This anthology was published in 1973, long before most other anthologies in the genre had been published, and thus contains a number of stories that have been collected elsewhere. But there are also a couple of stories that are fairly rare.
Edgar Allan Poe - The Purloined Letter
Previously discussed in this post.
Arthur Conan Doyle - The Lost Special
Previously discussed in this post.
Adrian Conan Doyle & John Dickson Carr - The Highgate Miracle
The apocryphal Sherlock Holmes tale about Mr. James Phillimore who went back into his house to get his umbrella and was never seen alive again is recounted here.
This was supposedly mainly Carr's work, but it's not one of his better tales. The explanation to the vanishing relies on that old chestnut that we've come back to again and again - originating in Chesterton's "The Invisible Man"? - and which is not particularly satisfying.
Agatha Christie - The "Supernatural" Murder
Previously discussed in this post (under its original title "The Idol House of Astarte").
Ellery Queen - Dauphin's Doll
Previously discussed in this post.
Carter Dickson - Hot Money
Previously discussed in this post (under its original title "The Hiding Place").
Clayton Rawson - Nothing Is Impossible
Previously discussed in this post.
Christianna Brand - The Gemminy Crickets Case
A young lawyer recounts the tale of when his adoptive uncle was killed. He was tied to his chair inside his locked office and strangled with a piece of string. When the door is broken down the room is filled with smoke and there's a small hole in the window.
This is pretty damn great. Brand uses her somewhat bewildering writing technique to keep the readers on their toes. The explanation is great, and the final sting in the tail (tale?) is icing on the cake.
Edmund Crispin - Beware of the Trains
Gervase Fen is travelling by train, but when they enter the station, no one can find the engine driver. Since the police had been guarding the station, there was no way for the driver to get away, and yet he cannot be found anywhere.
This is Crispin's most famous impossible short story, and I quite like it. I found the killer quite surprising and I liked the explanation to the impossibility. Yes, it relies a bit on chance, but I think it does work in the end.
Fredric Brown - The Laughing Butcher
A man is found dead in the middle of the snow with only two sets of footprints leading to his body - his own and the titular butcher's. But there are no footprints leading away from the body...
I wasn't too impressed with the Brown tale in "Death Locked In". One reason for that is that I'd read this one before, and I knew what Brown could do when he was at his best. Because this is another great tale. The impossible situation is top stuff, and the explanation isn't bad at all. And the way Brown writes the story just elevates the whole thing even more.
Jan Ekström - Dnr 94.028.72- Mord
A biochemist has been killed in his laboratory, a sub-zero chamber where he was conducting experiments in minus 60° C and which was hermetically sealed as no one could be allowed to ruin the experiment. He is found in a vat of frozen water with a knife in his back...
Ekström is Sweden's foremost impossible crime writer, and this is a fantastic set-up. The solution is also quite ingenious, if perhaps rather farfetched. The main drawback is perhaps Ekström's writing style, which is a bit choppy and clumsy. Still, Locked Room International would do well to check out some of Ekström's work.
Edward D. Hoch - The Long Way Down
Managing Director Billy Calm is seen jumping out of a window on the 21st floor of a Manhattan skyscraper, but no body can be found on the ground outside the building. Several hours later, the body comes crashing down at the very spot it should have fallen before...
Hoch the ideas' man strikes again. This is another wonderful set-up from the short story king, and the solution is just perfect. Even though it should be obvious to a reader who reads lots of impossible mysteries, Hoch manages to bamboozle the reader and disguise the solution. Really great stuff.
William Brittain - Mr Strang Takes a Field Trip
Previously discussed in this post.
Conclusion
As I said, many of the stories here have been anthologised elsewhere, but the few that are exclusive to this collection are very fine stories indead. Any impossible mystery aficionado would do well to seek these out wherever possible.
I'll be using all the exclusive stories here apart from the Doyle/Carr one, whose quality is not quite up to the level of the others'.
I recently watched the 1946 film version of Christianna Brand's famous novel "Green For Danger," and was impressed, though I have not read the book. Is her "Gemminy Crickets Case" one of her Inspector Cockrill stories?
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