that the story surrounding it was better.
Hugh Pentecost - The Day the Children Vanished
Previously discussed in this post.
Stanley Ellin - The Twelfth Statue
A shady film mogul disappears completely from the site in Italy where they are shooting one of his movies. Though the police search the site thoroughly no trace of him is found.
I liked this. The setup is great, and the explanation for why he was never found is really good, if perhaps a tad too easy to spot.
William Irish - All at Once, No Alice
A married couple reach a town where the hotels are more or less fully occupied, but the husband manages to wrangle a small room for his wife, while he himself find more seedy lodgings for the night. But when he returns the following day, the wife is gone and no one will admit that they saw her the night before.
So, a setup most of us will recognise. The focus of this story is on the husband's woes and attempts to get the police to listen to him, and that might explain why the solution is so obvious and hackneyed. An exciting and thrilling finale still makes it a good read.
Edmund Crispin - Beware of the Trains
Previously discussed in this post.
H. R. F. Keating - The Locked Bathroom
A frequently put upon husband suddenly vanishes while taking a shower in the bathroom. Even though his wife was present, she never noticed where he went.
A silly little story with a cute impossibility.
Dashiell Hammett - Mike, Alec and Rufus
The Continental Op investigates a case where a family has been robbed by a masked robber. The robber left the flat, ran up the stairs and then vanished. A search reveals no traces of the robber.
When hard-boiled mystery writers resort to these hoary old tricks for their mysteries, then you know that their high horse is more like a pony. The impossibility and its solution are fine, but the big reveal at the end - tsk, tsk.
C. Daly King - The Episode of the Torment IV
Previously discussed in this post.
Julian Hawthorne - Greaves' Disappearance
The titular man vanishes in the middle of the street while walking along with a friend. They stop to watch a commotion in the street, and when the friend turns around Greaves is no longer next to him.
This really isn't much cop. A crap impossibility with an equally crap solution, and the narrator must be the dimmest bulb in the lamp shop.
Ellery Queen - The House of Haunts
Previously discussed in this post (under its original title "The Lamp of God").
J. E. Gordon - The Monkey Trick
A policeman and a young man see an airplane descend and land in the middle of nowhere, but when they approach, there is no one inside the plane and there's no traces of anyone having left. When the police goes off to report the crash, the plane takes off with the young man inside. And then, just a short time later, the plane crashes in the other end of the country with the young man's belongings inside.
This was a bit bewildering. I'm still not sure who flew the plane... Not really my cup of tea.
E. C. Bentley - The Ordinary Hairpins
Trent gets wind of a case where a noble lady disappeared from a cruise ship after her husband and son had been killed in an accident.
There's never really any doubt about what happened - it really beggars belief that Trent is the only one who can see it.
Jacques Futrelle - The Phantom Motor
A car enters a stretch of road which is guarded by a police constable at each end and walled off on both sides, but never comes out again. The next night, the same thing happens again.
It's an imaginative solution, but I have a hard time seeing that anyone would actually commit the mistake necessary for it to ever occur. It should have been obvious to the observers.
Edward D. Hoch - The Theft of the Bermuda Penny
Nick Velvet is hired to steal a one cent coin from Bermuda. He makes the acquaintance of the person who has it in his possession, a certain Alfred Cazar. They agree to travel together by car. Nick drives, and Cazar sits in the back. When they reach their destination, Cazar is nowhere to be found.
As usual with Hoch, this is a wonderful set-up, and I think Hoch fulfils every expectation of the reader with his solution to this impossibility. Perhaps Nick could have been a bit more attentive, but that's a minor quibble.
Judson Philips - Room Number 23
Three people, a sister and brother and a detective they've hired because she has some jewels that need to be guarded, are staying in three adjacent rooms at a hotel. The sister is seen entering her room, and soon after she is heard screaming out. The brother and the detective exit their rooms and start knocking on her door. But when they enter, she is nowhere to be found.
This is rather clever from Philips - perhaps better known as Hugh Pentecost. I do think the bits after the impossible crime should have been seen through by the local law, but on the whole this is a successful story.
And this is where we end part one. See you again in part two, in a day or two.
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