Miraculous Mysteries: Locked-Room Murders and Impossible Crimes

by Martin Edwards (Editor)

Mystery crime fiction written in the Golden Age of Murder

Impossible crime stories have been relished by puzzle-lovers ever since the invention of detective fiction. Fiendishly intricate cases were particularly well suited to the cerebral type of detective story that became so popular during the 'golden age of murder' between the two world wars. But the tradition goes back to the days of Edgar Allan Poe and Wilkie Collins, and impossible crime stories have been written by such luminaries as Arthur Conan Doyle, G.K. Chesterton, Dorothy L. Sayers and Margery Allingham.

This anthology celebrates their work, alongside long-hidden gems by less familiar writers. Together these stories demonstrate the range and high accomplishment of the classic British impossible crime story over more than half a century.

Genres: Mystery, Short Stories, Fiction, Crime, Anthologies, Mystery Thriller, Classics

358 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 19, 2017

About the author

Martin Edwards has been described by Richard Osman as ‘a true master of British crime writing.’ He has published twenty-three novels, which include the eight Lake District Mysteries, one of which was shortlisted for the Theakston’s Prize for best crime novel of the year and four books featuring Rachel Savernake, including the Dagger-nominated Gallows Court and Blackstone Fell, while Gallows Court and Sepulchre Street were shortlisted for the eDunnit award for best crime novel of the year. He is also the author of two multi-award-winning histories of crime fiction, The Life of Crime and The Golden Age of Murder. He has received three Daggers from the Crime Writers’ Association and two Edgars from the Mystery Writers of America and has also been nominated three times for Gold Daggers. In addition to the CWA Diamond Dagger (the highest honour in UK crime writing) he has received four other lifetime achievement awards: for his fiction, short fiction, non-fiction, and scholarship. He is consultant to the British Library’s Crime Classics, a former Chair of the CWA, and since 2015 has been President of the Detection Club.

Reviews

[Carol]

E-Galley provided through the generosity of Penguin Press and Netgalley for my honest review. This title is part of The British Library Crime Classics and is available for purchase as of June 6, 2017.

Miraculous Mysteries is a compilation that’s like a bag of potato chips. Once you open its pages, you will not be able to stop at just one.

Many including me love locked room mysteries. The quest to figure out how a crime is committed in a space with no way for the perpetrator to exit is delicious to say the least. The solving of these mysterious mysteries is good for this aging brain and good fun too.

Thank heavens for GR friends, in this case Sue Drees who gave the wonderful authors of this collection their due. Some old friends and some new acquaintances for me. Most familiar to me were Dorothy L. Sayers, G.K Chesterton, Margery Allingham, and Arthur Conan Doyle, but don't expect a Sherlock story. Nicholas Olde, Sax Rohmer, and Austin Freeman are a few that I will need to research.

Love the old-fashioned look of The British Library Crime Classics covers, the hues and tones and the content is top-notch too. Miraculous Mysteries: Locked Room Mysteries and Impossible Crimes is a book I need to own. It’s a solid collection and a must for fans of this genre, edited by Martin Edwards.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection provides quite a mixture of mystery stories, all of the impossible, locked room variety. Locked room stories are not always my favorite mysteries, but there are some very good ones in this collection; a few are quite clever in unexpected ways. There are also a few that were, for me, quite forgettable (especially, for some reason, at the beginning). Most stories are set in the pre-WWII years of Britain, with only one later. One story, by Dorothy Sayers, uses a derogatory word never used now which bothered me as I read, but I realize was a part of a different time (written in the 1930s).

Many of the stories I enjoyed were written by authors completely unknown to me before. Some of these writers had lengthy careers in mystery writing, others wrote little in the genre or worked in other fields entirely. So those seeking more materials may find more authors to seek out elsewhere. Edwards continues to provide brief but fairly complete biographies on each writer.

If you are a fan of golden age mysteries, particularly of the locked room variety, then this book will be a good choice for you.

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher through NetGalley in return for an honest review.

[Kristina · Rating 4 out of 5]

This dastardly collection of “impossible” crimes was highly entertaining and perplexing. The detectives were dashing and clever and the criminals conniving and inventive. There was plenty of humor as well and fantastic British scenery to compliment the mysteries. This really was an excellently arranged anthology and I highly recommend it. Why only four stars, however, you ask? Pure feminist spite, my friends. Although there are two stories written by women (Dorothy Sayers and Margery Allingham), the women IN the stories are either helpless, wicked, pregnant, or ridiculously stupid. Granting for the turn-of-the-century culture and language, I am still grumbly about the misogyny here as well as the unfortunate and unacceptable racism in several of the stories. Otherwise, this collection is pretty-near perfect.

[Ingrid · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short stories about solving seemingly impossible crimes. Some were better than others, but I enjoyed reading them.

[Christine PNW · Rating 3 out of 5]

The British Library Crime Classics series has published a number of anthologies edited by Martin Edwards. I was looking for a locked room mystery to fill a square in a Halloween bingo game, and thought that this one would fit the bill splendidly. And so it did.

Only one of the stories was an unredeemable clunker - the abysmal The Case of the Tragedies in the Greek Room by Sax Rohmer.

My favorite stories were The Lost Special by Arthur Conan Doyle, a clever non-Holmes story about a train that simply disappears, The Miracle of Moon Crescent by G.K. Chesterton, an extremely complicated Father Brown mystery that was previously published in The Incredulity of Father Brown, and Too Clever By Half by GHD and Margaret Cole, which makes the point that complicated plots should be avoided.

The remaining stories are all entertaining, and contain all of the secret passages, disappearing weapons, and complicated murderous devices that a reader needs to be satisfied with a locked room/impossible crime. The story by Dorothy Sayers would be a charming Wimsey tale that follows directly on the heels of Harriet Vane giving birth to the Wimsey heir, with a suitably lighthearted solution but for the fact that it contains a disgusting racial slur which rather ruined the whole thing for me, so fair warning should be provided. Yes, different times, yada yada yada. Nonetheless, the slur used is indefensible, and shocking to the modern reader.

[Bev · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another terrific collection of little-known mysteries in the British Library Crime Classics series. This time Martin Edwards is highlighting the classic crime favorites locked rooms and other impossible crimes. And, may I just pull out my soap box and point out that the locked room mysteries really are real, live, honest-to-goodness locked room mysteries and not what passes for "locked room" these days. So many people--including those who profess to have some sort of expertise in the mystery field--seem to think that closed circle = locked room. Here we have victims killed behind locked doors in situations where the room seems inaccessible from the outside; no one could have gotten in or out--either because of locked doors/windows or because all entry-ways were under observation; and/or the idea of suicide is put out of court--either because the weapon is nowhere to be found or the victim could not have possibly done the deed in the way it was done. It appears that no one could have done it. NOT: here we have a group of people trapped on an island, in a house in the middle of a snow storm, whatever and people start dying and no one from outside our little group could possibly have done it. The only island mystery that I've read that I'd count is And Then There Were None because when the bodies are discovered and everybody who was trapped on the island is dead it really does look like nobody could have done it in the way it was done. Okay...I'll put my soap box away now.

I've read about half of these before (Doyle, Rohmer, Robbins, the Coles, Sayers, and Crispin and a couple more seemed familiar but I can't say how or when I came across them. But even having read a number of them before, I still found the collection to be delightful. The Sayers story is one of my favorites and I never get tired of reading it. Of those that were new to me, "The Music-Room," "Death at 8.30," and "Locked In" stand out. Excellent collection. ★★★★

"The Lost Special" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: As Mr. Bland the Superintendent of the Central L. & W. Railway Company says in the story, "Does a train vanish into thin air in England in broad daylight? The thing is preposterous. An engine, a tender, two carriages, a van, five human beings--and all lost on a straight line of railway." And yet, it does happen

"The Thing Invisible" by William Hope Hodgson: Carnacki investigates the case of a butler stabbed in front of witnesses. The witness are convinced that either the dagger has a mind of its own or an invisible agent has employed it. Carnacki is almost convinced that the supernatural is involved...and then he notices something odd in a photograph.

"The Case of the Tragedies in the Greek Room" by Sax Rohmer: Death invades the room where an ancient Athenian harp resides. Is it a curse or is there a human agent?

"The Aluminum Dagger" by R. Austin Freeman: Dr. Thorndyke discovers how a man could be stabbed in a room with the only door locked and the window unreachable.

""The Miracle of Moon Crescent" by G. K. Chesterton: Father Brown knows the secret of how Warren Wynd was spirited out of his room and hanged in a tree a quarter of a mile away.

"The Invisible Weapon" by Nicholas Olde (Amian Lister Champneys): How could a man be killed with a heavy weapon when he was all alone in an empty ballroom. The evidence of the water leak holds the answer...

"The Diary of Death" by Marten Cumberland: When a beautiful woman dies in poverty, she leaves behind a diary vilifying her friends for not helping her in her time of need, someone begins killing the people mentioned--leaving the relevant pages of the diary beside the bodies. But how is the killer getting to their victims?

"The Broadcast Murder" by Grenville Robbins: A locked room radio murder mystery and the murder is broadcast live over the air. Tremayne, an announcer on the radio, appears to have been strangled while giving the news. He was alone in the recording studio, a locked room. When the manager bursts into the studio there's no one there--not even Mr. Tremayne, alive or dead. A clever mystery with a very surprising twist at the end.

"The Music-Room" by Sapper: Forty years ago a man was found dead (his face beaten in) in the locked music room of an old mansion. There were rumors of a secret passage and hidden gold. When the new owner holds a dinner party, the guests don't expect history to repeat itself....

"Death at 8.30" by Christopher St. John Sprigg: A criminal mastermind is extorting money from the rich and powerful--threatening them with death if they don't pay up. He's killed three and extorted money from seven more when he marks the Home Secretary as his next victim. The police set up what they think is a foolproof plan to protect Sir Charles Martell from being murdered at 8:30. They would be wrong.

"Too Clever by Half" by G.D.H. & Margaret Cole: Dr. Tancred tells a story to prove that it doesn't pay to be too clever if you want to get away with murder. When Sam Allsop is found shot, there are too many clues left about to "prove" that it was suicide. The murderer should have left well enough alone.

"Locked In" by E. Charles Vivian (Charles H. Cannell): Another dead man behind a locked door with no other possible entrance. Interesting solution--but I will say that as soon as I heard the name Borgia mentioned I knew something tricky would be involved. I was surprised the man wasn't poisoned.

"The Haunted Policeman" by Dorothy L. Sayers: The story of the poor policeman who saw a house numbered thirteen where no thirteen ought to be and a murdered man where no one has been murdered. Lord Peter helps him prove that he wasn't drunk nor delusional.

"The Sands of Thyme" by Michael Innes (J.I.M. Stewart): Death on the beach at Thyme Bay is reckoned to be a suicide because of the tale the footprints in the sand tell. But is it the right tale?

"Beware of the Trains" by Edmund Crispin (Robert Bruce Montgomery): Gervase Fen and the mystery of the missing train conductor. There's also a little matter of a burglar and a dead body.

"The Villa Marie Celeste" by Margery Allingham: Inspector Luke and Albert Campion join forces to solve the mystery of the young couple who disappeared from their home leaving their half-eaten breakfast behind.

First posted on my blog My Reader's Block.

[Ivonne Rovira · Rating 3 out of 5]

Martin Edwards’ anthology of “locked-door” mystery short stories from the Golden Age proves a mixed bag. Unfortunately, Edwards, an English solicitor and a mystery writer in his own right, front-loaded the collection with the dross, saving the gems for last. I nearly abandoned the book because the short stories at the beginning were so forgettable! So let this review serve as a warning to skip ahead.

Edwards includes a few fine short stories from well-known authors: Dorothy L. Sayers (“The Haunted Policeman”), Michael Innes (“The Sands of Thyme”), Edmund Crispin (“Beware of the Trains”), and Margery Allingham (“The Villa Marie Celeste”). Not all of Miraculous Mysteries’ stories literally feature a locked room; however, all center on an “impossible crime” unraveled by a clever detective, whether professional or amateur. Other short stories that make the anthology worth the price are Nicolas Olde’s “The Invisible Weapon,” Grenville Robbins’ “The Broadcast Murder,” Sapper’s ironic “The Music Room,” “Death at 8:30” by Christopher St. John Sprigg (the author of the fabulous Death of an Airman, a writer sadly cut down in his youth fighting in the Spanish Civil War), E. Charles Vivian’s “Locked In,” and G.D.H. and Margaret Cole’s “Too Clever by Half,” my personal favorite.

In the interest of full disclosure, I received this book from NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press in exchange for an honest review.

[Stephen Robert Collins · Rating 4 out of 5]

This classic collection of locked room mysteries that have not been publish for years.Short story collections like this often have rare out of print stories.Authors like Sax Rohmer ,William Hope Hodgson,G.K.Chesterton, Sapper & lots more.

[Leah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Locked doors don't guarantee safety...

Over the last couple of years, I have developed something of an addiction for the themed anthologies being published under the British Library Crime Classics label. This one concentrates on “impossible” crimes - “locked room” mysteries and others of the kind where the emphasis is more on how it was done than on whodunit. As always, the stories have been selected by Martin Edwards who gives a brief introduction to each one telling a little about the author. They're printed in rough chronological order, covering the period from the beginning of the 20th century (or just before) through to 1960.

There are lots of well-known names here – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Dorothy L Sayers, Margery Allingham, etc – as well as some more obscure authors, some of whom have appeared in the earlier anthologies and some who I think are making their first appearance. The crimes are a lot of fun, ranging from the fiendishly clever but quite possible to work out if you have that kind of mind, to ones that rely on something that couldn't have been known – trick doors or things of that nature. I did guess a few, but was baffled by plenty, and even the easier to solve ones are still entertaining.

As with all anthologies, the quality is variable but I must say I think the average standard throughout this collection is actually higher than in some of the earlier collections. Perhaps this kind of puzzle just appeals more to me, but I don't think that's it, really – I think this is just a particularly good group of stories. There are sixteen of them in total, and I ranked ten of them as either 4 or 5 stars, with only one getting a rating lower than 3 (and that was the GK Chesterton story, which can be put down to my own prejudice – I simply don't enjoy his style).

Great fun! I now feel quite qualified to bump off anyone who annoys me in ways that will baffle the greatest detective minds...

NB This book was provided for review by the publisher, Poisoned Pen Press.

www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com

[Miglė · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nelabai suprantu, kodėl įsigijau šią knygą – juk buvau skaičiusi The Black Lizard Big Book of Locked-Room Mysteries ir savaime suprantama, kad kai kurie "neįmanomi nusikaltimai" kartojosi. Kita vertus, tų neįmanomybių išaiškinimas teikia kažkokį fundamentalų malonumą, tai nesigailiu kai kuriuos perskaičiusi dar kartą. Patiko kalba, patiko nusikaltimai, nors ir imu suprasti priekaištą klasikiniam detektyvui, esą jis pernelyg techninis.

[Judy Lesley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received an e-ARC of this book of short stories through NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press. Thank you.

This collection of short stories has a lot going for it. Included in this book are 16 locked room, or often called impossible, puzzles needing a solution. Luckily for those of us who especially enjoy these older classics there were some fine deductive thinkers on the scene. As is almost a standard for a collection of this type the editor, Martin Edwards, has included a brief biographical segment at the beginning of each story to help the reader understand the placement that author had in crime fiction of that period. The stories are arranged more or less in chronological order so I got a nice mixture of authors I was familiar with bumping up against those I didn't know at all.

Here is a list of the story titles and authors:
The Lost Special by Arthur Conan Doyle (not a Sherlock Holmes/Dr. Watson story)
The Thing Invisible by William Hope Hodgson
The Case of the Tragedies in the Greek Room by Sax Rohmer
The Aluminum Dagger by R. Austin Freeman
The Miracle of Moon Crescent by G. K. Chesterton
The Invisible Weapon by Nicholas Olde
The Diary of Death by Marten Cumberland
The Broadcast Murder by Grenville Robbins
The Music-Room by Sapper (not a Bulldog Drummond story)
Death at 8:30 by Christopher St. John Sprigg
Too Clever By Half by G. D. H. and Margaret Cole
Locked In by E. Charles Vivian
The Haunted Policeman by Dorothy L. Sayers (a Lord Peter Wimsey story)
The Sands of Thyme by Michael Innes (a John Appleby story)
Beware of the Trains by Edmund Crispin (a Gervase Fen story)
The Villa Marie Celeste by Margery Allingham (an Albert Campion and Inspector Luke story)

There was only one story I didn't particularly enjoy and only one that I solved as it was unfolding. Altogether a very pleasant time of enjoying short snippets of wonderfully written stories at my leisure.

[Robin Stevens · Rating 4 out of 5]

Delightful locked-room mysteries from well-known and less-known Golden Age authors, these were fun to read and great work-outs for my brain! Some of these stories have dated less well than others, though ... (12+)

*Please note: this review is meant as a recommendation only. Please do not use it in any marketing material, online or in print, without asking permission from me first. Thank you!*

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been enjoying all of these collections from the British Library Crime Classics, but this one is really extra-good. All are stories that involve an "impossible" crime (except, come to think of it, for one, where there is no real crime) by British authors, well-known or virtually forgotten. I think the title makes it sound as though there's a religious element to all the stories--there isn't--but since they're not all "locked room murders" it may be the fairest title.

[Gigi · Rating 5 out of 5]

A satisfying collection of impossible crime short stories, many of which were new to me. The introductions by Martin Edwards are especially interesting to set the stage.

[Christopher Roden · Rating 4 out of 5]

A mixed bag, but nonetheless very entertaining.

[Diana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Miraculous Mysteries [2017] – ★★★★1/2

This is a fabulous collection of short murder mysteries (sixteen in total) that concern the so-called “impossible crime” scenario, where, seemingly, a murder could not have taken place or a murderer could not have possibly escaped after the commission of their crime (“locked-room” mysteries). Most of the stories concern the situation of “appearances deceiving” and come from various authors, from Arthur Conan Doyle and G. K. Chesterton to Margery Allingham and Sax Rohmer. In this book, there are such situations as (i) a confused policeman is not believed when he tells his tale of one gruesome murder scene he witnessed at one mysterious house no 13 – only, as it happens, there is no such house in existence; (ii) a night guard gets murdered in a museum room to which there is absolutely no access at night for anyone; and (iii) one invisible force striking people with an ornamented dagger. In this short review, I will highlight only three of these sixteen stories (these three are not necessarily the best or the most memorable ones, but simply ones I chose for review).

Death at 8.30 [1933] by Christopher St. John Sprigg – ★★★★★

This is a story that I had most fun with, and perhaps because it is so unusual. Here, a well-known, elusive blackmailer, known only as X. K., sends a threatening letter to the Home Secretary demanding that he pays him the sum of £20.000. If the Secretary does not pay, he would die at precisely 8.30 a.m. on a stipulated day. Despite the blackmailer's notorious reputation, the Home Secretary does not take this threat seriously and does not pay as he is certain that he can ensure his own protection from being murdered at that time. The Home Secretary then isolates himself entirely and beyond our imagination, as well as has guards and ammunition to ensure his own survival beyond 8.30 a.m. However, what follows is the unimaginable. I loved how the author could turn something so improbable and fantastical into something probable and very entertaining, suspending our disbelief. This is one of the best light mystery stories I have read in a long time.

The Broadcast Murder [1928] by Grenville Robbins – ★★★★

This is said to be the very “first locked-room mystery set in the world of radio“. Grenville Robbins was a journalist by profession, and, in his story, a radio presenter is murdered in the middle of a broadcast to thousands of listeners. Thousands of those listeners also heard his final words and his final scream. However, no murderer could have possibly got to the presenter and no murderer could then have escaped after the deed. What is even stranger, the body of the victim then mysteriously disappeared: “Tremayne had been attacked in an empty and unapproachable room, and then had been spirited away – all in a space of less than two minutes” [Robbins/Edwards, 1928/2017: 191]. The story is enjoyable, and has not one, but two twists.

Beware of the Trains [1953] by Edmund Crispin – ★★★★

This is a case of one mysterious disappearance of a motorman (train driver) from a train, all happening when the police receives a false alarm about a burglary on that train: one thing was established and it was that “beyond any shadow of doubt the missing motorman was not anywhere in, on or under the station, nor anywhere in, on or under his abandoned train…and, unfortunately, it was also established that he could not, in the nature of things, be anywhere else” [Crispin/Edwards, 1953/2017: 331]. Edmund Crispin is also the author of The Moving Toyshop [1946] and the creator of Gervase Fen, Professor of English Language at the University of Oxford, who likes to engage in some amateur investigative work in his spare time. Even though it may be relatively easy to guess the solution in this story, it is still an entertaining one and would appeal especially to fans of The Lady Vanishes [1938]/The Wheel Spins [1936].

[Eva Müller · Rating 4 out of 5]

This review can also be found on my blog

Of course, impossible crimes immediately makes one think of the typical locked room mystery: a room, locked from the inside, with a dead body. Most of the stories are exactly that but a few also feature miraculously disappearing weapons, bodies, trains or whole houses. 

The Lost Special - Arthur Conan Doyle 
How can a whole train disappear without a trace? The case is once again solved by...nobody really.

This story had some similarities to the Conan Doyle story in Blood on the Tracks and not only because both stories feature a seemingly impossible crime involving a train. Just like The Man with the Watches, this story has no detective, just somebody involved in the crime who explains it all, once it won't have any consequences for him anymore. That's...cheap. And while I fully understand Doyle's reluctance to make up a detective, even just for a single story, this simply isn't what I expect from a 'proper' mystery.

The Thing Invisible - William Hope Hodgson 
An invisible thing held the dagger that stabbed the butler in the chapel. That's what everybody who was there when it happens claims. So was there really a ghost or is there another explanation? Carnacki the Ghostfinder investigates.

Carnacki is yet another 'rival' of Sherlock Holmes and the stories are set up in a similar way, with the narrator being a friend of Carnacki. But the difference is that the two don't actually work together. In The Thing Invisible Carnacki comes to visit the narrator after he solved the case and tells him all about it which rather defeats the purpose in my opinion. Especially because a sizeable part of the narration is spent on Carnacki explaining how scared he was in the chapel, with frequent interjections a la 'You must really understand how terrified I was at that point' which rather killed the atmosphere instead adding to it. Which is a shame, because if you strip away all that, a clever impossible crime remains. But I almost didn't notice because I got so bored while reading.

The Case of the Tragedies in the Greek Room - Sax Rohmer 
Two people end up dead in a museum room. Both times a Greek harp has been removed from its case but not stolen. It's still in the room.

After the - for Martin Edwards - very lukewarm introduction to this story I didn't expect much but this story is fun. It's clearly pulp fiction with its high drama, impossible science, beautiful women and ridiculous coincidences. But it's also fun.

The Aluminium Dagger - R. Austin Freeman 
An unlikeable man is stabbed in a locked room by a left-handed person. But was he really?

Thorndyke is...reliable. I never came across a Thorndyke-story I didn't enjoy but I can also see how Freeman's obsession with scientific details isn't for everybody. Still, a very realistic locked-room mystery is a nice change

The Miracle of Moon Crescent - G.K. Chesterton 
Three Atheists stand in a room. Behind them a locked door. A priest walks in and wants to speak to the man behind the locked door.  The man is missing.

I swear the Father Brown stories I've read before weren't that...preachy. Or perhaps my memory is playing tricks on me since I watched much more adaptations (which in some cases are only very loosely based on the stories) than read Chesterton. This story felt like a religious treatise with some murder in the background and that was rather...exhausting. And dull.

The Invisible Weapon - Nicholas Oide 
The case seems clear-cut. A man is dead. Another man who had a motive to kill him stayed in the same house and he had the opportunity. But there's a tiny detail: the murder weapon is nowhere to be found and the suspect wouldn't have had the time to get rid of it. How can you batter someone to death with your bare hands?

Even though the question is not "Who killed the man behind closed doors?" but "Where did the weapon go?" this is one of the most typical locked room mysteries in this collection. The solution is brilliant but also plain and simple once explained (and relies on some very convenient coincidences)

The Diary of Death - Marten Cumberland 
A crazed serial killer has developed an obsession with a once-famous actress. She died impoverished but left a diary behind in which she accused her former friends of abandoning her. Somebody has gotten hold of that diary and is now out for revenge. One of the actress's friends is convinced he is next so he takes precautions and locks himself up. But...

...you will be surprised by what happens next.



The focus of this story isn't that much the impossible aspect (the solution to that is rather simple) but the story of the actress and who (and why) would be out to avenge her. As such it is...nice. 

The Broadcast Murder - Grenville Robbins 
A radio announcer is murdered live on air. All the nation could listen to it. But when the police enter the radio-station there is no body to be found.

 The Music Room - Sapper 
The owner of a mansion entertains his guests with a story about a decades-old unsolved murder about an unknown man, found in a locked room, beaten to death. One day later there's a very recent body in one of the rooms.

I'm putting these two together because I was bothered by very similar things in them. For me, a satisfying ending is important for a mystery.  That doesn't mean that it has to turn out that the most unlikeable character has to turn out to be the killer and everybody else gets to live happily ever after. But some sort of feeling that in the end, people got what they deserved is nice. And that isn't the case in either of those stories. In one case the guilty party even remains completely free (for reasons that make no sense at all), in the other, the author takes great pains to point out how unsatisfying and depressing the ending is.

Death at 8.30 - Christopher St. John Sprigg 
A blackmailer is on the loose. He demands money and threatens to kill when his demands aren't met and he has done so already three times. When he finds another victim and promises death at 8.30 on a certain day, the police want to stop him and make sure the man is guarded well when that time comes.

Spoiler: it goes badly. But I called the 'how' very quickly, and the rest of the story was somewhat underwhelming.

Too Clever By Half - G.D.H. and Margaret Cole 
A man shots himself. His brother-in-law - who had reason to kill him - was downstairs with a group of people when the shot fired. So was it really suicide? Or is the brother-in-law perhaps...*drumroll*...to clever by half?

Another quite classical story told in a somewhat unusual manner but still fun.

Locked In - E. Charles Vivian 
Suicide seems to run in the family when a man shoots himself twenty-three years after his father. There seems to be no question that it was suicide since it happened behind closed doors. But is it really? (No it's not)

Nothing special. And a solution that felt like cheating.

The Haunted Policeman - Dorothy L. Sayers 
While making his rounds a constable hears a blood-curdling scream. It comes from house number 13 and when he peeks through the letter-box he sees a dead body. But when he returns with a fellow officer there is no house number 13. And when they check all the houses on the street there is no body - and no interior that looks like the one the constable saw. Fortunately, the constable later bumps into Lord Peter (who needs fresh air after the stressful experience of watching his wife deliver their son) who can't resist such a good mystery.

And it is a great one. It is again a very typical impossible mystery - with a solution that makes sense but is also quite insane - but Wimsey is a great character.


The final three stories The Sands of Thyme by Michael Innes, Beware of the Trains by Edmund Crispin and The Villa Marie Celeste by Margery Allingham are all fairly short and there is little to say about them. They're all enjoyable but not particularly memorable.

All-in-all I did enjoy Miraculous Mysteries more than Blood on the Tracks but that has to do with the fact that I enjoy trying to figure the how of an impossible mystery more than reading about trains.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A selection (16) of 'locked room'mysteries, mainly published in the early 20th century. There were a couple I really enjoyed while the rest I would say were adequate, with various writing styles. Overall the collection was an interesting mix, and of the authors, I had read other stories from just over half.
If your interest lies in short stories and British classic mysteries then this book will be of interest.
A NetGalley Book

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another release from the British Library Crime Classics imprint, a collection of short stories edited by the indefatigable Martin Edwards. These collections all have a different theme and in this instance that theme is locked room/impossible crimes.

I did enjoy this collection, although several of them were not new to me; the G.K. Chesterton story 'The Miracle of Moon Crescent' and Margery Allingham's 'The Villa Marie Celeste' (which closes the set with a light touch) were particular favourites. The problem with reading several mysteries of the same type, though, is that there are really only so many logical ways to solve them and the collection quickly became rather 'samey' and perhaps a little boring; those which weren't boring were, frankly, verging on the mad (such as 'Beware of the Trains' by Edmund Crispin).

[p. · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5☆

I have been in a bit of a reading slump so I struggled with getting through this. Regardless, I think this is a pretty solid collection. It explores the impossible crime genre beyond the traditional locked-room mystery / murder and features some excellent entries.

Favourites: "The Case of the Tragedies in the Greek Room" by Sax Rohmer, "The Aluminium Dagger" by R. Austin Freeman, "The Diary of Death" by Marten Cumberland, "The Music-Room" by Sapper, "Death at 8.39" by Christopher St. John Spriggm, "The Haunted Policeman" by Dorothy L. Sayers and "The Villa Marie Celeste" by Margery Allingham

[Lisa Kucharski · Rating 4 out of 5]

A highly enjoyable mix of "impossible" or locked room mysteries. The nice thing is the variety and the fact that some of the stories would be close to impossible to come upon now. The introductions by Martin Edwards is a nice way to find out some background on the authors some of which were kept secret while they were writing. So there is a variety of hard to find and some of the more familiar names of the Golden Age of Detection.

The last story by Allingham was a fun one, and after listening to the situation I, like Campion, quickly got the idea of what happened to the missing couple. Ha! A fun read for mystery lovers.

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

Surprisingly complementary to the gigantic Otto Penzler collection of locked room stories that I read a few years ago. Martin Edwards (with help from Robert Adey) has unearthed a bunch of little-known authors &/or stories; unfortunately, for a lot of them, you can see why they’re little-known. They’re not bad, but they are often very mechanical (as is the “miracle” in most of them).
My favorite story—and by far the best-written—is the often-anthologized “The Villa Marie Celeste” by Margery Allingham, but most of the other stories are diverting enough. However, watch out for secret passages, hidden springs, and other such cheats.

[Robyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

KU Free Trial | Only okay | Must have been a glitch, I remember writing the review for this, but it's gone. I had read most of these previously, probably partly because I read The Black Lizard Big Book of Locked-Room Mysteries years ago. Most of the few that were new to me weren't worth it.

[Tony P · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most enjoyable, if you are a fan (as am I) of locked-room and other "impossible" mysteries. DNF, not because I wasn't enjoying it, but I was splitting my time too much between my Kindle and this book from the library, so I ran out of time and it had to be returned.

[William Richardson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good short mystery stories. Some were very good, some I did not care for.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent collection, but I suspect a dearth of good locked room/impossible crime stories because I had read over half of these before.

[Riju Ganguly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Locked-room mysteries are rather tricky. Writers of detective stories try to write about cases where an ‘impossible’ crime has been committed, and which has got the regular establishment, i.e. the hapless Police force, utterly ‘baffled’, ‘out of their depth’, etc. But, this style of writing has gone out of fashion, despite a certain kind of charm about them.
I had approached the book under review, brought out as part of the British Library Crime Classics with a little bit of trepidation, knowing fully well that if I read another story of hidden panel and a complex system of levers, I would abandon ship, i.e. the book.
Luckily, there were very few occasions to feel vengeful after that.
After a concise and to-the-point introduction, we have the following stories: -
1. “The Lost Special” by Arthur Conan Doyle: Unjustly regarded only as the creator of the Great Detective, Sir ACD shines in this OTT story, with fantastic criminals going to inordinate lengths, to achieve something equivalent to password for CIA mainframe these days: scandalous materials!
2. “The Thing Invisible” by William Hope Hodgson: Among the few occasions where the celebrated ghost-hunter Carnacki has tried to hunt something more tangible, this is one. It’s crap, as expected, full of hidden panels, flying daggers, and all explained as senile dementia. Luckily, I had been previously acquainted with this story, and therefore simply skimmed through it rather than getting all worked up.
3. “The Case of the Tragedies in the Greek Room” by Sax Rohmer: Sensational, not very intelligent, and definitely forgettable.
4. “The Aluminium Dagger” by R.Austin Freeman: With this case of Dr. Thorndyke, we venture into the arena of innovative and intelligent crime. It’s a good story.
5. “The Miracle of Moon Crescent” by G.K. Chesterton: A sharp, witty, intelligent, and yet humane story involving Father Brown.
6. “The Invisible Weapon” by Nicholas Olde: Enjoyable story, with a basic premise, and clean prose.
7. “The Diary of Death” by Marten Cumberland: Unlike the cleaner & precise stories befitting the British mystery tradition, this one is sensational, full of lurid stuff, and rather poor even otherwise.
8. “The Broadcast Murder” by Grenville Robbins: Brilliant. Not only was the mystery solvable with intelligent reasoning & deductions, the writing was dry & witty to enliven the whole story.
9. “The Music-Room” by Sapper: Predictable story. Although well-written, it contained hidden chambers and levers!
10. “Death at 8.30” by Christopher St. John Sprigg: The trademark British wit makes this preposterous story highly enjoyable.
11. “Too Clever By Half” by G.D.H. and Margaret Cole: Good set-up, but extremely over-written. Could have done with half the length.
12. “Locked In” by E.Charles Vivian: Very good mystery. Very well written. Too bad we don’t have much of such writing these days.
13. “The Haunted Policeman” by Dorothy L. Sayers: I detest Lord Peter Wimsey and his world. This story, with its drawling & rambling prose, full of things which some people find charming while they put my teeth on edge, was crap.
14. “The Sands of Thyme” by Michael Innes: Rather preposterous, again, but written in a compact manner, that made the story readable.
15. “Beware of the Trains” by Edmund Crispin: A smart, witty, and crisp story, that might propel me towards procurement of more works from this author.
16. “The Villa Marie Celeste” by Margery Allingham: Brilliant! The best way to conclude this enjoyable collection.

Overall, thanks to some very-very enjoyable stories herein, duly supported by some crisp and memorable OTT ones, I’m inclined to make the review suitably starry.

Highly Recommended.

[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve said before that I’m not a big fan of short stories, often finding them disappointing. So I’m glad to say that I enjoyed this anthology. Some stories, of course, are better than others.

These are the sixteen stories in the collection. Martin Edwards has prefaced each one with a brief biographical note, which I found useful as some of the authors were new to me. I read the collection slowly, which I find is the best way to approach a short story collection.

The Lost Special by Arthur Conan Doyle (not a Sherlock Holmes/Dr. Watson story) about a train that disappears on its route from Liverpool to London. This was first published in The Strand Magazine in 1898.

The Thing Invisible by William Hope Hodgson, an author I hadn’t come across before. First published in 1913 this is a murder mystery dressed up as a ‘ghost’ story. Very atmospheric.

The Case of the Tragedies in the Greek Room by Sax Rohmer, another new-to-me author, although I had heard of his most well known character, the master criminal Dr Fu Manchu. In this story amateur detective Moris Klaw and his beautiful daughter investigate a locked room murder in a museum, involving ‘psychic photographs’.

The Aluminum Dagger by Richard Austin Freeman, featuring one of Dr. John Thorndyke’s scientific stories, describing in detail how a man was discovered in a locked room, stabbed to death.

The Miracle of Moon Crescent by G. K. Chesterton, a Father Brown story set in America, in which the cleric investigates a death by a curse.

The Invisible Weapon by Nicholas Olde, an impossible murder mystery, in which there is only one man who could have done it – and he could not have done it.

The Diary of Death by Marten Cumberland – an impossible crime, a kind of chess problem. Lilian Hope’s diary provides a list of victims -people she had hated.

The Broadcast Murder by Grenville Robbins, in which a murder takes place in a radio station and is broadcast has it happens.

The Music-Room by Sapper (not a Bulldog Drummond story), featuring a secret passage and a falling chandelier.

Death at 8:30 by Christopher St. John Sprigg, in which a murderer predicts the date and exact time of the death of the victim unless a ransom is paid.

Too Clever By Half by G. D. H. and Margaret Cole – Dr Tancred’s advice, if you intend to commit a murder, is don’t make the mistake of trying to be clever!

Locked In by E. Charles Vivian – a death by shooting in a locked room.

The Haunted Policeman by Dorothy L. Sayers (a Lord Peter Wimsey story) – probably my favourite in the collection. It had me completely mystified. The policeman is new to the beat and can’t believe his eyes.

The Sands of Thyme by Michael Innes (a John Appleby story) murder at Thyme Bay, or was it suicide? Footprints in the sand provide a clue.

Beware of the Trains by Edmund Crispin (a Gervase Fen story), a clever and baffling story about a lost train driver.

The Villa Marie Celeste by Margery Allingham (an Albert Campion and Inspector Luke story) – another favourite, in which a young couple disappear, leaving behind their half-eaten breakfast, taking only a couple of clean linen sheets. There was no clue why they left and no signs of any violence.

My thanks to the publishers for my review copy via NetGalley.

[3 no 7 · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Miraculous Mysteries” is a must-have anthology for every mystery reader. It is a collection of hard to find, quick reads by top classic mystery writers, for example, Arthur Conan Doyle, Marten Cumberland, Edmund Crispin, and Dorothy Sayers. It has something for every reader. I took this collection on my recent vacation and loved every story, even the ones I had read previously.

A collection such as this allows a fan of mystery books to read and finish a compelling story all in one sitting. It is perfect for plane trips, car rides, or while waiting for appointments or when taking others (CHILDREN) to practice, or lessons, or games, or meetings, or afterschool events – the list goes on!
I was privileged to receive an advance copy of this collection to review, and it made my recent vacation trip both mysterious and enjoyable without interrupting my other plans. I could read these classic mysteries again and again and love them each time.

[Ron Kerrigan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three and a half stars: Editor Martin Edwards prefaces each story with a short bio of the author and mentions other works if a reader is interested in further work by each author. His
observations elevate the collection.

Plots and my rating (* to *****)

The Lost Special (Arthur Conan Doyle) A man hires a specially chartered train from Liverpool to London, but he and the train disappear between two stations. The mystery is explained in a lengthy letter written by the man behind it years later. Doyle's writing is wonderful, although this is a little too preposterous (although it seems you can accomplish anything with enough money.) ***

The Thing Invisible (William Hope Hodgson) Carnacki the Ghost Hunter relays his experiences with what appears to be a haunted chapel where a dagger is able to attack people without a human hand wielding it. A touch of the supernatural infuses this story where Carnacki tackles a mystery by spending a night inside the chapel which allows him to figure out what's going on. Not exactly a new twist of the problem (but when it was written in 1913 maybe it was), it's an enjoyable story. ****

The Tragedies in the Greek Room (Sax Rohmer) Night watchmen die in a museum's locked room where the most valuable item is removed from its case but left behind. Moris Klaw sleeps at the scenes of crimes and sees the thoughts of the victims and criminals involved. Written in 1920 in the style of the period and somewhat outlandish in the solution. (Dr. Fu Manchu is nowhere in sight.) **

The Aluminium Dagger (R. Austin Freeman) Dr. Thorndyke is called in to help solve the murder of man stabbed inside a room with the only door bolted from the inside and whose (open) window is 40 feet from the ground in an un-scalable wall. Plays fair although the solution is maybe a little obvious as the story goes along. ***

The Miracle of Moon Crescent (G.K. Chesterton) Father Brown helps unravel the disappearance (and subsequent death) of a man who was inside a room with the one door observed by the priest and three other men. The room is 100 feet from the ground and the building has walls that cannot be climbed. OK mystery and logical solution, I sort of had a problem with a page or two of psychological / spiritual babble, though. ***

The Invisible Weapon (Nicholas Olde) Rowland Hern solves the problem of a man who is bludgeoned to death inside a room with people outside the only door and where no weapon can be found, even on the one man who probably committed the crime. Fun take on an old (well, this was written in 1928) locked room device. ****

The Diary of Death (Marten Cumberland) Interesting take on a motive: the killer is avenging a dead diary writer who wrote venomously about people she knew. If you've read a number of locked-room mysteries the solution will come as no surprise, although in 1928 it might have been. ****

The Broadcast Murder (Grenville Robbins) An announcer in the middle of a radio broadcast (from inside a sound-proof studio whose only door is visible by his boss) screams for help over the air, then disappears. The introduction mentions that Robbins left behind no novels, which is too bad since his writing is fresh and zippy, as are his policeman and narrator. Again, the solution is not that amazing. ****

The Music Room (Sapper) During a house party in his newly bought (and under renovation) manor house a man tells about a mysterious death years before in the music room. A man was found bludgeoned to death inside the locked room. Later that night the man's young nephew is killed in the same room by what looks like a falling chandelier. One of the house party suspects it was another cause. Nicely written tale but the solution to both deaths isn't so surprising. ***

Death at 8:30 (Christopher St. John Sprigg) A killer acts when his victims refuse to pay a huge sum. One victim is a police official and he spends the predicted actual time of his murder encased in a glass room observed by fellow officials; but he still dies at the appointed time. OK variation on the problem, but not awe-inspiring. ***

Too Clever By Half (G.D.H. & Margaret Cole) What looks like a suicide inside a locked room might have too many details pointing towards that. An ok tale but a bit pedantic. **

Locked In (E. Charles Vivian) A man is found dead in a room whose door is locked from the inside and the windows are unable to be opened; one policeman suspects it's not the suicide everyone thinks it it. OK story with a sort of different twist on the problem of the locked room. ***

The Haunted Policeman (Dorothy L. Sayers) On the night of his son's birth Lord Peter is outside his London home when a policeman appears. Seeking company, Lord Peter invites the constable in for a drink and listens to an incredible tale of a murder in a nearby house that doesn't seem to actually exist. An amusing story, well written and executed. (Note: Sayers included the N Word as spoken by one of the characters.) *****

Sands of Thyme (Michael Innes) Appleby relates a story about following a set of footprints to a dead body in the middle of a beach that must be a suicide. Sort of silly with a silly explanation. **

Beware of the Trains (Edmund Crispin) The motorman of a train disappears at a station surrounded by police who were anxious to apprehend one of the passengers. Great writing but not all that surprising a solution to the mystery. ***

The Villa Marie Celeste (Margery Allingham) Campion is consulted by police when a young couple disappears from their home, breakfast on the table with warm tea, and all their possessions intact. Lighthearted tale with a solution that makes perfect sense. ****