First one other thing though. One of the stories I selected is "Dnr 94.028.72- Mord" by Jan Ekström, mainly because of its great setup. Just the other day I managed to find out that this story has actually been translated into English, so if anyone wants to check it out it's possible to do so. It was published in the anthology "Locked Rooms and Open Spaces", published by Battered Silicon Dispatch Box, which seems to be a collection of Swedish locked room mysteries. I've not read it myself, but Ekström's story is good enough that you might want to seek it out. As a bonus you'll get around 10 other stories that might be worth the price of admission...
Anyway, back to this big list. In the end, I selected a whopping 212 stories. And that's not all, because then there's all the Dr. Hawthorne stories by Ed Hoch, where I have a hard time selecting which should be discarded... Even if I manage to cull them down to a more manageable number, I'm sure there'll be another 20-30 stories to add to the list.
The list is ordered chronologically after publication year. That's a bit misleading, because some stories weren't published until long after they were written - and some of the other stories are written as pastiches of earlier times, so reading them in this order would not necessarily mean that you go from old-fashioned stuff to more modern writings, though the general trend is obviously in that direction. I was happily surprised to see that there's so many stories from recent years. For all my griping about modern mysteries, it's apparent that the subgenre is alive and well.
In coming posts, I will try to divide these stories in different groups according to various criteria that I think are useful. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. Enjoy this list instead. And please alert me if you spot any mistakes.
| Edgar Allan Poe | The Murders on the Rue Morgue | 1841 |
| Edgar Allan Poe | The Purloined Letter | 1844 |
| Arthur Conan Doyle | The Speckled Band | 1892 |
| Arthur Conan Doyle | The Lost Special | 1898 |
| Samuel Hopkins Adams | The Flying Death | 1903 |
| Victor L. Whitechurch | Sir Gilbert Murrell's Picture | 1905 |
| Jacques Futrelle | The Problem of Cell 13 | 1907 |
| Jacques Futrelle | The Missing Necklace | 1908 |
| Freeman Wills Crofts | The Mystery of the Sleeping-Car Express | 1909 |
| R. Austin Freeman | Aluminium Dagger | 1909 |
| G. K. Chesterton | The Invisible Man | 1911 |
| G. K. Chesterton | The Secret Garden | 1911 |
| Melville Davisson Post | The Doomdorf Mystery | 1914 |
| Ernest Bramah | The Tragedy at Brookbend Cottage | 1914 |
| Edgar Wallace | Missing Romney | 1919 |
| Arthur Conan Doyle | Thor Bridge | 1922 |
| Jacques Futrelle | Absence of Air | 1922 |
| Agatha Christie | The $1,000,000 Bond Robbery | 1923 |
| Agatha Christie | The Sign in the Sky | 1925 |
| Agatha Christie | At the Bells and Motley | 1925 |
| Edgar Jepson & Robert Eustace | The Tea Leaf | 1925 |
| G. K. Chesterton | The Oracle of the Dog | 1926 |
| G. K. Chesterton | The Vanishing of Vaudrey | 1927 |
| Agatha Christie | Temple of Astarte | 1928 |
| G. D. H. Cole & Margaret Cole | In a Telephone Cabinet | 1928 |
| Grenville Robbins | Broadcast Murder | 1928 |
| John Dickson Carr | The Murder in Number Four | 1928 |
| Nicholas Olde | Invisible Weapon | 1928 |
| MacKinlay Kantor | The Strange Case of Steinkelwintz | 1929 |
| Agatha Christie | A Christmas Tragedy | 1930 |
| Ronald Knox | Solved by Inspection | 1931 |
| Lord Dunsany | The Two Bottles of Relish | 1932 |
| Dorothy L. Sayers | The Poisoned Dow '08 | 1933 |
| Vincent Cornier | Duel of Shadows | 1934 |
| Agatha Christie | Problem at Sea | 1935 |
| Agatha Christie | Miss Marple Tells a Story | 1935 |
| C. Daly King | Codex' Curse | 1935 |
| C. Daly King | Nail and Requiem | 1935 |
| C. Daly King | Vanishing Harp | 1935 |
| Ellery Queen | House of Darkness | 1935 |
| Ellery Queen | Lamp of God | 1935 |
| Agatha Christie | Poirot and the Regatta Mystery | 1936 |
| Agatha Christie | Murder in the Mews | 1936 |
| John Dickson Carr | The Wrong Problem | 1936 |
| Agatha Christie | The Dream | 1937 |
| Agatha Christie | Dead Man's Mirror | 1937 |
| John Dickson Carr | Blind Man's Hood | 1937 |
| John Dickson Carr | The Third Bullet | 1937 |
| Margery Allingham | The Border-Line Case | 1937 |
| Cornell Woolrich | The Room with Something Wrong | 1938 |
| John Dickson Carr | Persons and Things Unknown | 1938 |
| John Dickson Carr | Crime in Nobody's Room | 1938 |
| John Dickson Carr | King Arthur's Chair | 1938 |
| E. C. Bentley | The Flying Shot | 1939 |
| John Dickson Carr | Silver Curtain | 1939 |
| John Dickson Carr | Emtpy Flat | 1939 |
| John Dickson Carr | The Diamond Pentacle | 1939 |
| John Dickson Carr | Strictly Diplomatic | 1939 |
| John Dickson Carr | The Proverbial Murder | 1940 |
| Stuart Towne | Ghost of the Undead | 1940 |
| Stuart Towne | Death out of Thin Air | 1940 |
| Stuart Towne | Claws of Satan | 1940 |
| Stuart Towne | The Enchanted Dagger | 1940 |
| Craig Rice | His Heart Could Break | 1943 |
| James Yaffe | Department of Impossible Crimes | 1943 |
| C. Daly King | Little Girl Who Wasn't There | 1944 |
| James Yaffe | The Problem of the Emperor's Mushrooms | 1945 |
| Leonard Thompson | Close Shave | 1946 |
| Ngaio Marsh | I Can Find My Way Out | 1946 |
| John Dickson Carr | The House in Goblin Wood | 1947 |
| Joseph Commings | Fingerprint Ghost | 1947 |
| Joseph Commings | Murder Under Glass | 1947 |
| Joseph Commings | Spectre on the Lake | 1947 |
| Manly Wade Wellman | A Knife Between Brothers | 1947 |
| Clayton Rawson | From Another World | 1948 |
| Ellery Queen | The Dauphin's Doll | 1948 |
| Fredric Brown | The Laughing Butcher | 1948 |
| Helen McCloy | Through a Glass, Darkly | 1948 |
| Joseph Commings | Black Friar Murders | 1948 |
| Joseph Commings | Death by Black Magic | 1948 |
| Clayton Rawson | Off the Face of the Earth | 1949 |
| Edmund Crispin | Beware of the Trains | 1949 |
| Joseph Commings | Ghost in the Gallery | 1949 |
| Judson Philips | Room Number 23 | 1949 |
| Thomas Flanagan | The Fine Italian Hand | 1949 |
| Edmund Crispin | Name on the Window | 1950 |
| Ellery Queen | Double Your Money | 1951 |
| Peter Godfrey | Newtonian Egg | 1951 |
| Vincent Cornier | O Time, In Your Flight | 1951 |
| Afonso Carreiro | Lying Dead and Turning Cold | 1952 |
| Ellery Queen | Snowball in July | 1952 |
| Anthony Boucher | The Anomaly of the Empty Man | 1953 |
| Adrian Conan Doyle & John Dickson Carr | The Adventure of the Sealed Room | 1954 |
| John Basye Price | Death and the Rope Trick | 1954 |
| Edmund Crispin | A Country to Sell | 1955 |
| Edward D. Hoch | The Man from Nowhere | 1956 |
| Edward D. Hoch | The Hoofs of Satan | 1956 |
| John Dickson Carr | Ministry of Miracles | 1956 |
| Agatha Christie | Greenshaw’s Folly | 1957 |
| Joseph Commings | Serenade to a Killer | 1957 |
| Christianna Brand | Cyanide in the Sun | 1958 |
| Clayton Rawson | Nothing Is Impossible | 1958 |
| Clayton Rawson | Miracles - All in the Day's Work | 1958 |
| Hugh Pentecost | The Day the Children Vanished | 1958 |
| Poul Anderson | The Martian Crown Jewels | 1958 |
| Samuel W. Taylor | Deadfall | 1958 |
| Edward D. Hoch | Sword for a Sinner | 1959 |
| Theodore Mathieson | Leonardo da Vinci, Detective | 1959 |
| Anthony Boucher | Gandolphus | 1960 |
| Arthur Porges | Horse-Collar Homicide | 1960 |
| Arthur Porges | No Killer Has Wings | 1960 |
| Edmund Crispin | Too Clever for Scotland Yard | 1960 |
| Joseph Commings | Murderer's Progress | 1960 |
| Arthur Porges | A Puzzle in the Sand | 1961 |
| Julian Symons | As If By Magic | 1961 |
| Joseph Commings | Castanets, Canaries and Murder | 1962 |
| Joseph Commings | The X Street Murders | 1962 |
| Joseph Commings | Hangman's House | 1962 |
| Arthur Porges | Birds of One Feather | 1963 |
| Joseph Commings | The Giant's Sword | 1963 |
| Arthur Porges | Coffee Break | 1964 |
| John F. Suter | The Impossible Theft | 1964 |
| Michael Collins | No Way Out | 1964 |
| Edward D. Hoch | The Long Way Down | 1965 |
| Stephen Barr | The Locked House | 1965 |
| William Krohn | Dr Satanus | 1965 |
| Arthur Porges | The Scientist and the Vanished Weapon | 1966 |
| Joseph Commings | The Glass Gravestone | 1966 |
| Michael Harrison | The Facts in the Case of the Missing Diplomat | 1966 |
| Arthur Porges | The Scientist and the Multiple Murder | 1967 |
| Arthur Porges | The Scientist and the Invisible Safe | 1967 |
| Arthur Porges | Murder of a Priest | 1967 |
| Harry Kemelman | The Man on the Ladder | 1967 |
| John Lutz | The Crooked Picture | 1967 |
| Stanley Ellin | The Twelfth Statue | 1967 |
| Anthony Boucher | The Smoke-Filled Locked Room | 1968 |
| Christianna Brand | The Gemminy Crickets Case | 1968 |
| Edward D. Hoch | The Magic Bullet | 1968 |
| Edward D. Hoch | The 'Impossible' Impossible Murder | 1968 |
| William Brittain | Mr. Strang Takes a Field Trip | 1968 |
| Edward D. Hoch | The Vanishing of Velma | 1969 |
| Edward D. Hoch | The Leopold Locked Room | 1971 |
| Jeffrey Wallmann | Now You See Her | 1971 |
| Edward D. Hoch | A Melee of Diamonds | 1972 |
| Bill Pronzini | Proof of Guilt | 1973 |
| Jan Ekström | Reg. No. 94.028/72 Murder | 1973 |
| Arthur Porges | The Scientist and the Exterminator | 1974 |
| Edward D. Hoch | Captain Leopold and the Ghost Killer | 1974 |
| William Brittain | The Impossible Footprint | 1974 |
| Arthur Porges | The Scientist and the Missing Pistol | 1975 |
| Edward D. Hoch | The Theft of the Bermuda Penny | 1975 |
| Edward D. Hoch | The Theft of the Venetian Window | 1975 |
| Bill Pronzini | The Arrowmont Prison Riddle | 1976 |
| Edward D. Hoch | Impossible Murder | 1976 |
| William Brittain | Mr. Strang Accepts a Challenge | 1976 |
| Jack Ritchie | Box in a Box | 1977 |
| Bill Pronzini | Pulp Connection | 1978 |
| Bill Pronzini | Thin Air | 1979 |
| Joseph Commings & Edward D. Hoch | Stairway to Nowhere | 1979 |
| Peter Godfrey | Flung-Back Lid | 1979 |
| Bill Pronzini | Where Have You Gone, Sam Spade? | 1980 |
| J. F. Peirce | The Magician's Wife | 1981 |
| Edward D. Hoch | The Witch of Park Avenue | 1982 |
| Edward D. Hoch | The Theft of the White Queen's Menu | 1983 |
| Edward D. Hoch | The Vanished Steamboat | 1984 |
| Joseph Commings | The Vampire in the Iron Mask | 1984 |
| H. Edward Hunsberger | Eternally Yours | 1985 |
| Edward D. Hoch | The Return of the Speckled Band | 1987 |
| Stephen King | The Doctor's Case | 1987 |
| William F. Smith | Almost Perfect Crime | 1987 |
| Paul Halter | The Dead Dance at Night | 1988 |
| Hake Talbot | The Other Side | 1990 |
| Paul Halter | The Night of the Wolf | 1990 |
| Paul Halter | The Tunnel of Death | 1993 |
| Bill Pronzini | Cloud Cracker | 1994 |
| Bill Pronzini | Desert Limited | 1995 |
| Bill Pronzini | Horseshoe Nail | 1997 |
| Edward D. Hoch | Shower of Daggers | 1997 |
| Lynne Wood Block & Lawrence Block | Burglar Who Smelled Smoke | 1997 |
| Bill Pronzini | Medium Rare | 1998 |
| Paul Halter | The Call of the Lorelei | 1998 |
| Paul Halter | The Flower Girl | 1998 |
| Paul Halter | Murder in Cognac | 1999 |
| Amy Myers | Murder Strips Off | 2000 |
| Edward Marston | Blind Eyes | 2000 |
| Kate Ellis | Odour of Sanctity | 2000 |
| Margaret Frazer | Traveller's Tale | 2000 |
| Michael Kurland | Stolen Saint Simon | 2000 |
| Paul Halter | The Cleaver | 2000 |
| Peter Lovesey | Amorous Corpse | 2000 |
| Peter Tremayne | Murder in the Air | 2000 |
| Susanna Gregory | Ice Elation | 2000 |
| Paul Halter | The Abominable Snowman | 2002 |
| Paul Halter | The Robber's Grave | 2002 |
| J. A. Konrath | On the Rocks | 2004 |
| Joseph Commings | The Whispering Gallery | 2004 |
| Edward D. Hoch | The Gravesend Trumpet | 2005 |
| J. A. Konrath | With a Twist | 2005 |
| Bill Pronzini | Devil's Brew | 2006 |
| Bill Pronzini | The Carville Ghost | 2007 |
| Edward D. Hoch | Gypsy Gold | 2007 |
| Maria Hudgins | Murder on the London Eye | 2007 |
| Hal White | Murder at an Island Mansion | 2008 |
| Hal White | Murder in a Sealed Loft | 2008 |
| Paul Halter | Nausicaa's Ball | 2008 |
| Arthur Porges | The Scientist and the Poisoner | 2009 |
| Arthur Porges | The Scientist and the Heavenly Alibi | 2009 |
| Soji Shimada | The Locked House of Pythagoras | 2013 |
| Paul Halter | Jacob's Ladder | 2014 |
| Rintarō Norizuki | The Lure of the Green Door | 2014 |
| Szu-Yen Lin | The Miracle on Christmas Eve | 2016 |
| Jochen Füseler | The Witch Doctor's Revenge | 2017 |
| Pietro de Palma | The Barese Mystery | 2017 |
| Edward D. Hoch | The Hawthorne mysteries | 1974-2008 |
I'm not sure if you accept this as a mistake, but "Death and the Rope Trick" should only appear on a list of worst detective/impossible crime stories. I consider it to be one of the all-time worst. You also listed "The Scientist and the Heavenly Alibi," which I don't remember being an impossible crime story, but "The Scientist and the Wife Killer" is nowhere to be found! And that's one of the better stories from the series.
ReplyDeleteOn the upside, I'm glad someone else finally recognizes "Eternally Yours" as a great example of the impossible crime (short) story.
Anyway, you did a marvelous job in weeding out most of the chaff and putting together this fine selection. It's the most comprehensive overview of short impossible crime stories I have come across to date. Very much like Pugmire's 2007 Locked Room Library for impossible crime novels.
Thanks for your kind words. It was actually good fun to do this project, because there were very few stories that were complete duds. There's always something to keep my interest up.
DeleteI just hope that this has been of help and interest to others. If that means I've made a small contribution to the mystery field, that's just icing on the cake.
As for your comments on "Rope Trick", I can definitely see where you're coming from. It has aspects that are incredibly hokey - particularly the way they transported the boy from the scene of the rope trick, which actually just now reminded me of the very similar trick in Joe Commings' "Murderer's Progress". But I admired the very audacity of Price in choosing that particular trick.
"Heavenly Alibi" is an impossible crime insofar as it's a story about proving that a man could commit a murder even though it was "proven" that he was somewhere else when the murder took place. So I guess it's up to you whether you consider this type of ironclad alibi stories as impossible crimes.
I had some complimentary words for "The Wife Killer", so it's definitely not a bad story. I just thought it a bit too formulaic and in some respects too reminiscent of some of the other, selected Grey stories.
Well, you'll never get a 100% consensus on any best-of list. Let alone on one as big and comprehensive as this selection. I just think "Death and the Rope Trick," as audacious as it may be, is so bad it could chase away new readers from the genre.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I drew on my own locked room reading to compile a short list of locked room stories you overlooked. I hope you won't mind.
Max Afford - "The Vanishing Trick" (a clever impossible disappearance)
Frederick I. Anderson - "Big Time" (a witty locked room with an amusing solution)
Robert Arthur - "The Glass Bridge" (an overlooked classic)
Laurance Clarke - "Flashlights" (a rare WWI impossible crime story from 1918)
Richard Curtis - "Odd Bodkins and the Locked Room Caper" (an original impossibility and explanation)
Keith McCarthy - "The Invisible Gunman" (I remember it being good)
Keikichi Osaka - "The Monster of the Lighthouse" (this story is the stuff nightmares are made of and the impossible situation is as original as it's clever)
Stuart Palmer - "The Riddle of the Yellow Canary" (an inverted locked room)
Stuart Palmer - "The Riddle of the Whirling Lights" (an impossible stabbing at the Planetarium)
Herbert Resnicow - "The Christmas Bear" (not as strong on the impossibility as "The Miracle on Christmas Eve," but written in the same spirit)
Max Rittenberg - "The Invisible Bullet" (a 1914 story toying around with an idea that anticipates many of the locked room classics)
John Sladek - "By An Unknown Hand" (a prize-winning locked room story that gave us the brilliant Black Aura)
John Sladek - "The Locked Room" (a spoof of the impossible crime story)
Herbert Beerbohm Tree - "The Mystery of Howard Romaine" (a comedic locked room comparable to "The Strange Case of Steinkelwintz")
I don't mind at all, because with the exception of one story I've not read any of them and now I have to try to find them.
DeleteWell, maybe I do mind that bit... Are any of these stories readily available?
The one exception is "By an Unknown Hand" by John Sladek, and I can't for the life of me understand why I didn't review it, because I have it and like it a lot. I even have it in the back of my mind that I've written something about it, but obviously it's not anywhere on this blog... Argh.
I'll have to look into it and add it both to this list and the "stray impossibilities" page. Thanks for reminding me!
You can read "Flashlights" and "The Mystery of Howard Romaine" in Ye Olde Book of Locked Room Conundrums, which I compiled with JJ of The Invisible Event. You can download the book, free of charge, by visiting this link.
DeleteRight. I've been meaning to have a look at it, but just never got around to it. I'll do so at the first possible moment. Thanks for the link!
DeleteWas Rawson's "From Another World" the story about the so-called spiritualist and a room sealed with tape on the inside? It's been decades since I read that one.
ReplyDelete