Locked room mystery
Encyclopedia
The locked room mystery is a sub-genre of detective fiction
in which a crime
—almost always murder
—is committed under apparently impossible circumstances. The crime in question typically involves a crime scene
that no intruder could have entered or left, e.g., a locked room. Following other conventions of classic detective fiction, the reader is normally presented with the puzzle and all of the clues
, and is encouraged to solve the mystery before the solution is revealed in a dramatic climax
.
To investigators of the crime, the prima facie
impression almost invariably is that the perpetrator has vanished into thin air. The need for a rational explanation for the crime is what drives the protagonist to look beyond these appearances and solve the puzzle.
story Bel and the Dragon
has some similarities to locked room mysteries; the hero Daniel
debunks the worship of an idol that supposedly eats food offerings left for it in a sealed room, by exposing the secret entrance used by the priests who take the food for themselves. In the 5th century BC, Herodotus
told the tale of the robber whose headless body was found in a sealed stone chamber with only one guarded exit. Honoré de Balzac
in La Comedie Humaine
: Maitre Cornelius (1846) and Alexandre Dumas, père
in Les Mohicans de Paris: La Visite Domiciliaire (1854) included locked room elements in their novels.
The earliest fully-fledged example of this type of story is generally held to be Edgar Allan Poe
's The Murders in the Rue Morgue
, which appeared in 1841. Wilkie Collins
' The Moonstone
(1868) features a rudimentary locked room murder. A number of authors, including Joseph Conrad
, Sheridan Le Fanu
, and Dick Donovan
, tried their hand at the new genre, but their ingenuity only extended to secret passages, duplicate keys and diabolical mechanical devices. It was not until 1892, in Israel Zangwill
's seminal The Big Bow Mystery, that the hallmark of every great impossible crime - misdirection
- made its appearance, introducing a murder technique much emulated since. The other great early work, Le Mystère de la Chambre Jaune (The Mystery of the Yellow Room), was written in 1907 by French journalist and author Gaston Leroux
, and it, too, has had many imitators.
In the Golden Age of Detective Fiction
impossible crimes were mainly solved by brilliant amateur sleuths, inspired by Conan Doyle
's creation Sherlock Holmes
, who were inexplicably given free rein by Scotland Yard
and, to a markedly lesser extent in their American equivalents, the New York Police Department; puzzling mysteries were solved by sheer reasoning and brain power. Such creators of famous Anglo-Saxon
amateur detectives as Jacques Futrelle
, Thomas and Mary Hanshew, G. K. Chesterton
, Carolyn Wells
, John Dickson Carr
, C. Daly King and Joseph Commings
turned out novels featuring impossible crimes in vast quantities. To a lesser degree, Christianna Brand
, Agatha Christie
, Ellery Queen
, Clayton Rawson
and Hake Talbot did the same. Authors such as Nigel Morland and Anthony Wynne, whose output leaned more toward science-based detective stories, also tried their hand at impossible mysteries.
In French, Pierre Boileau, Thomas Narcejac, Gaston Boca, Marcel Lanteaume, Pierre Very, Noel Vindry and the Belgian Stanislas-Andre Steeman were other important impossible crime writers, Vindry being the most prolific with 16 novels. Edgar Faure
, later to become Prime Minister of France, was a not particularly successful contemporary.
During the Golden Age of detective fiction, English-speaking writers dominated the genre, but after the 1940s there was a general waning of English-language output. French authors continued writing into the 1950s and early 1960s, notably Martin Meroy and Boileau-Narcejac
who joined forces to write several locked-room novels. They also co-authored the psychological thrillers which brought them international fame, two of which were adapted for the screen as Vertigo
and Diabolique
. The most prolific writer during the period immediately following the Golden Age was Japanese: Akimitsu Takagi
wrote almost 30 locked-room mysteries, starting in 1949 and continuing to his death in 1995. A number have been translated into English.
The genre continued into the 1970s. Bill Pronzini's Nameless Detective novels feature locked-room puzzles. The most prolific creator of impossible crimes is Edward D. Hoch
, whose short stories feature a detective, Dr. Sam Hawthorne, whose main role is a country physician. One Hoch story, the majority of which feature impossible crimes, appeared in EQMM every month since May 1973 and even beyond his death in January 2008. Hoch's protagonist is a gifted amateur detective who uses pure brainpower to solve his cases.
The Japanese writer Soji Shimada
has been writing impossible crime stories since 1981 and has created 13 to date. The first, The Tokyo Zodiac Murders
, is the only one to have been translated into English. The themes of the Japanese novels are far more grisly and violent than those of the more genteel Anglo-Saxons. Dismemberment
is a preferred murder method. Despite the gore, the norms of the classic detective fiction
novel are strictly followed.
The French writer Paul Halter
, whose output of over 30 novels is almost exclusively of the locked room genre, has been described as the natural successor to John Dickson Carr
. Although strongly influenced by Carr and Agatha Christie
, he has a unique writing style featuring original plots and puzzles. A collection of ten of his short stories entitled The Night of the Wolf has been translated into English.
Locked room mysteries have also seen success on TV; for example, in the BBC
TV series Jonathan Creek
, the eponymous detective (whose regular job is designing conjuring tricks) regularly solves apparently impossible murders.
, who wrote several juvenile detective series, often featuring seemingly impossible crimes that her young amateur detectives set out to solve.
King Ottokar's Sceptre
is the only Tintin
adventure that is a locked room mystery, no homicide is involved, the crime is disappearance of the royal sceptre that is bound to have disastrous consequences for the king.
, who also wrote as Carter Dickson.
His novel The Hollow Man
was voted the best locked room mystery novel of all time by 17 authors and reviewers, although Carr himself names Gaston Leroux
's The Mystery of the Yellow Room
as his favorite.
The Hollow Man
gives an explicatory recipe for crime writers: Chapter 17 of the book consists of a theoretical digression entitled "The Locked-Room Lecture". In it, Dr Gideon Fell
(the detective) gives an extensive explanation of how the murderer is able to deceive everyone else (at least until the riddle is finally solved). How, for example, Fell asks, can the perpetrator create the impression of a hermetically sealed
chamber when in fact it is not? What means are there of tampering with a door so that it seems to be locked on the inside? This is just one of the answers—and, as it happens, the most simple one—given by Fell:
There are six other categories of locked room as expounded by Dr. Fell. Clayton Rawson
in Death from a Top Hat
describes nine. Anthony Boucher
in Nine Times Nine and Derek Smith in Whistle Up the Devil are two other authors to offer a comprehensive overview of locked-room methods. The reader is warned: while these lectures may well be erudite and educational in their own right, their true purpose in each case is to divert attention from the method actually used in the book.
For a detailed and comprehensive historical review of the field, together with descriptions of over 2000 novels and short stories featuring impossible crimes, consult Robert Adey's exhaustive bibliography Locked Room Murders (1979 and 1991) which is the definitive work on the subgenre.
French-speaking readers may consult Chambres Closes, Crimes Impossibles(1997), edited by Soupart, Fooz and Bourgeois or, for a more detailed analysis of a more limited number of works, Roland Lacourbe's 99 Chambres Closes.
Japanese-speaking enthusiasts may enjoy An Illustrated Guide to the Locked Room 1891-1998 (text by Alice Arisugawa and illustrations by Kazuichi Isoda) which contains summaries of 40 novels and short stories, 20 of which are Anglo-Saxon classics – the other 20 being Japanese classics from 1924 to the present day. A striking feature of the book is the double-page graphic explanation of each problem.
In early 2007 Roland Lacourbe formed a panel of like-minded enthusiasts to recommend a list of the best 99 novels to form the nucleus of a locked room library. The results can be found via the external link A Locked Room Library.
s in the 1930s often contained impossible crime tales, dubbed weird menace
, in which a series of supernatural
or science-fiction type events is eventually explained rationally. Notable practitioners of the period were Fredric Brown
, Paul Chadwick
and, to a certain extent, Cornell Woolrich
, although these writers tended to rarely use the Private Eye protagonists that many associate with pulp fiction.
, Arthur Conan Doyle
, Clayton Rawson
and Sax Rohmer
have had their works adapted to comic book form. In 1934, Dashiell Hammett
created the comic strip Secret Agent X9, illustrated by Alex Raymond
, which contained a locked-room episode, albeit a rather feeble one. One American comic book that made good use of locked room mysteries is Mike W. Barr's Maze Agency
.
French-speaking culture has long respected the comic book as a form of art in its own right, and it should come as no surprise that there are many comic books which feature impossible crimes. The popular Belgian comic book hero Tintin
tackled a locked-room mystery in Le Sceptre d'Ottokar. The many adventures of the journalist Ric Hochet are replete with impossible crimes, for example: L'Assassin Fantome, Les Spectres de la Nuit, and La Nuit des Vampires.
Manga
also has its locked-room adherents, such as the series Detective Conan written by Gosho Aoyama
, which appears in English as Case Closed
; notable locked-room issues are #3, #6, #7. A similar series, Kindaichi Case Files
, features a locked room mystery in almost every story. Many of these are original, ingenious and meticulously explained; early examples are The Opera House Murders, Death TV and Smoke and Mirrors and finally the series Spiral: Suiri no Kizuna
has a locked-room mystery called "The room with the special lock" in chapters 4 to 6.
Graphic novels also use this as a motif. For example, the series Umineko no Naku Koro ni
by 07th Expansion has used the locked room mystery as the basis of the novel and also denying any possible answer the player comes to during the novel.
Detective fiction
Detective fiction is a sub-genre of crime fiction and mystery fiction in which an investigator , either professional or amateur, investigates a crime, often murder.-In ancient literature:...
in which a crime
Crime
Crime is the breach of rules or laws for which some governing authority can ultimately prescribe a conviction...
—almost always murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
—is committed under apparently impossible circumstances. The crime in question typically involves a crime scene
Crime scene
A crime scene is a location where an illegal act took place, and comprises the area from which most of the physical evidence is retrieved by trained law enforcement personnel, crime scene investigators or in rare circumstances, forensic scientists....
that no intruder could have entered or left, e.g., a locked room. Following other conventions of classic detective fiction, the reader is normally presented with the puzzle and all of the clues
Evidence
Evidence in its broadest sense includes everything that is used to determine or demonstrate the truth of an assertion. Giving or procuring evidence is the process of using those things that are either presumed to be true, or were themselves proven via evidence, to demonstrate an assertion's truth...
, and is encouraged to solve the mystery before the solution is revealed in a dramatic climax
Climax (narrative)
The Climax is the point in the story where the main character's point of view changes, or the most exciting/action filled part of the story. It also known has the main turning point in the story...
.
To investigators of the crime, the prima facie
Prima facie
Prima facie is a Latin expression meaning on its first encounter, first blush, or at first sight. The literal translation would be "at first face", from the feminine form of primus and facies , both in the ablative case. It is used in modern legal English to signify that on first examination, a...
impression almost invariably is that the perpetrator has vanished into thin air. The need for a rational explanation for the crime is what drives the protagonist to look beyond these appearances and solve the puzzle.
History of the genre
Though the mystery or detective genre was not established until the 19th century, there are notable predecessors in ancient writings. The deuterocanonical Old TestamentOld Testament
The Old Testament, of which Christians hold different views, is a Christian term for the religious writings of ancient Israel held sacred and inspired by Christians which overlaps with the 24-book canon of the Masoretic Text of Judaism...
story Bel and the Dragon
Bel and the Dragon
The narrative of Bel and the Dragon incorporated as chapter 14 of the extended Book of Daniel exists only in Greek in the Septuagint. This chapter, along with chapter 13, is referred to as deuterocanonical, in that it is not universally accepted among Christians as belonging to the canonical works...
has some similarities to locked room mysteries; the hero Daniel
Daniel
Daniel is the protagonist in the Book of Daniel of the Hebrew Bible. In the narrative, when Daniel was a young man, he was taken into Babylonian captivity where he was educated in Chaldean thought. However, he never converted to Neo-Babylonian ways...
debunks the worship of an idol that supposedly eats food offerings left for it in a sealed room, by exposing the secret entrance used by the priests who take the food for themselves. In the 5th century BC, Herodotus
Herodotus
Herodotus was an ancient Greek historian who was born in Halicarnassus, Caria and lived in the 5th century BC . He has been called the "Father of History", and was the first historian known to collect his materials systematically, test their accuracy to a certain extent and arrange them in a...
told the tale of the robber whose headless body was found in a sealed stone chamber with only one guarded exit. Honoré de Balzac
Honoré de Balzac
Honoré de Balzac was a French novelist and playwright. His magnum opus was a sequence of short stories and novels collectively entitled La Comédie humaine, which presents a panorama of French life in the years after the 1815 fall of Napoleon....
in La Comedie Humaine
La Comédie humaine
La Comédie humaine is the title of Honoré de Balzac's multi-volume collection of interlinked novels and stories depicting French society in the period of the Restoration and the July Monarchy .-Overview:...
: Maitre Cornelius (1846) and Alexandre Dumas, père
Alexandre Dumas, père
Alexandre Dumas, , born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie was a French writer, best known for his historical novels of high adventure which have made him one of the most widely read French authors in the world...
in Les Mohicans de Paris: La Visite Domiciliaire (1854) included locked room elements in their novels.
The earliest fully-fledged example of this type of story is generally held to be Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective...
's The Murders in the Rue Morgue
The Murders in the Rue Morgue
"The Murders in the Rue Morgue" is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe published in Graham's Magazine in 1841. It has been claimed as the first detective story; Poe referred to it as one of his "tales of ratiocination". Two works that share some similarities predate Poe's stories, including Das...
, which appeared in 1841. Wilkie Collins
Wilkie Collins
William Wilkie Collins was an English novelist, playwright, and author of short stories. He was very popular during the Victorian era and wrote 30 novels, more than 60 short stories, 14 plays, and over 100 non-fiction pieces...
' The Moonstone
The Moonstone
The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins is a 19th-century British epistolary novel, generally considered the first detective novel in the English language. The story was originally serialized in Charles Dickens' magazine All the Year Round. The Moonstone and The Woman in White are considered Wilkie...
(1868) features a rudimentary locked room murder. A number of authors, including Joseph Conrad
Joseph Conrad
Joseph Conrad was a Polish-born English novelist.Conrad is regarded as one of the great novelists in English, although he did not speak the language fluently until he was in his twenties...
, Sheridan Le Fanu
Sheridan Le Fanu
Joseph Thomas Sheridan Le Fanu was an Irish writer of Gothic tales and mystery novels. He was the leading ghost-story writer of the nineteenth century and was central to the development of the genre in the Victorian era....
, and Dick Donovan
J.E. Preston Muddock
James Edward Preston Muddock also known as "Joyce Emmerson Preston Muddock" and "Dick Donovan" , was a prolific British journalist and author of mystery and horror fiction. For a time his detective stories were as popular as those of Arthur Conan Doyle...
, tried their hand at the new genre, but their ingenuity only extended to secret passages, duplicate keys and diabolical mechanical devices. It was not until 1892, in Israel Zangwill
Israel Zangwill
Israel Zangwill was a British humorist and writer.-Biography:Zangwill was born in London on January 21, 1864 in a family of Jewish immigrants from Czarist Russia, to Moses Zangwill from what is now Latvia and Ellen Hannah Marks Zangwill from what is now Poland. He dedicated his life to championing...
's seminal The Big Bow Mystery, that the hallmark of every great impossible crime - misdirection
Feint
Feint is a French term that entered English from the discipline of fencing. Feints are maneuvers designed to distract or mislead, done by giving the impression that a certain maneuver will take place, while in fact another, or even none, will...
- made its appearance, introducing a murder technique much emulated since. The other great early work, Le Mystère de la Chambre Jaune (The Mystery of the Yellow Room), was written in 1907 by French journalist and author Gaston Leroux
Gaston Leroux
Gaston Louis Alfred Leroux was a French journalist and author of detective fiction.In the English-speaking world, he is best known for writing the novel The Phantom of the Opera , which has been made into several film and stage productions of the same name, notably the 1925 film starring Lon...
, and it, too, has had many imitators.
In the Golden Age of Detective Fiction
Golden Age of Detective Fiction
The Golden Age of Detective Fiction was an era of classic murder mystery novels produced by various authors, all following similar patterns and style.-Origins:Mademoiselle de Scudéri, by E.T.A...
impossible crimes were mainly solved by brilliant amateur sleuths, inspired by Conan Doyle
Arthur Conan Doyle
Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle DL was a Scottish physician and writer, most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, generally considered a milestone in the field of crime fiction, and for the adventures of Professor Challenger...
's creation Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...
, who were inexplicably given free rein by Scotland Yard
Scotland Yard
Scotland Yard is a metonym for the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service of London, UK. It derives from the location of the original Metropolitan Police headquarters at 4 Whitehall Place, which had a rear entrance on a street called Great Scotland Yard. The Scotland Yard entrance became...
and, to a markedly lesser extent in their American equivalents, the New York Police Department; puzzling mysteries were solved by sheer reasoning and brain power. Such creators of famous Anglo-Saxon
Anglo-Saxon
Anglo-Saxon may refer to:* Anglo-Saxons, a group that invaded Britain** Old English, their language** Anglo-Saxon England, their history, one of various ships* White Anglo-Saxon Protestant, an ethnicity* Anglo-Saxon economy, modern macroeconomic term...
amateur detectives as Jacques Futrelle
Jacques Futrelle
Jacques Heath Futrelle was an American journalist and mystery writer. He is best known for writing short detective stories featuring Professor Augustus S. F. X...
, Thomas and Mary Hanshew, G. K. Chesterton
G. K. Chesterton
Gilbert Keith Chesterton, KC*SG was an English writer. His prolific and diverse output included philosophy, ontology, poetry, plays, journalism, public lectures and debates, literary and art criticism, biography, Christian apologetics, and fiction, including fantasy and detective fiction....
, Carolyn Wells
Carolyn Wells
Carolyn Wells was an American author and poet. Born in Rahway, New Jersey, she was the daughter of William E. and Anna Wells. She died at the Flower-Fifth Avenue Hospital in New York City in 1942....
, John Dickson Carr
John Dickson Carr
John Dickson Carr was an American author of detective stories, who also published under the pen names Carter Dickson, Carr Dickson and Roger Fairbairn....
, C. Daly King and Joseph Commings
Joseph Commings
Joseph Commings was an American writer of locked room mysteries. He wrote a series of soft-core sex novels, but is best known for his locked-room mystery/impossible crime stories featuring Senator Brooks U. Banner."...
turned out novels featuring impossible crimes in vast quantities. To a lesser degree, Christianna Brand
Christianna Brand
Christianna Brand was a British crime writer and children's author.- Background :Christianna Brand was born Mary Christianna Milne in Malaya and grew up in India. She had a number of different occupations, including model, dancer, shop assistant and governess...
, Agatha Christie
Agatha Christie
Dame Agatha Christie DBE was a British crime writer of novels, short stories, and plays. She also wrote romances under the name Mary Westmacott, but she is best remembered for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections , and her successful West End plays.According to...
, Ellery Queen
Ellery Queen
Ellery Queen is both a fictional character and a pseudonym used by two American cousins from Brooklyn, New York: Daniel Nathan, alias Frederic Dannay and Manford Lepofsky, alias Manfred Bennington Lee , to write, edit, and anthologize detective fiction.The fictional Ellery Queen created by...
, Clayton Rawson
Clayton Rawson
Clayton Rawson was an American mystery writer, editor, and amateur magician. His four novels frequently invoke his great knowledge of stage magic and feature as their fictional detective The Great Merlini, a professional magician who runs a shop selling magic supplies...
and Hake Talbot did the same. Authors such as Nigel Morland and Anthony Wynne, whose output leaned more toward science-based detective stories, also tried their hand at impossible mysteries.
In French, Pierre Boileau, Thomas Narcejac, Gaston Boca, Marcel Lanteaume, Pierre Very, Noel Vindry and the Belgian Stanislas-Andre Steeman were other important impossible crime writers, Vindry being the most prolific with 16 novels. Edgar Faure
Edgar Faure
Edgar Faure was a French politician, essayist, historian, and memoirist.-Career:Faure was born in Béziers, Languedoc-Roussillon. He trained as a lawyer in Paris and became a member of the Bar at 27, the youngest lawyer in France to do so at the time...
, later to become Prime Minister of France, was a not particularly successful contemporary.
During the Golden Age of detective fiction, English-speaking writers dominated the genre, but after the 1940s there was a general waning of English-language output. French authors continued writing into the 1950s and early 1960s, notably Martin Meroy and Boileau-Narcejac
Boileau-Narcejac
Boileau-Narcejac is the nom de plume under which French crime fiction writers Pierre Boileau and Pierre Ayraud, aka Thomas Narcejac collaborated...
who joined forces to write several locked-room novels. They also co-authored the psychological thrillers which brought them international fame, two of which were adapted for the screen as Vertigo
Vertigo (film)
Vertigo is a 1958 psychological thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring James Stewart, Kim Novak, and Barbara Bel Geddes. The screenplay was written by Alec Coppel and Samuel A...
and Diabolique
Les Diaboliques (film)
Les Diaboliques , released as Diabolique in the United States and variously translated as The Devils or The Fiends, is a 1955 French black-and-white thriller feature film directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot, starring Simone Signoret, Véra Clouzot and Paul Meurisse...
. The most prolific writer during the period immediately following the Golden Age was Japanese: Akimitsu Takagi
Akimitsu Takagi
, was the pen-name of a popular Japanese crime fiction writer active during the Showa period of Japan. His real name was Takagi Seiichi.-Biography:...
wrote almost 30 locked-room mysteries, starting in 1949 and continuing to his death in 1995. A number have been translated into English.
The genre continued into the 1970s. Bill Pronzini's Nameless Detective novels feature locked-room puzzles. The most prolific creator of impossible crimes is Edward D. Hoch
Edward D. Hoch
Edward Dentinger Hoch was an American writer of detective fiction. Although he wrote several novels, he was primarily known for his vast output of over 950 short stories.-Biography:...
, whose short stories feature a detective, Dr. Sam Hawthorne, whose main role is a country physician. One Hoch story, the majority of which feature impossible crimes, appeared in EQMM every month since May 1973 and even beyond his death in January 2008. Hoch's protagonist is a gifted amateur detective who uses pure brainpower to solve his cases.
The Japanese writer Soji Shimada
Soji Shimada
is a Japanese logic mystery novelist. Born in the city of Fukuyama, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan, Mr. Shimada currently resides in Los Angeles, California.- Biography :...
has been writing impossible crime stories since 1981 and has created 13 to date. The first, The Tokyo Zodiac Murders
The Tokyo Zodiac Murders
The Tokyo Zodiac Murders is the debut mystery novel of Soji Shimada, the musician and writer on astrology who is best known as an author of over 100 mystery novels. Besides being Shimada's first novel and a best seller,...
, is the only one to have been translated into English. The themes of the Japanese novels are far more grisly and violent than those of the more genteel Anglo-Saxons. Dismemberment
Dismemberment
Dismemberment is the act of cutting, tearing, pulling, wrenching or otherwise removing, the limbs of a living thing. It may be practiced upon human beings as a form of capital punishment, as a result of a traumatic accident, or in connection with murder, suicide, or cannibalism...
is a preferred murder method. Despite the gore, the norms of the classic detective fiction
Detective fiction
Detective fiction is a sub-genre of crime fiction and mystery fiction in which an investigator , either professional or amateur, investigates a crime, often murder.-In ancient literature:...
novel are strictly followed.
The French writer Paul Halter
Paul Halter
Paul Halter is a writer of crime fiction known for his locked room mysteries. Halter pursued technical studies in his youth before joining the French Marines in the hope of seeing the world...
, whose output of over 30 novels is almost exclusively of the locked room genre, has been described as the natural successor to John Dickson Carr
John Dickson Carr
John Dickson Carr was an American author of detective stories, who also published under the pen names Carter Dickson, Carr Dickson and Roger Fairbairn....
. Although strongly influenced by Carr and Agatha Christie
Agatha Christie
Dame Agatha Christie DBE was a British crime writer of novels, short stories, and plays. She also wrote romances under the name Mary Westmacott, but she is best remembered for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections , and her successful West End plays.According to...
, he has a unique writing style featuring original plots and puzzles. A collection of ten of his short stories entitled The Night of the Wolf has been translated into English.
Locked room mysteries have also seen success on TV; for example, in the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
TV series Jonathan Creek
Jonathan Creek
Jonathan Creek is a British mystery series produced by the BBC and written by David Renwick. Primarily a crime drama, the show is also peppered with broadly comic touches...
, the eponymous detective (whose regular job is designing conjuring tricks) regularly solves apparently impossible murders.
Children's literature
The locked-room genre has also been translated into children's detective fiction, although the crime committed is usually less severe than murder. One notable example would be Enid BlytonEnid Blyton
Enid Blyton was an English children's writer also known as Mary Pollock.Noted for numerous series of books based on recurring characters and designed for different age groups,her books have enjoyed huge success in many parts of the world, and have sold over 600 million copies.One of Blyton's most...
, who wrote several juvenile detective series, often featuring seemingly impossible crimes that her young amateur detectives set out to solve.
King Ottokar's Sceptre
King Ottokar's Sceptre
King Ottokar's Sceptre is the eighth of The Adventures of Tintin, a series of classic comic-strip albums, written and illustrated by Belgian writer and illustrator Hergé, featuring the young reporter Tintin. It was first serialized as a black-and-white comic strip in Le Petit Vingtième on 4 August...
is the only Tintin
Tintin (character)
Tintin is a fictional character in The Adventures of Tintin, the series of classic Belgian comic books written and illustrated by Hergé. Tintin is the protagonist of the series, a reporter and adventurer who travels around the world with his dog Snowy....
adventure that is a locked room mystery, no homicide is involved, the crime is disappearance of the royal sceptre that is bound to have disastrous consequences for the king.
Examples
The following are examples of "impossible" or "locked-room" crimes:- A woman and her daughter are murdered in an inaccessible room, which is locked from the inside. The mother's throat is cut so badly that her head is barely attached, and the daughter is found strangled and stuffed into a chimney. ("The Murders in the Rue MorgueThe Murders in the Rue Morgue"The Murders in the Rue Morgue" is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe published in Graham's Magazine in 1841. It has been claimed as the first detective story; Poe referred to it as one of his "tales of ratiocination". Two works that share some similarities predate Poe's stories, including Das...
", a short story by Edgar Allan PoeEdgar Allan PoeEdgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective...
) - A British minister is threatened. Investigations commence, newspapers report, Scotland Yard offers protection. Even though the assassins precisely predict the minister's death, the vast police force protecting him at the time and place announced by the assassins cannot prevent the murder. The minister is alone in a room, locked from within and protected from without. The room is empty of all but the murdered man and even upon finding the corpse, it cannot be determined what the man died of. (The Four Just MenThe Four Just Men (book)The Four Just Men is a detective thriller published in 1905 by the British writer Edgar Wallace. The eponymous "Just Men" appear in several sequels.-Publication:...
, first in a series of novels by Edgar WallaceEdgar WallaceRichard Horatio Edgar Wallace was an English crime writer, journalist, novelist, screenwriter, and playwright, who wrote 175 novels, 24 plays, and numerous articles in newspapers and journals....
) - The victim is walking alone in the middle of a snow-covered street. A voice is heard to threaten him, and a shot rings out. An examination of his body shows the shot was fired from close range, but no killer is to be seen and no other footprints are found on the scene. (The Hollow ManThe Hollow Man (1935 novel)The Hollow Man is a famous locked room mystery novel by the American writer John Dickson Carr , published in 1935. It was published in the US under the title The Three Coffins, and in 1981 was selected as the best locked room mystery of all time by a panel of 17 mystery authors and reviewers.-Plot...
(U.S. title: The Three Coffins), a novel by John Dickson CarrJohn Dickson CarrJohn Dickson Carr was an American author of detective stories, who also published under the pen names Carter Dickson, Carr Dickson and Roger Fairbairn....
) - A man is found on a rock with his throat cut in the middle of a footprint-free stretch of sand wet from the receding tide. The crime is so recent that the victim's blood has not yet clotted, yet the occupants of a fishing boat less than 100 yard away swear they saw nobody approach the rock for hours. (Have His CarcaseHave His CarcaseHave His Carcase is a 1932 novel by Dorothy L. Sayers, her seventh featuring Lord Peter Wimsey and her second novel in which Harriet Vane appears...
, a novel by Dorothy L. SayersDorothy L. SayersDorothy Leigh Sayers was a renowned English crime writer, poet, playwright, essayist, translator and Christian humanist. She was also a student of classical and modern languages...
) - A man is seen committing a crime by several witnesses, and is found dead later. Examination of the body indicates he was already dead before the crime was committed. ("The Amorous Corpse", a short story by Peter Lovesey;"Captain Leopold and the Ghost-Killer", a short story by Edward D. HochEdward D. HochEdward Dentinger Hoch was an American writer of detective fiction. Although he wrote several novels, he was primarily known for his vast output of over 950 short stories.-Biography:...
) - A man dies in a room at the top of a tower in a Scottish castle that is believed to be haunted. Similar deaths occur. Despite evidence showing the people had no reason to kill themselves, they are shown to have been alone at the time of the murder. (The Case of the Constant SuicidesThe Case of the Constant SuicidesThe Case of the Constant Suicides, first published in 1941, is a detective story by John Dickson Carr. Like much of Dickson Carr's work, this novel is a locked room mystery, in addition to being a whodunnit. Unlike most of the other Dr...
, a novel by John Dickson Carr) - A man is shot and disfigured beyond recognition with a sawed-off shotgunSawed-off shotgunA sawed-off shotgun also called a sawn-off shotgun and a short-barreled shotgun , is a type of shotgun with a shorter gun barrel and often a shorter or absent stock....
in an impregnable castle, to which the only entrance is sealed. (Arthur Conan DoyleArthur Conan DoyleSir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle DL was a Scottish physician and writer, most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, generally considered a milestone in the field of crime fiction, and for the adventures of Professor Challenger...
's The Valley of Fear, the third novel featuring Sherlock HolmesSherlock HolmesSherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...
. Other Holmes "Locked Room" mysteries are "The Adventure of the Speckled BandThe Adventure of the Speckled Band"The Adventure of the Speckled Band" is one of the 56 short Sherlock Holmes stories written by Scottish author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It is the eighth of the twelve stories collected in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. It is one of four Sherlock Holmes stories that can be classified as a locked...
";"The Adventure of the Crooked ManThe Adventure of the Crooked Man"The Adventure of the Crooked Man", one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by British author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is one of 12 stories in the cycle collected as The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes...
"; "The Adventure of the Resident PatientThe Adventure of the Resident Patient"The Adventure of the Resident Patient", one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by British author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is one of 12 stories in the cycle collected as The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes...
") - A man is shot in a guarded room, while the still-smoking gun was delivered next door in a sealed envelope prior to the shots being fired. ("The X Street MurdersThe X Street Murders"The X Street Murders" is a locked room mystery short story by Joseph Commings, featuring his detective Brooks U. Banner.-Plot summary:The story begins on X Street in Washington, D.C., where the New Zealand legation is located. Caroll Lockyear walks out of the legation at 11:29. The secretary,...
", a short story by Joseph CommingsJoseph CommingsJoseph Commings was an American writer of locked room mysteries. He wrote a series of soft-core sex novels, but is best known for his locked-room mystery/impossible crime stories featuring Senator Brooks U. Banner."...
) - The murderer is seen entering a room by a witness, but when the room is opened only the corpse of the victim is to be found. (The Hollow ManThe Hollow Man (1935 novel)The Hollow Man is a famous locked room mystery novel by the American writer John Dickson Carr , published in 1935. It was published in the US under the title The Three Coffins, and in 1981 was selected as the best locked room mystery of all time by a panel of 17 mystery authors and reviewers.-Plot...
) - A man volunteers to spend the night in an attic room reputedly haunted by the spirit of a woman stabbed to death there in impossible circumstances. The door is sealed. When the seals are broken, a complete stranger lies there dead from stab wounds and the other man has vanished. (La Quatrieme Porte by Paul HalterPaul HalterPaul Halter is a writer of crime fiction known for his locked room mysteries. Halter pursued technical studies in his youth before joining the French Marines in the hope of seeing the world...
) - A man is found dead, and his wife dying, in a room locked from the inside. She had been able to call for help after shots were heard. There is no gun in the room and a search reveals no other person present. (Six Crimes Sans Assassin by Pierre Boileau)
- A woman is found dead in a room with her ex-husband, with the gun that killed her in his hand. Although the gun is proven to have killed her, her ex-husband is a detective whom the reader has grown to trust over a long series of short stories featuring him as the explainer of locked room mysteries. ("The Leopold Locked Room", a short story by Edward D. Hoch)
- A man is stabbed to death in a summer house to which every access route is guarded and in which no weapon is to be found. ("The Oracle of the Dog", a short story by G. K. ChestertonG. K. ChestertonGilbert Keith Chesterton, KC*SG was an English writer. His prolific and diverse output included philosophy, ontology, poetry, plays, journalism, public lectures and debates, literary and art criticism, biography, Christian apologetics, and fiction, including fantasy and detective fiction....
) - A horse and buggy vanish in a covered bridge. Their tracks can be seen going in to the bridge, but none come out on the other side. ("The Problem of the Covered BridgeThe Problem of the Covered BridgeThe Problem of the Covered Bridge is a mystery short story by Edward D. Hoch which was first published in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine . It is part of a sub-type of the locked room mystery known as an impossible crime story. It introduces the characters of Dr. Sam Hawthorn, Sheriff Lens, and...
", a short story by Edward D. Hoch) - The audience is allowed to inspect the magician's cabinet from all sides before he steps inside to perform his vanishing trick and the curtain descends. When the curtain goes up again, the magician is still in the cabinet – strangled. ("Death by Black Magic", a short story by Joseph CommingsJoseph CommingsJoseph Commings was an American writer of locked room mysteries. He wrote a series of soft-core sex novels, but is best known for his locked-room mystery/impossible crime stories featuring Senator Brooks U. Banner."...
) - The drunken brother of a billionaire industrialist fires an empty gun in the direction of his brother, who is some distance away sealed inside a safe-room. At that precise moment, the industrialist is shot, and no gun can be found in the sealed and guarded room. (The King is DeadThe King is Dead (novel)The King is Dead is a novel that was published in 1951 by Ellery Queen. It is a mystery novel set primarily on an imaginary island whose location is not known, but also in the imaginary town of Wrightsville, USA.-Plot summary:...
, a novel by Ellery QueenEllery QueenEllery Queen is both a fictional character and a pseudonym used by two American cousins from Brooklyn, New York: Daniel Nathan, alias Frederic Dannay and Manford Lepofsky, alias Manfred Bennington Lee , to write, edit, and anthologize detective fiction.The fictional Ellery Queen created by...
) - Two people are found shot to death at point-blank range inside a room locked on the inside. No gun is found in the room, and no bullets are found in either body. See the True Crime section.
- The killer rents an apartment beneath the victim, opens a box with radioactive materials and leaves. After the death of the victim in the overhead apartment, the killer returns and departs with the box. (Kill-Box by Lawrence LariarLawrence LariarLawrence Lariar was an American novelist, cartoonist and cartoon editor, notable for his Best Cartoons of the Year series of cartoon collections...
under the pseudonym Michael Stark)
Authors and works
The acknowledged master of the locked-room sub-genre was John Dickson CarrJohn Dickson Carr
John Dickson Carr was an American author of detective stories, who also published under the pen names Carter Dickson, Carr Dickson and Roger Fairbairn....
, who also wrote as Carter Dickson.
His novel The Hollow Man
The Hollow Man (1935 novel)
The Hollow Man is a famous locked room mystery novel by the American writer John Dickson Carr , published in 1935. It was published in the US under the title The Three Coffins, and in 1981 was selected as the best locked room mystery of all time by a panel of 17 mystery authors and reviewers.-Plot...
was voted the best locked room mystery novel of all time by 17 authors and reviewers, although Carr himself names Gaston Leroux
Gaston Leroux
Gaston Louis Alfred Leroux was a French journalist and author of detective fiction.In the English-speaking world, he is best known for writing the novel The Phantom of the Opera , which has been made into several film and stage productions of the same name, notably the 1925 film starring Lon...
's The Mystery of the Yellow Room
The Mystery of the Yellow Room
The Mystery of the Yellow Room: Extraordinary Adventures of Joseph Rouletabille, Reporter by Gaston Leroux, is one of the first locked room mystery crime fiction novels...
as his favorite.
The Hollow Man
The Hollow Man (1935 novel)
The Hollow Man is a famous locked room mystery novel by the American writer John Dickson Carr , published in 1935. It was published in the US under the title The Three Coffins, and in 1981 was selected as the best locked room mystery of all time by a panel of 17 mystery authors and reviewers.-Plot...
gives an explicatory recipe for crime writers: Chapter 17 of the book consists of a theoretical digression entitled "The Locked-Room Lecture". In it, Dr Gideon Fell
Gideon Fell
Doctor Gideon Fell is a fictional character created by John Dickson Carr. He is the protagonist of 23 novels from 1933 through 1967 as well as a few short stories. Carr was an American who lived most of his adult life in England; Dr. Fell is an Englishman who lives in the London suburbs.Dr...
(the detective) gives an extensive explanation of how the murderer is able to deceive everyone else (at least until the riddle is finally solved). How, for example, Fell asks, can the perpetrator create the impression of a hermetically sealed
Hermetic seal
A hermetic seal is the quality of being airtight. In common usage, the term often implies being impervious to air or gas. When used technically, it is stated in conjunction with a specific test method and conditions of usage.-Etymology :...
chamber when in fact it is not? What means are there of tampering with a door so that it seems to be locked on the inside? This is just one of the answers—and, as it happens, the most simple one—given by Fell:
... An illusion, simple but effective. The murderer, after committing his crime, has locked the door from the outside and kept the key. It is assumed, however, that the key is still in the lock on the inside. The murderer, who is first to raise a scare and find the body, smashes the upper glass panel of the door, puts his hand through with the key concealed in it, and finds the key in the lock inside, by which he opens the door. This device has also been used with the breaking of a panel out of an ordinary wooden door.
There are six other categories of locked room as expounded by Dr. Fell. Clayton Rawson
Clayton Rawson
Clayton Rawson was an American mystery writer, editor, and amateur magician. His four novels frequently invoke his great knowledge of stage magic and feature as their fictional detective The Great Merlini, a professional magician who runs a shop selling magic supplies...
in Death from a Top Hat
Death from a Top Hat
Death from a Top Hat is a locked-room mystery novel written by Clayton Rawson.It is the first of four mysteries featuring The Great Merlini, a stage magician and Rawson's favorite protagonist....
describes nine. Anthony Boucher
Anthony Boucher
Anthony Boucher was an American science fiction editor and author of mystery novels and short stories. He was particularly influential as an editor. Between 1942 and 1947 he acted as reviewer of mostly mystery fiction for the San Francisco Chronicle...
in Nine Times Nine and Derek Smith in Whistle Up the Devil are two other authors to offer a comprehensive overview of locked-room methods. The reader is warned: while these lectures may well be erudite and educational in their own right, their true purpose in each case is to divert attention from the method actually used in the book.
English-language novels
- Gilbert AdairGilbert AdairGilbert Adair is a Scottish author, film critic and journalist. He won the Author's Club First Novel Award in 1988 for his novel The Holy Innocents. In 1995 he won the Scott Moncrieff Translation Prize for his book A Void, which is a translation of the French book La Disparition by Georges Perec...
's The Act of Roger MurgatroydThe Act of Roger MurgatroydThe Act of Roger Murgatroyd: An Entertainment is a whodunit by Gilbert Adair first published in 2006. Set in the 1930s and written in the vein of an Agatha Christie novel, it has all the classic ingredients of a 1930s mystery and is, according to the author, "at one and the same time, a...
(2006) - Douglas AdamsDouglas AdamsDouglas Noel Adams was an English writer and dramatist. He is best known as the author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which started life in 1978 as a BBC radio comedy before developing into a "trilogy" of five books that sold over 15 million copies in his lifetime, a television...
's The Long Dark Tea-Time of the SoulThe Long Dark Tea-Time of the SoulThe Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul is a 1988 humorous fantasy detective novel by Douglas Adams. It is the second book by Adams featuring private detective Dirk Gently, the first being Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency....
(1988) - Lawrence BlockLawrence BlockLawrence Block is an acclaimed contemporary American crime writer best known for two long-running New York–set series, about the recovering alcoholic P.I. Matthew Scudder and gentleman burglar Bernie Rhodenbarr, respectively...
's Burglar's Can't Be Choosers (1977) and The Burglar Who Traded Ted Williams (1994) - Anthony BoucherAnthony BoucherAnthony Boucher was an American science fiction editor and author of mystery novels and short stories. He was particularly influential as an editor. Between 1942 and 1947 he acted as reviewer of mostly mystery fiction for the San Francisco Chronicle...
's Nine Times Nine (writing as H.H.Holmes) (1940) - Christianna BrandChristianna BrandChristianna Brand was a British crime writer and children's author.- Background :Christianna Brand was born Mary Christianna Milne in Malaya and grew up in India. She had a number of different occupations, including model, dancer, shop assistant and governess...
's Suddenly at His Residence (1946) and Death of Jezebel (1948) - Leo BruceLeo BruceLeo Bruce is a pseudonym for Rupert Croft-Cooke . Under this name, Bruce wrote several mystery novels. He created two series, one featuring Sergeant Beef, a British police officer, and a second in which Carolus Deene, senior history master at the fictional Queen's School, Newminster, is an amateur...
's Case for Three Detectives (1936) - R.T. CampbellRuthven ToddRuthven Campbell Todd was a Scottish poet, artist and novelist, best known as an editor of the works of William Blake. He wrote also under the pseudonym R. T. Campbell.-Background:...
's The Bodies in a Bookshop (1946) - John Dickson CarrJohn Dickson CarrJohn Dickson Carr was an American author of detective stories, who also published under the pen names Carter Dickson, Carr Dickson and Roger Fairbairn....
's It Walks By NightIt Walks By NightIt Walks by Night, first published in 1930, is the first detective novel by John Dickson Carr which features for the first time Carr's series detective Henri Bencolin. This novel is a mystery of the type known as a Whodunit....
(1930), The Hollow ManThe Hollow Man (1935 novel)The Hollow Man is a famous locked room mystery novel by the American writer John Dickson Carr , published in 1935. It was published in the US under the title The Three Coffins, and in 1981 was selected as the best locked room mystery of all time by a panel of 17 mystery authors and reviewers.-Plot...
(1935), The Crooked HingeThe Crooked HingeThe Crooked Hinge is a mystery novel by detective novelist John Dickson Carr. It combines a seemingly impossible throat-slashing with elements of witchcraft, an automaton modelled on Maelzel's Chess Player, and the story of the Tichborne Claimant....
(1938), The Case of the Constant SuicidesThe Case of the Constant SuicidesThe Case of the Constant Suicides, first published in 1941, is a detective story by John Dickson Carr. Like much of Dickson Carr's work, this novel is a locked room mystery, in addition to being a whodunnit. Unlike most of the other Dr...
(1941), Till Death Do Us PartTill Death Do Us Part (1944 mystery novel)Till Death Do Us Part, first published in 1944, is a detective story by John Dickson Carr featuring his series detective Gideon Fell. This novel is a mystery of the type known as a locked room mystery.-Plot summary:...
(1944), He Who WhispersHe Who WhispersHe Who Whispers is a mystery novel by detective novelist John Dickson Carr. Like Many of the works by this author feature so-called impossible crimes...
(1946) - Wilkie CollinsWilkie CollinsWilliam Wilkie Collins was an English novelist, playwright, and author of short stories. He was very popular during the Victorian era and wrote 30 novels, more than 60 short stories, 14 plays, and over 100 non-fiction pieces...
's "The MoonstoneThe MoonstoneThe Moonstone by Wilkie Collins is a 19th-century British epistolary novel, generally considered the first detective novel in the English language. The story was originally serialized in Charles Dickens' magazine All the Year Round. The Moonstone and The Woman in White are considered Wilkie...
" (1868) - Carter Dickson's The Plague Court MurdersThe Plague Court MurdersThe Plague Court Murders is the first Sir Henry Merrivale mystery, by the American writer John Dickson Carr , who wrote it under the name of Carter Dickson. It is a locked room mystery of the subtype known as an "impossible crime"....
(1934), The White Priory MurdersThe White Priory MurdersThe White Priory Murders is a mystery novel by the American writer John Dickson Carr , who published it under the name of Carter Dickson. It is a locked room mystery and features his series detective, Sir Henry Merrivale, assisted by Scotland Yard Inspector Humphrey Masters.-Plot summary:Marcia...
(1934), The Red Widow MurdersThe Red Widow MurdersThe Red Widow Murders is a mystery novel by the American writer John Dickson Carr , who published it under the name of Carter Dickson...
(1935), The Ten TeacupsThe Ten TeacupsThe Ten Teacups , is a locked room mystery by American mystery writer John Dickson Carr, writing as Carter Dickson...
(1937), The Judas WindowThe Judas WindowThe Judas Window is a famous locked room mystery novel by the American writer John Dickson Carr , writing under the name of Carter Dickson, published in 1938 and featuring detective Sir Henry Merrivale....
(1938), He Wouldn't Kill PatienceHe Wouldn't Kill PatienceHe Wouldn't Kill Patience is a mystery novel by the American writer John Dickson Carr , who published it under the name of Carter Dickson...
(1944) - Agatha ChristieAgatha ChristieDame Agatha Christie DBE was a British crime writer of novels, short stories, and plays. She also wrote romances under the name Mary Westmacott, but she is best remembered for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections , and her successful West End plays.According to...
's Murder in MesopotamiaMurder in MesopotamiaMurder in Mesopotamia is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on July 6, 1936 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company later in the same year. The UK edition retailed at seven shillings and sixpence and the US edition at $2.00.The...
(1936), Hercule Poirot's ChristmasHercule Poirot's ChristmasHercule Poirot's Christmas is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on December 19, 1938 . It retailed at seven shillings and sixpence ....
(1938), And Then There Were NoneAnd Then There Were NoneAnd Then There Were None is a detective fiction novel by Agatha Christie, first published in the United Kingdom by the Collins Crime Club on 6 November 1939 under the title Ten Little Niggers which was changed by Dodd, Mead and Company in January 1940 because of the presence of a racial...
(1939) - Edmund CrispinEdmund CrispinEdmund Crispin was the pseudonym of Robert Bruce Montgomery , an English crime writer and composer.-Life and work:Montgomery was born in Chesham Bois, Buckinghamshire...
's The Case of the Gilded Fly (1944), The Moving ToyshopThe Moving ToyshopThe Moving Toyshop is a comic crime novel by Edmund Crispin, published in 1946. The novel features the detective and Oxford don, Gervase Fen.It is dedicated to the poet Philip Larkin, Crispin's contemporary at St. John's College, Oxford...
(1946) - Jeffrey Deaver's The Vanished Man (2003)
- David Duncan's The Shade of Time (1946)
- Christopher FowlerChristopher FowlerChristopher Fowler is an English thriller writer. In addition to his numerous horror, satire and crime novels, he has also written a Sherlock Holmes audio drama for BBC 7 entitled The Lady Downstairs...
's Ten Second Staircase (2006) and White Corridor (2007) - Randall GarrettRandall GarrettRandall Garrett was an American science fiction and fantasy author. He was a prolific contributor to Astounding and other science fiction magazines of the 1950s and 1960s...
's Lord DarcyLord Darcy (fiction)Lord Darcy is a detective in an alternate history, created by Randall Garrett. The first stories were asserted to take place in the same year as they were published, but in a world very different from our own.-Title character:...
novel Too Many MagiciansToo Many MagiciansToo Many Magicians is a novel by Randall Garrett, an American science fiction author. One of several stories starring Lord Darcy, it was first serialized in Analog Science Fiction in 1966 and published in book form the same year by Doubleday...
(1966) is a rare example of the locked room mystery in science fiction or fantasy - Andrew GreeleyAndrew GreeleyFather Andrew M. Greeley is an Irish-American Roman Catholic priest, sociologist, journalist and fiction writer....
has written several locked room mysteries, for example "Happy Are the Merciful" (1992) - Alan Green's What a Body (1949)
- Georgette HeyerGeorgette HeyerGeorgette Heyer was a British historical romance and detective fiction novelist. Her writing career began in 1921, when she turned a story for her younger brother into the novel The Black Moth. In 1925 Heyer married George Ronald Rougier, a mining engineer...
's Envious Casca (1941) - C. Daly King's Obelists Fly High (1935)
- Peter LoveseyPeter LoveseyPeter Lovesey is a British writer of historical and contemporary crime novels and short stories. His best-known series characters are Sergeant Cribb, a Victorian-era police detective based in London, and Peter Diamond, a modern-day police detective in Bath...
's Bloodhounds (1996) - Ngaio MarshNgaio MarshDame Ngaio Marsh DBE , born Edith Ngaio Marsh, was a New Zealand crime writer and theatre director. There is some uncertainty over her birth date as her father neglected to register her birth until 1900...
's Death of a Fool (1956) (UK title: Off With His HeadOff With His HeadOff With His Head is a detective novel by Ngaio Marsh; it is the nineteenth novel to feature Roderick Alleyn, and was first published in 1957. The plot concerns a village festival in the English countryside, and features Morris dancing among other folkloric elements...
) - Helen McCloyHelen McCloyHelen McCloy , pseudonym Helen Clarkson, was an American mystery writer, whose series character Dr. Basil Willing debuted in Dance of Death . Willing believes, that "every criminal leaves psychic fingerprints, and he can't wear gloves to hide them." He appeared in 13 of McCloy's novels and in...
's Through a Glass, Darkly - Rupert Penny's Sealed Room Murder (1937) and others
- Ellery QueenEllery QueenEllery Queen is both a fictional character and a pseudonym used by two American cousins from Brooklyn, New York: Daniel Nathan, alias Frederic Dannay and Manford Lepofsky, alias Manfred Bennington Lee , to write, edit, and anthologize detective fiction.The fictional Ellery Queen created by...
's The Chinese Orange MysteryThe Chinese Orange MysteryThe Chinese Orange Mystery is a novel that was written in 1934 by Ellery Queen. It is the eighth of the Ellery Queen mysteries.In a poll of 17 detective story writers and reviewers, this novel was voted as the eighth best locked room mystery of all time....
(1934), The Door BetweenThe Door BetweenThe Door Between is a novel that was published in 1937 by Ellery Queen. It is a mystery novel primarily set in New York City, United States.-Plot summary:...
(1937), The King is DeadThe King is Dead (novel)The King is Dead is a novel that was published in 1951 by Ellery Queen. It is a mystery novel set primarily on an imaginary island whose location is not known, but also in the imaginary town of Wrightsville, USA.-Plot summary:...
(1952) - Clayton RawsonClayton RawsonClayton Rawson was an American mystery writer, editor, and amateur magician. His four novels frequently invoke his great knowledge of stage magic and feature as their fictional detective The Great Merlini, a professional magician who runs a shop selling magic supplies...
's Death from a Top HatDeath from a Top HatDeath from a Top Hat is a locked-room mystery novel written by Clayton Rawson.It is the first of four mysteries featuring The Great Merlini, a stage magician and Rawson's favorite protagonist....
(1938) - Herbert Resnicow's The Dead Room (1987), The Gold Solution (1983) and others
- John Rhode's Invisible Weapons (1938)
- Dorothy L. SayersDorothy L. SayersDorothy Leigh Sayers was a renowned English crime writer, poet, playwright, essayist, translator and Christian humanist. She was also a student of classical and modern languages...
's Have His CarcaseHave His CarcaseHave His Carcase is a 1932 novel by Dorothy L. Sayers, her seventh featuring Lord Peter Wimsey and her second novel in which Harriet Vane appears...
(1932) and Busman's HoneymoonBusman's HoneymoonBusman's Honeymoon is a 1937 novel by Dorothy L. Sayers, her eleventh featuring Lord Peter Wimsey. It is the fourth and last novel to feature Harriet Vane.-Plot introduction:...
(1937) - Soji Shimada's The Tokyo Zodiac MurdersThe Tokyo Zodiac MurdersThe Tokyo Zodiac Murders is the debut mystery novel of Soji Shimada, the musician and writer on astrology who is best known as an author of over 100 mystery novels. Besides being Shimada's first novel and a best seller,...
(1981) - John SladekJohn SladekJohn Thomas Sladek was an American science fiction author, known for his satirical and surreal novels.- Life and work :...
's Black Aura (1974), and Invisible Green (1977) - Derek Smith's Whistle Up the Devil (1953)
- R. E. Swartwout's The Boat Race Murder (1933)
- Akimitsu Takagi's The Tattoo Murder Case (1948)
- Hake Talbot's Rim of the PitRim of the PitRim of the Pit is a locked-room mystery novel written by Hake Talbot, a pen name of Henning Nelms. Nelms published one other mystery novel as well as two short stories. After 1945, when it became very difficult to publish mystery fiction, Nelms could not get his third novel published. He then...
(1944) - Joel Townsley RogersJoel Townsley RogersJoel Townsley Rogers , American writer who wrote science fiction, air-adventure, and mystery stories and a handful of mystery novels....
' The Red Right Hand (1945) - Robert van GulikRobert van GulikRobert Hans van Gulik was a highly educated orientalist, diplomat, musician , and writer, best known for the Judge Dee mysteries, the protagonist of which he borrowed from the 18th-century Chinese detective novel Dee Goong An.-Life:Robert van Gulik was the son of a medical officer in the Dutch...
's The Chinese Gold MurdersThe Chinese Gold MurdersThe Chinese Gold Murders is a detective novel written by Robert van Gulik and set in Imperial China . It is a fiction based on the real character of Judge Dee , a magistrate and statesman of the Tang court, who lived roughly 630–700.The book includes a map of the fictional town of...
(1952) and The Red PavilionThe Red PavilionThe Red Pavilion is a detective novel written by Robert van Gulik and set in Imperial China . It is a fiction based on the real character of Judge Dee , a magistrate and statesman of the Tang court, who lived roughly 630–700.The book features six illustrations by the author and a map of...
(1958) - S. S. Van DineS. S. Van DineS. S. Van Dine was the pseudonym of Willard Huntington Wright , a U.S art critic and author. He created the once immensely popular fictional detective Philo Vance, who first appeared in books in the 1920s, then in movies and on the radio.-Early life and career:Willard Huntington Wright was born...
's The Canary Murder CaseThe Canary Murder CaseThe Canary Murder Case is a murder mystery novel which deals with the murders of a sexy nightclub singer known as "the Canary," and eventually, that of her boyfriend, solved by Philo Vance. S. S. Van Dine's classic whodunnit, second in the Philo Vance series, is said by Howard Haycraft to have...
(1927), The Kennel Murder CaseThe Kennel Murder CaseThe Kennel Murder Case is a 1933 murder mystery novel written by S. S. Van Dine with fictional detective Philo Vance investigating a complex locked room mystery.-Plot summary:...
(1933), and others. - Edgar WallaceEdgar WallaceRichard Horatio Edgar Wallace was an English crime writer, journalist, novelist, screenwriter, and playwright, who wrote 175 novels, 24 plays, and numerous articles in newspapers and journals....
's The Clue of the New Pin (1923) - Winslow, H. & Quirk, L. Into Thin Air (1928)
English-language short stories and novellas
- Margery AllinghamMargery AllinghamMargery Louise Allingham was an English crime writer, best remembered for her detective stories featuring gentleman sleuth Albert Campion.- Childhood and schooling :...
's "The Border-Line Case" (1937) - Jon L. Breen's "The Number 12 Jinx" (1978), "Streak to Death" (1987), "Insider Trading" (2003)
- Leo BruceLeo BruceLeo Bruce is a pseudonym for Rupert Croft-Cooke . Under this name, Bruce wrote several mystery novels. He created two series, one featuring Sergeant Beef, a British police officer, and a second in which Carolus Deene, senior history master at the fictional Queen's School, Newminster, is an amateur...
's "Into Thin Air", "Holiday Task" and "Person or Persons" - John Dickson CarrJohn Dickson CarrJohn Dickson Carr was an American author of detective stories, who also published under the pen names Carter Dickson, Carr Dickson and Roger Fairbairn....
's "The Shadow of the Goat" (1926), "The Third Bullet" (1937),"The Silver Curtain" (1940)," "The House in Goblin Wood" (1947), "Invisible Hands" (1958) and many, many others - Many of G. K. ChestertonG. K. ChestertonGilbert Keith Chesterton, KC*SG was an English writer. His prolific and diverse output included philosophy, ontology, poetry, plays, journalism, public lectures and debates, literary and art criticism, biography, Christian apologetics, and fiction, including fantasy and detective fiction....
's Father BrownFather BrownFather Brown is a fictional character created by English novelist G. K. Chesterton, who stars in 52 short stories, later compiled in five books. Chesterton based the character on Father John O'Connor , a parish priest in Bradford who was involved in Chesterton's conversion to Catholicism in 1922...
stories, notably "The Secret Garden", "The Invisible Man," "The Wrong Shape," "The Oracle of the Dog," "The Dagger with Wings" and "The Miracle of Moon Crescent" - Agatha ChristieAgatha ChristieDame Agatha Christie DBE was a British crime writer of novels, short stories, and plays. She also wrote romances under the name Mary Westmacott, but she is best remembered for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections , and her successful West End plays.According to...
's "The Dream" (1937), "The Idol House of Astarte" (1928) and many others. - Most of Joseph CommingsJoseph CommingsJoseph Commings was an American writer of locked room mysteries. He wrote a series of soft-core sex novels, but is best known for his locked-room mystery/impossible crime stories featuring Senator Brooks U. Banner."...
' 33 short stories featuring Senator Banner, notably The X Street MurdersThe X Street Murders"The X Street Murders" is a locked room mystery short story by Joseph Commings, featuring his detective Brooks U. Banner.-Plot summary:The story begins on X Street in Washington, D.C., where the New Zealand legation is located. Caroll Lockyear walks out of the legation at 11:29. The secretary,...
, "Death by Black Magic," "Hangman's House" and Fingerprint GhostFingerprint GhostFingerprint Ghost is a locked room mystery short story by Joseph Commings, featuring his detective Brooks U. Banner.-Plot summary:Senator Brooks U. Banner is making a phone call outside the Sphynx club, when he hears angry yelling a few booths down. Magician Larry Drollen is arguing with someone,...
. A collection of his stories has recently been published under the title "Banner Deadlines". - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's "The Adventure of the Speckled BandThe Adventure of the Speckled Band"The Adventure of the Speckled Band" is one of the 56 short Sherlock Holmes stories written by Scottish author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It is the eighth of the twelve stories collected in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. It is one of four Sherlock Holmes stories that can be classified as a locked...
" (1892), "The Adventure of the Empty HouseThe Adventure of the Empty House"The Adventure of the Empty House", one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by British author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is one of 13 stories in the cycle collected as The Return of Sherlock Holmes. Public pressure forced Conan Doyle to bring the sleuth back to life, and explain his...
" (1903) and "The Problem of Thor BridgeThe Problem of Thor Bridge"The Problem of Thor Bridge" is a Sherlock Holmes murder mystery by Arthur Conan Doyle, which appears in the collection The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes...
" (1922) - Carter Dickson's "Error at Daybreak" (1938), "The Crime in Nobody's Room" (1939), "The New Invisible Man", (1940), "Persons or Things Unknown" (1947) and many others
- Jacques FutrelleJacques FutrelleJacques Heath Futrelle was an American journalist and mystery writer. He is best known for writing short detective stories featuring Professor Augustus S. F. X...
's The Problem of Cell 13The Problem of Cell 13"The Problem of Cell 13" is a short story by Jacques Futrelle first published in 1905 and later collected in The Thinking Machine , which was featured in crime writer H. R. F. Keating's list of the 100 best crime and mystery books ever published...
(1905) - Peter GodfreyPeter GodfreyPeter Ronald Godfrey is an English former professional association football player. He played for Charlton Athletic, Exeter City and Gillingham between 1955 and 1967.-References:...
's The Newtonian Egg and The Flung-Back Lid - Robert van GulikRobert van GulikRobert Hans van Gulik was a highly educated orientalist, diplomat, musician , and writer, best known for the Judge Dee mysteries, the protagonist of which he borrowed from the 18th-century Chinese detective novel Dee Goong An.-Life:Robert van Gulik was the son of a medical officer in the Dutch...
's "The Red Tape Murder" (1967) - Many of Edward D. HochEdward D. HochEdward Dentinger Hoch was an American writer of detective fiction. Although he wrote several novels, he was primarily known for his vast output of over 950 short stories.-Biography:...
's stories, including "The Problem of the Covered BridgeThe Problem of the Covered BridgeThe Problem of the Covered Bridge is a mystery short story by Edward D. Hoch which was first published in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine . It is part of a sub-type of the locked room mystery known as an impossible crime story. It introduces the characters of Dr. Sam Hawthorn, Sheriff Lens, and...
" (and every Sam Hawthorn story), "The Witch is Dead," "The Flying Fiend", "The Leopold Locked Room", and "The Tomb at the Top of the Tree." - Most of C. Daly King's 11 Trevis Tarrant stories, including The Episode of The Tangible Illusion, The Episode of the Nail and The Requiem, The Episode of The Torment VI and The Episode of the Absent Fish, in the volume "The Complete Curious Mr. Tarrant".
- J. A. KonrathJ. A. KonrathJoseph Andrew Konrath is a fiction writer working in the mystery, thriller, and horror genres. He writes as J. A. Konrath.-Biography:...
's With a Twist (2005) - Peter LoveseyPeter LoveseyPeter Lovesey is a British writer of historical and contemporary crime novels and short stories. His best-known series characters are Sergeant Cribb, a Victorian-era police detective based in London, and Peter Diamond, a modern-day police detective in Bath...
's The Amorous Corpse - William MarchWilliam MarchWilliam March was an American author and a highly decorated US Marine. The author of six novels and four short-story collections, March was praised by critics and heralded as "the unrecognized genius of our time", without attaining popular appeal until after his death.March grew up in rural...
's "The Bird House" (1954) - Larry NivenLarry NivenLaurence van Cott Niven / ˈlæri ˈnɪvən/ is an American science fiction author. His best-known work is Ringworld , which received Hugo, Locus, Ditmar, and Nebula awards. His work is primarily hard science fiction, using big science concepts and theoretical physics...
's Gil 'the ARM' HamiltonGil HamiltonGilbert Gilgamesh Hamilton is a fictional character in the Known Space universe created by Larry Niven. He is one of the few science fiction detectives to appear in the genre...
stories: Death by EcstasyDeath by EcstasyDeath by Ecstasy is a novella in the Known Space universe by Larry Niven. It is the first of five Gil Hamilton detective stories, and provides most of the backstory for the character....
(1968), ARMArm (novella)ARM is a science fiction novella by American author Larry Niven. Set in the Known Space cycle, it is the third of five Gil Hamilton detective stories....
(1975), and The Patchwork GirlThe Patchwork GirlThe Patchwork Girl is a story in Known Space by Larry Niven. It is the fourth of five Gil Hamilton detective stories and the first to be published as a stand-alone novel. It was published alone as a novel in 1986 . It was later included in the Gil Hamilton anthology Flatlander.In a break from his...
(1980) (although it should be noted that, as these stories are science fictionScience fictionScience fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
, the methods of producing the locked-room mystery are not necessarily based on present-day science) - Edgar Allan PoeEdgar Allan PoeEdgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective...
's "The Murders in the Rue MorgueThe Murders in the Rue Morgue"The Murders in the Rue Morgue" is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe published in Graham's Magazine in 1841. It has been claimed as the first detective story; Poe referred to it as one of his "tales of ratiocination". Two works that share some similarities predate Poe's stories, including Das...
" (1841) - Melville Davisson PostMelville Davisson PostMelville Davisson Post was an American author, born in Harrison County, West Virginia. His family settled in the Clarksburg, West Virginia area in the late 18th Century. He earned a law degree from West Virginia University in 1892, and was married in 1903 to Ann Bloomfield Gamble Schofield. Their...
's "The Doomdorf Mystery" (1918) - Clayton RawsonClayton RawsonClayton Rawson was an American mystery writer, editor, and amateur magician. His four novels frequently invoke his great knowledge of stage magic and feature as their fictional detective The Great Merlini, a professional magician who runs a shop selling magic supplies...
's "From Another World" (1948) "Off the Face of the Earth", "Nothing Is Impossible" and others - Hal White's "Murder at an Island Mansion", "Murder from the Fourth Floor", "Murder on a Caribbean Cruise", "Murder at the Lord's Table", "Murder in a Sealed Loft", and "Murder at the Fall Festival"
- Israel ZangwillIsrael ZangwillIsrael Zangwill was a British humorist and writer.-Biography:Zangwill was born in London on January 21, 1864 in a family of Jewish immigrants from Czarist Russia, to Moses Zangwill from what is now Latvia and Ellen Hannah Marks Zangwill from what is now Poland. He dedicated his life to championing...
's The Big Bow Mystery (1892)
French-language novels
- Jean Alessandrini's La Quadrature du meurtre (2006)
- Gaston Boca's L'Ombre sur le jardin (1933)
- Pierre Boileau's Le Repos de Bacchus (1938) and Six crimes sans assassin (1939) - which contains no less than 6 impossible murders
- Boileau-NarcejacBoileau-NarcejacBoileau-Narcejac is the nom de plume under which French crime fiction writers Pierre Boileau and Pierre Ayraud, aka Thomas Narcejac collaborated...
's Les Magiciennes (1957) and L'Ingenieur Aimait Trop Les Chiffres (1959) - Gensoul, A. & Grenier, C.'s La Mort vient de nulle part (1945)
- Paul HalterPaul HalterPaul Halter is a writer of crime fiction known for his locked room mysteries. Halter pursued technical studies in his youth before joining the French Marines in the hope of seeing the world...
's La Quatrieme Porte (1987); Le Cercle Invisible (1996); and Les Sept Merveilles du Crime (1997) in which Monsieur Halter baffles his readers with an astonishing 7 impossible crimes. - Herbert, M. & Wyl, E.'s La Maison interdite
- Marcel Lanteaume's La Treizieme balle (1942) and Trompe l'oeil (1946)
- Gaston LerouxGaston LerouxGaston Louis Alfred Leroux was a French journalist and author of detective fiction.In the English-speaking world, he is best known for writing the novel The Phantom of the Opera , which has been made into several film and stage productions of the same name, notably the 1925 film starring Lon...
's The Mystery of the Yellow RoomThe Mystery of the Yellow RoomThe Mystery of the Yellow Room: Extraordinary Adventures of Joseph Rouletabille, Reporter by Gaston Leroux, is one of the first locked room mystery crime fiction novels...
(1907) - Thomas Narcejac's L'Assassin de Minuit (1945) and La Mort est du Voyage (1948)
- Noel Vindry's La Maison Qui Tue (1932), La Bete Hurlante (1934) and A Travers les Murailles (1937)
French-language short stories
- Pierre Boileau's "La Main qui referma la porte" (1956)
- Boileau-NarcejacBoileau-NarcejacBoileau-Narcejac is the nom de plume under which French crime fiction writers Pierre Boileau and Pierre Ayraud, aka Thomas Narcejac collaborated...
's "Au Bois Dormant" (1956) - Paul HalterPaul HalterPaul Halter is a writer of crime fiction known for his locked room mysteries. Halter pursued technical studies in his youth before joining the French Marines in the hope of seeing the world...
's The Night of the Wolf (2006) collection, three of which short stories: "The Call of the Lorelei," "The Tunnel of Death," "The Night of the Wolf," have been published in English in EQMM, together with a fourth: "The Robber's Grave" (2007) - Maurice Leblanc's Therese and Germaine (1922)
Japanese-language novels
- Soji Shimada's The Tokyo Zodiac Murders (1981)
- Akimitsu Takagi's The Tattoo Murder Case (1948)
For a detailed and comprehensive historical review of the field, together with descriptions of over 2000 novels and short stories featuring impossible crimes, consult Robert Adey's exhaustive bibliography Locked Room Murders (1979 and 1991) which is the definitive work on the subgenre.
French-speaking readers may consult Chambres Closes, Crimes Impossibles(1997), edited by Soupart, Fooz and Bourgeois or, for a more detailed analysis of a more limited number of works, Roland Lacourbe's 99 Chambres Closes.
Japanese-speaking enthusiasts may enjoy An Illustrated Guide to the Locked Room 1891-1998 (text by Alice Arisugawa and illustrations by Kazuichi Isoda) which contains summaries of 40 novels and short stories, 20 of which are Anglo-Saxon classics – the other 20 being Japanese classics from 1924 to the present day. A striking feature of the book is the double-page graphic explanation of each problem.
In early 2007 Roland Lacourbe formed a panel of like-minded enthusiasts to recommend a list of the best 99 novels to form the nucleus of a locked room library. The results can be found via the external link A Locked Room Library.
Radio, television and film
- The 2010 Bollywood film The Impossible MurderThe Impossible MurderThe Impossible Murder is a 2010 Bollywood feature film released directly on DVD. The film is a locked room mystery that is produced by The Indie Farm. It has been certified U/A by the Central Board of Film Certification, India.-Plot:...
is a locked room murder mystery that has an old lady killed in a simple room with a locked door and sealed window. - In the 1940s and 1950s John Dickson CarrJohn Dickson CarrJohn Dickson Carr was an American author of detective stories, who also published under the pen names Carter Dickson, Carr Dickson and Roger Fairbairn....
wrote a series of radio plays for the BBCBBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
's Appointment with Fear, and subsequently for CBSCBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
' Suspense series. Recordings of these plays are readily available on CD and the transcripts of many can be found in two collections: The Door to Doom and The Dead Sleep Lightly, both edited by Douglas G. Greene. - Blacke's MagicBlacke's MagicBlacke's Magic was a short-lived American TV show about a magician, Alexander Blacke , who, with some help from his con-man father, Leonard , solves mysteries that get in the way of his performances. It ran for one season in 1986 for 13 episodes and featured crimes that tested logic against...
featured a magician who used his skills to solve seemingly magical events. - Jonathan CreekJonathan CreekJonathan Creek is a British mystery series produced by the BBC and written by David Renwick. Primarily a crime drama, the show is also peppered with broadly comic touches...
, not a magician himself but a designer of magic tricks, featured in a BBC UK television series in which almost every episode featured an 'impossible' crime (many of them locked room mysteries). - BanacekBanacekBanacek is a short-lived, light-hearted detective TV series starring George Peppard on NBC from 1972 to 1974. It alternated in its timeslot with several other shows but was the only one to last beyond its first season...
was an American television series about an investigator specializing in locked-room thefts and other seemingly impossible mysteries. - The TV series MonkMonk (TV series)Monk is an American comedy-drama detective mystery television series created by Andy Breckman and starring Tony Shalhoub as the titular character, Adrian Monk. It originally ran from 2002 to 2009 and is primarily a mystery series, although it has dark and comic touches.The series debuted on July...
(starring Tony ShalhoubTony ShalhoubAnthony Marcus "Tony" Shalhoub is an American actor of Lebanese descent. His television work includes the roles of Antonio Scarpacci on Wings and sleuth Adrian Monk on the TV series Monk. He has won three Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe for his work in Monk...
) featured several locked room puzzles, such as a Navy lieutenant shot dead in his cabin on a submarine (Mr. Monk Is Underwater), when the gunshot was heard by witnesses outside, or a monkey that supposedly shot its master (Mr. Monk and the Panic Room). - The most recent television-based incarnation of Ellery QueenEllery Queen (TV series)Ellery Queen is an American television detective mystery series that ran for one season from 1975 to 1976 on NBC. It starred Jim Hutton as Ellery Queen, and David Wayne as his father, Inspector Richard Queen...
contained a number of locked room puzzles and impossible crimes (including The Adventure of Caesar's Last Sleep). - Other television series have contained locked-room episodes:
- Murder, She WroteMurder, She WroteMurder, She Wrote is an American television mystery series starring Angela Lansbury as mystery writer and amateur detective Jessica Fletcher. The series aired for 12 seasons from 1984 to 1996 on the CBS network, with 264 episodes transmitted. It was followed by four TV films and a spin-off series,...
: episode entitled "We're Off to Kill the Wizard" - CSICSI: Crime Scene InvestigationCSI: Crime Scene Investigation is an American crime drama television series, which premiered on CBS on October 6, 2000. The show was created by Anthony E. Zuiker and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer...
: season 3 episode 13, "Random Acts of Violence", season 7 episode 16, "Monster in the Box", - PsychPsychPsych is an American detective comedy-drama television series created by Steve Franks and broadcast on USA Network. It stars James Roday as Shawn Spencer, a young crime consultant for the Santa Barbara Police Department whose "heightened observational skills" and impressive detective instincts...
: episode entitled "Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Piece". - Dalziel and PascoeDalziel and Pascoe (BBC TV series)Dalziel and Pascoe is a popular British television crime drama based on the Dalziel and Pascoe books by Reginald Hill, which was first broadcast in March 1996. It is set in Yorkshire, and is about two detectives...
: episode entitled "Houdini's Ghost". - Remington SteeleRemington SteeleRemington Steele is an American television series, co-created by Robert Butler and Michael Gleason. The series, starring Stephanie Zimbalist and Pierce Brosnan, was produced by MTM Enterprises and first broadcast on the NBC network from 1982 to 1987. The series blended the genres of romantic...
: episode entitled "Now You Steele It, Now You Don't". - Columbo: episode entitled "Columbo Goes to the Guillotine".
- The X-FilesThe X-FilesThe X-Files is an American science fiction television series and a part of The X-Files franchise, created by screenwriter Chris Carter. The program originally aired from to . The show was a hit for the Fox network, and its characters and slogans became popular culture touchstones in the 1990s...
: episode entitled "Squeeze". - Star Trek: Deep Space NineStar Trek: Deep Space NineStar Trek: Deep Space Nine is a science fiction television series set in the Star Trek universe...
: episode #563, "Field of Fire"
- Murder, She Wrote
- The movies FlightplanFlightplanFlightplan is a 2005 thriller film directed by Robert Schwentke and starring Jodie Foster, Peter Sarsgaard, Erika Christensen, Kate Beahan, Greta Scacchi, and Sean Bean. It was released in North America on September 23, 2005...
and FractureFracture (2007 film)Fracture is a 2007 legal/crime suspense film from New Line Cinema and Castle Rock Entertainment, directed by Gregory Hoblit, starring Anthony Hopkins and Ryan Gosling...
both contain variations on the locked room mystery. In the former, a child disappears from an airplane in the middle of a flight; in the latter, the killer manages to make the murder weapon disappear despite his house being entirely surrounded by police. - Ayatsuri Sakon is a Japanese animeAnimeis the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
series about Tachibana Sakon, a student and a traditional bunraku performer (a style of traditional Japanese theatre employing very detailed life-sized puppets). In his spare time, though, he is an amateur sleuth. And his partner in his investigations is his red-haired, loud-mouthed puppet, Ukon. Together they run into locked room murders and solve them. - Tantei Gakuen Q/Detective Academy Q is the story of a group of young students from Class Q of Dan Detective School (DDS), a prestigious and renowned detective academy founded by Morihiko Dan, the most famous detective in Japan, and the adventures and mysteries they unfold and solve together. Almost every case has a locked room mystery or other type of impossible crime. (episodes 33 and 34 are an homage to John Dickson Carr and two of his Carter Dickson novels are mentioned.)
- Two episodes of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya feature a locked room murder mystery.
- Ayumu Narumi solves a locked room mystery in the second episode of Spiral: The Bonds of Reasoning.
- In the McMillan & Wife episode, "Guilt by Association", the chief must solve the murder of a jury member sequestered in a guarded room of a high-rise hotel.
- In the movie Armour of God, Jackie Chan enters a cave-like prison which is bolted from outside and is able to put the bolt back to the door from inside.
- In the anime series Detective Conan, many episodes feature locked room murders.
- The pilot episode of the science fiction series, AlphasAlphasAlphas is an American science fiction dramatic television series created by Zak Penn and Michael Karnow. The series follows a group of people with superhuman abilities, known as "Alphas", as they work to prevent crimes committed by other Alphas....
, contains a locked room mystery.
Pulp magazines
Pulp magazinePulp magazine
Pulp magazines , also collectively known as pulp fiction, refers to inexpensive fiction magazines published from 1896 through the 1950s. The typical pulp magazine was seven inches wide by ten inches high, half an inch thick, and 128 pages long...
s in the 1930s often contained impossible crime tales, dubbed weird menace
Weird menace
Weird menace is the name given to a sub-genre of horror fiction that was popular in the pulp magazines of the 1930s and early 1940s. The weird menace pulps, also known as "shudder pulps", generally featured stories in which the hero was pitted against sadistic villains, with graphic scenes of...
, in which a series of supernatural
Supernatural
The supernatural or is that which is not subject to the laws of nature, or more figuratively, that which is said to exist above and beyond nature...
or science-fiction type events is eventually explained rationally. Notable practitioners of the period were Fredric Brown
Fredric Brown
Fredric Brown was an American science fiction and mystery writer. He was born in Cincinnati.He had two sons: James Ross Brown and Linn Lewis Brown ....
, Paul Chadwick
Paul Chadwick (author)
Paul Chadwick was a pulp magazine author who wrote many stories under his own name and various pseudonyms. As was the case with many prolific contributors to the pulps, he wrote in a number of different genres including detective stories, science fiction and westerns...
and, to a certain extent, Cornell Woolrich
Cornell Woolrich
Cornell George Hopley-Woolrich was an American novelist and short story writer who sometimes wrote under the pseudonyms William Irish and George Hopley....
, although these writers tended to rarely use the Private Eye protagonists that many associate with pulp fiction.
Comic books/graphic novels
Quite a few comic book impossible crimes seem to draw on the 'weird menace' tradition of the pulps. However, celebrated writers such as G. K. ChestertonG. K. Chesterton
Gilbert Keith Chesterton, KC*SG was an English writer. His prolific and diverse output included philosophy, ontology, poetry, plays, journalism, public lectures and debates, literary and art criticism, biography, Christian apologetics, and fiction, including fantasy and detective fiction....
, Arthur Conan Doyle
Arthur Conan Doyle
Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle DL was a Scottish physician and writer, most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, generally considered a milestone in the field of crime fiction, and for the adventures of Professor Challenger...
, Clayton Rawson
Clayton Rawson
Clayton Rawson was an American mystery writer, editor, and amateur magician. His four novels frequently invoke his great knowledge of stage magic and feature as their fictional detective The Great Merlini, a professional magician who runs a shop selling magic supplies...
and Sax Rohmer
Sax Rohmer
Arthur Henry Sarsfield Ward , better known as Sax Rohmer, was a prolific English novelist. He is best remembered for his series of novels featuring the master criminal Dr...
have had their works adapted to comic book form. In 1934, Dashiell Hammett
Dashiell Hammett
Samuel Dashiell Hammett was an American author of hard-boiled detective novels and short stories, and political activist. Among the enduring characters he created are Sam Spade , Nick and Nora Charles , and the Continental Op .In addition to the significant influence his novels and stories had on...
created the comic strip Secret Agent X9, illustrated by Alex Raymond
Alex Raymond
Alexander Gillespie "Alex" Raymond was an American cartoonist, best known for creating Flash Gordon for King Features in 1934...
, which contained a locked-room episode, albeit a rather feeble one. One American comic book that made good use of locked room mysteries is Mike W. Barr's Maze Agency
Maze Agency
The Maze Agency is an American mystery comic book series created by Mike W. Barr and first published in 1988. It revolves around a pair of detectives and their adventures solving puzzling murders...
.
French-speaking culture has long respected the comic book as a form of art in its own right, and it should come as no surprise that there are many comic books which feature impossible crimes. The popular Belgian comic book hero Tintin
Tintin (character)
Tintin is a fictional character in The Adventures of Tintin, the series of classic Belgian comic books written and illustrated by Hergé. Tintin is the protagonist of the series, a reporter and adventurer who travels around the world with his dog Snowy....
tackled a locked-room mystery in Le Sceptre d'Ottokar. The many adventures of the journalist Ric Hochet are replete with impossible crimes, for example: L'Assassin Fantome, Les Spectres de la Nuit, and La Nuit des Vampires.
Manga
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
also has its locked-room adherents, such as the series Detective Conan written by Gosho Aoyama
Gosho Aoyama
, born on June 21, 1963 in Hokuei, Tottori Prefecture, Japan is a Japanese manga artist. He is best known as the creator of the manga series Detective Conan .-Educational background:Aoyama was talented in drawing even at an early age...
, which appears in English as Case Closed
Case Closed
Case Closed, known as in Japan, is a Japanese detective manga series written and illustrated by Gosho Aoyama. The series is serialized in Shogakukan's Weekly Shōnen Sunday since February 2, 1994, and has been collected in 73 tankōbon volumes as of September 2011...
; notable locked-room issues are #3, #6, #7. A similar series, Kindaichi Case Files
Kindaichi Case Files
is a serialized Japanese mystery manga series based on the crime solving adventures of a high school student, Hajime Kindaichi, the supposed grandson of the famous private detective Kosuke Kindaichi. They are written by Yōzaburō Kanari or Seimaru Amagi and illustrated by Fumiya Satō...
, features a locked room mystery in almost every story. Many of these are original, ingenious and meticulously explained; early examples are The Opera House Murders, Death TV and Smoke and Mirrors and finally the series Spiral: Suiri no Kizuna
Spiral: Suiri no Kizuna
is a fifteen-volume shōnen mystery manga series written by Kyou Shirodaira and illustrated by Eita Mizuno. It was published by Enix and then Square Enix in Monthly Shōnen Gangan from February 2000 to October 2005 and collected in 15 bound volumes...
has a locked-room mystery called "The room with the special lock" in chapters 4 to 6.
Graphic novels also use this as a motif. For example, the series Umineko no Naku Koro ni
Umineko no Naku Koro ni
is a Japanese murder mystery dōjin soft visual novel series produced by 07th Expansion. The first game in the series, Legend of the Golden Witch, was first released at Comiket 72 on August 17, 2007 playable on the PC; the game sold out in thirty minutes...
by 07th Expansion has used the locked room mystery as the basis of the novel and also denying any possible answer the player comes to during the novel.
True crimes
- Alfred Russel WallaceAlfred Russel WallaceAlfred Russel Wallace, OM, FRS was a British naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist and biologist...
described events occurring in the Baltic in 1844: "During the disturbances at the Cemetery of Ahrensburg in the island of Oesel, where coffins were overturned in locked vaults, and the case was investigated by an official commission, the horses of country people visiting the cemetery were often so alarmed and excited that they became covered with sweat and foam. Sometimes they threw themselves on the ground where they struggled in apparent agony, and, notwithstanding the immediate resort to remedial measures, several died within a day or two. In this case, as in so many others, although the commission made a most rigid investigation and applied the strictest tests, no natural cause for the disturbances was ever discovered." - George ColvocoressesGeorge ColvocoressesGeorge Musalas "Colvos" Colvocoresses was a United States Navy officer who commanded the USS Saratoga during the American Civil War. From 1838 up until 1842, he served in the United States Exploring Expedition, better known as the Wilkes Expedition, which explored large regions of the Pacific Ocean...
, captain of the USS SaratogaUSS Saratoga (1842)USS Saratoga, a sloop-of-war, was the third ship of the United States Navy to be named for the Battle of Saratoga of the American Revolutionary War. Her keel was laid down in the summer of 1841 by the Portsmouth Navy Yard...
during the American Civil WarAmerican Civil WarThe American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
was, according to his biography, mysteriously murdered in Bridgeport, Connecticut on June 3, 1872 while on his way to New York. According to his great-great-granddaughter, however, his insurers later alleged that his death was a suicide, as the bullet wound he suffered was conveyed at close range through his heart, without the bullet penetrating his outer garments. It remains unexplained why, if this were the case, he would choose the busiest time of day on a busy street, nor why his shirt remained tucked in his trousers after death. - Herr Konrad was a merchant in BerlinBerlinBerlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
in the 1880s. His wife and five children were found dead in their cellar. The ponderous cellar door had no keyhole nor any space around the molding, and was securely bolted on the inside. There was not the slightest aperture anywhere and the door fitted so tightly around the frame that a piece of paper could not have been passed through any crevice. However, the examining magistrate, using a powerful lens, eventually found a barely discernible hole just above the bolt on the inside of the door. There was no corresponding hole on the outside, but he found a small spot where the paint seemed fresher. Inserting a heated hatpin through the hole on the inside, he pushed out a hole in the exact centre of the painted spot. A piece of horsehair and a slight film of wax were found attached to the hatpin. Konrad had bored a tiny hole through the door above the bolt, looped a piece of horsehair over the bolt's knob, and slipped the two ends through the hole. By pulling upwards on the bolt-knob until the horsehair loop was disengaged, he was able to withdraw the horsehair through the hole, which he then filled up with wax and painted over. Konrad was executed; it was said he got the idea from a mystery novel. (K. Bernstein, "Der Merkwürdige Fall Konrad.") The murderer in Edgar Wallace's The Clue of the New PinThe Clue of the New Pin (novel)The Clue of the New Pin is a 1923 crime novel by the British writer Edgar Wallace.-Adaptations:The novel has been adapted into film twice:...
uses Konrad's technique. - According to a report in The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, March 10 and 11, 1929, Isidore Fink, of 4 East 132nd Street, New York CityNew York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, was in his Fifth Avenue Laundry on the night of March 9, 1929 with the windows closed and door of the room bolted. A neighbor heard screams and the sound of blows (but no shots) and called the police who were unable to get in. A young boy was lifted through the transom and was able to unbolt the door. On the floor lay Fink with two bullet wounds in his chest and one in his left wrist, which was powder-marked. He was dead. There was money in his pockets, and the cash register had not been touched. No weapon was found. The man had died instantly, or almost instantly. There was a theory that the murderer had crawled through the transom. But to do so he would have had to be no bigger than a small boy and would have had to leave the same way, as the door was bolted. Another theory had the murderer firing through the transom, but Fink's wrist was powder-burned, indicating that he had not been fired at from a distance. More than two years later, Police Commissioner Mulrooney, in a radio-talk, called this murder in a closed room an "insoluble mystery." The crime was said to have inspired William March's "The Bird House" and Ben Hecht's "The Mystery of the Fabulous Laundryman." - On the 16th of May 1937, Laetitia Toureaux was found stabbed to death in an otherwise empty 1st class compartment of the Paris MetroParis MétroThe Paris Métro or Métropolitain is the rapid transit metro system in Paris, France. It has become a symbol of the city, noted for its density within the city limits and its uniform architecture influenced by Art Nouveau. The network's sixteen lines are mostly underground and run to 214 km ...
. The subway train had left the terminus, Porte de Charenton, at 6:27 p.m. and had arrived at the next station, Porte Dorée, at 6:28 p.m. Witnesses at both stations swore nobody was seen getting in or out of the compartment, and witnesses in both adjacent compartments swore that nobody had tried to enter the one where Mlle. Toureaux's body was found. The murderer had one minute and twenty seconds at his or her disposal. Neither the murderer nor the method of his or her escape was ever discovered.