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Death Locked In: An Anthology of Locked Room Stories
Ingenuity faces the impossible in these tales of mystery & murder by such writers as John Dickson Carr, Ngaio Marsh, Ellery Queen, others.
CONTENTS
The First Locked room - Lillian de la Torre
Passage in the Secret History of an Irish Countess - Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
I Can Find My Way Out - Ngaio Marsh
The Suicide of Kiaros - L. Frank Baum
The Spherical Ghoul - Fredric Brown
Out of His Head - Thomas Bailey Aldrich
Murder by Proxy - M. McDonnell Bodkin
Out of This World - Peter Godfrey
The Mystery of the Hotel de L'Orme - M.M.B.
The Magic Bullet - Edward D. Hoch
A Terribly Strange Bed - Wilkie Collins
The Room with Something Wrong - Cornell Woolrich
Invisible Hands - John Dickson Carr
The X Street Murders - Joseph Commings
The Mystery of Room No. 11 - Nicholas Carter
The Man who Disappeared - L.T. Meade and Robert Eustace
The Invisible Man - G.K. Chesterton
The Adventure of the Man Who Could Double the Size of Diamonds - Ellery Queen
The Mystery of the Lost Special - Arthur Conan Doyle
Off the Face of the Earth - Clayton Rawson
The Grinning God - May Futrelle
The House that Was - Jacques Futrelle
Thin Air - Bill Pronzini
Elsewhen - Anthony Boucher
CONTENTS
The First Locked room - Lillian de la Torre
Passage in the Secret History of an Irish Countess - Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
I Can Find My Way Out - Ngaio Marsh
The Suicide of Kiaros - L. Frank Baum
The Spherical Ghoul - Fredric Brown
Out of His Head - Thomas Bailey Aldrich
Murder by Proxy - M. McDonnell Bodkin
Out of This World - Peter Godfrey
The Mystery of the Hotel de L'Orme - M.M.B.
The Magic Bullet - Edward D. Hoch
A Terribly Strange Bed - Wilkie Collins
The Room with Something Wrong - Cornell Woolrich
Invisible Hands - John Dickson Carr
The X Street Murders - Joseph Commings
The Mystery of Room No. 11 - Nicholas Carter
The Man who Disappeared - L.T. Meade and Robert Eustace
The Invisible Man - G.K. Chesterton
The Adventure of the Man Who Could Double the Size of Diamonds - Ellery Queen
The Mystery of the Lost Special - Arthur Conan Doyle
Off the Face of the Earth - Clayton Rawson
The Grinning God - May Futrelle
The House that Was - Jacques Futrelle
Thin Air - Bill Pronzini
Elsewhen - Anthony Boucher
553 pages, Hardcover
First published December 1, 1987
2 people are currently reading
91 people want to read
About the author
Douglas G. Greene
28 booksDouglas G. Greene is an American historian, editor, and author. Greene is Emeritus Professor of History at Old Dominion University, specializing in Tudor and Stuart Britain.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
September 3, 2014
I'm not a mystery fan, as I've said, but I read one story in this anthology as I'm reading a bunch of different Cornell Woolrich stories right now. I'm sure mystery fans would dig this book - it seems to be their kind of thing - but my review only applies to the Woolrich story "The Room with Something Wrong" (aka "Mystery In Room 913").
A hotel detective attempts to solve the mystery of a room that seems to drive occasional tenants into suicide (by defenestrating themselves). As he fights against the dismissive opinions of the police detective assigned to the case, he investigates three roomers in the hotel (on either side, and the floor below the room), sets up a stranger to "test" the room and, eventually, braves room 913 himself (having failed to elicit any reaction on a previous overnight test).
This is a straightforward mystery, which is kind of an oddity for Woolrich (in my reading experience at least) - while mysteries do crop up in his stories, their details and clues seem besides the point, as Woolrich's interest lies in his characters and their emotional anguish - and also kind of long for a Woolrich tale (65 pages). Without giving anything away - let's just say the solution is... a little hard to swallow. But, in truth, that fits my general perception that the locked room mystery subgenre is almost destined to disappoint on most occasions (see also my review of The Big Bow Mystery) - so much attention is paid to the novel, inventive "hows" of the crime, and setting up red herrings to fool the reader, that the why's (and whether possible things are treated as plausible) get lost in the shuffle, and the same is true here - although the ending is exciting in its absurdity.
Ignoring that, there's other enjoyable details, however. The hotel dick's plodding methodology is nicely offset by his taste for (in this Depression era setting) "fantastic" pulp magazines - so even though he's convinced there's a rational explanation for the eerie events, he finds himself worried that telepathy or mesmerism might be involved, even though he's not sure he believes in such things. Also fun are his clashes with the bull-headed Police Detective, and the implied disdain he has for a mere Hotel Detective playing at being a real one. The cast of characters in the hotel (the manager and suspects) are also nicely sketched and enjoyably kooky. The plot itself reminded me of detective version of Hanns Heinz Ewers's horror classic The Spider or Erckmann-Chatrian's The Invisible Eye. This was a fun but disposable read.
A hotel detective attempts to solve the mystery of a room that seems to drive occasional tenants into suicide (by defenestrating themselves). As he fights against the dismissive opinions of the police detective assigned to the case, he investigates three roomers in the hotel (on either side, and the floor below the room), sets up a stranger to "test" the room and, eventually, braves room 913 himself (having failed to elicit any reaction on a previous overnight test).
This is a straightforward mystery, which is kind of an oddity for Woolrich (in my reading experience at least) - while mysteries do crop up in his stories, their details and clues seem besides the point, as Woolrich's interest lies in his characters and their emotional anguish - and also kind of long for a Woolrich tale (65 pages). Without giving anything away - let's just say the solution is... a little hard to swallow. But, in truth, that fits my general perception that the locked room mystery subgenre is almost destined to disappoint on most occasions (see also my review of The Big Bow Mystery) - so much attention is paid to the novel, inventive "hows" of the crime, and setting up red herrings to fool the reader, that the why's (and whether possible things are treated as plausible) get lost in the shuffle, and the same is true here - although the ending is exciting in its absurdity.
Ignoring that, there's other enjoyable details, however. The hotel dick's plodding methodology is nicely offset by his taste for (in this Depression era setting) "fantastic" pulp magazines - so even though he's convinced there's a rational explanation for the eerie events, he finds himself worried that telepathy or mesmerism might be involved, even though he's not sure he believes in such things. Also fun are his clashes with the bull-headed Police Detective, and the implied disdain he has for a mere Hotel Detective playing at being a real one. The cast of characters in the hotel (the manager and suspects) are also nicely sketched and enjoyably kooky. The plot itself reminded me of detective version of Hanns Heinz Ewers's horror classic The Spider or Erckmann-Chatrian's The Invisible Eye. This was a fun but disposable read.
November 16, 2022
A great collection of “locked room” and “impossible crime” mystery short stories by different authors from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Plots range from the truly ingenious to the utterly preposterous. The variety of plots, settings, writing styles, points of view, and twists on the locked room concept make this a lively read. It’s a large collection of self-contained stories, so a reader could choose to dip in and enjoy a story here and there or read from cover to cover.
July 10, 2020
It seemed like a good book to read during coronavirus lockdown, and I started it then, but because it’s a series of short stories it took a while to get through. Really ingenious authors, as most of the solutions make sense even though I couldn’t figure most of them out. It will go on my shelf, as it’s the perfect book for an overnight guest to pick up when they’ve forgotten something to read.
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June 7, 2024The Spherical Ghoul
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November 3, 20121) The First Locked room; de la Torre, Lillian
2) Passage in the Secret History of an Irish Countess; Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan
3) I Can Find My Way Out; Marsh, Ngaio
4) The Suicide of Kiaros; Baum, L. Frank
5) The Spherical Ghoul; Brown, Fredric
6) Out of His Head; Aldrich, Thomas Bailey
7) Murder by Proxy; Bodkin, M. McDonnell
8) The Mystery of the Hotel de L'Orme; M.M.B.
9) The Magic Bullet; Hoch, Edward D.
10) A Terribly Strange Bed; Collins, Wilkie
11) The Room with Something Wrong; Woolrich, Cornell
12) Invisible Hands; Carr, John Dickson
13) The X Street Murders; Commings, Joseph
14) The Mystery of Room No. 11; Carter, Nicholas
15) The Man who Disappeared; Meade, L.T. and Robert Eustace
16) The Invisible Man; Chesterton, G.K.
17) The Adventure of the Man Who Could Double the Size of Diamonds; Queen, Ellery
18) The Mystery of the Lost Special; Doyle, Arthur Conan
19) Off the Face of the Earth; Rawson, Clayton
20) The Grinning God; Futrelle, May
21) The House that Was; Futrelle, Jacques
22) Thin Air; Pronzini, Bill
23) Elsewhen; Boucher, Anthony
2) Passage in the Secret History of an Irish Countess; Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan
3) I Can Find My Way Out; Marsh, Ngaio
4) The Suicide of Kiaros; Baum, L. Frank
5) The Spherical Ghoul; Brown, Fredric
6) Out of His Head; Aldrich, Thomas Bailey
7) Murder by Proxy; Bodkin, M. McDonnell
8) The Mystery of the Hotel de L'Orme; M.M.B.
9) The Magic Bullet; Hoch, Edward D.
10) A Terribly Strange Bed; Collins, Wilkie
11) The Room with Something Wrong; Woolrich, Cornell
12) Invisible Hands; Carr, John Dickson
13) The X Street Murders; Commings, Joseph
14) The Mystery of Room No. 11; Carter, Nicholas
15) The Man who Disappeared; Meade, L.T. and Robert Eustace
16) The Invisible Man; Chesterton, G.K.
17) The Adventure of the Man Who Could Double the Size of Diamonds; Queen, Ellery
18) The Mystery of the Lost Special; Doyle, Arthur Conan
19) Off the Face of the Earth; Rawson, Clayton
20) The Grinning God; Futrelle, May
21) The House that Was; Futrelle, Jacques
22) Thin Air; Pronzini, Bill
23) Elsewhen; Boucher, Anthony
July 21, 2018
As a collection, this was a fantastic collection. Like all such books, it has a few stories that aren't quite as good. But the overall quality was really good. I certainly don't feel like I can complain. The most fascinating part of this book was the variety of TYPES of solutions to impossible puzzles.
November 19, 2012
This is a great collection of classic mystery stories. It features works from obscure writers to famous ones. All the sotries are well crafted...and designed to get your brain working overtime to solve each "impossilbe" puzzle....
July 13, 2011
Gotta love those locked-room mysteries!
May 23, 2015
Great selection of "locked room" stories. Some of them are based on fact. I like the mix of old fashioned mysteries and more current authors.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews