Some of the 99+ novels featured in the Locked Room Library polls originally started by Ed Hoch, with a couple of my own additions based on comments in the link. Feel free to add some of your favorite locked-room mysteries not already on this list and vote for your favorites overall.
http://mysteryfile.com/Locked_Rooms/L...
1

by
4.27 avg rating — 1,687,160 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
2

by
3.63 avg rating — 26,752 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
3

by
3.98 avg rating — 112,040 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
4

by
4.04 avg rating — 100 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
5

by
3.77 avg rating — 23,899 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
6

by
3.75 avg rating — 5,415 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
6

by
3.93 avg rating — 71 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
8

by
3.69 avg rating — 325 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
8

by
3.74 avg rating — 166,627 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
8

by
4.02 avg rating — 7,341 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
11

by
3.65 avg rating — 14,661 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
12

by
3.79 avg rating — 1,247 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
12

by
3.62 avg rating — 6,382 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
14

by
4.08 avg rating — 1,074 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
14

by
3.52 avg rating — 24,039 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
16

by
3.27 avg rating — 970 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
16

by
3.74 avg rating — 1,685 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
18

by
3.66 avg rating — 393 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
19

by
3.64 avg rating — 1,881 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
20

by
3.84 avg rating — 191 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
21

by
3.74 avg rating — 537 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
22

by
3.56 avg rating — 650 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
23

by
3.80 avg rating — 770 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
24

by
3.84 avg rating — 170 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
25

by
3.95 avg rating — 1,118 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
26

by
3.89 avg rating — 70 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
27

by
3.79 avg rating — 1,556 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
28

by
3.86 avg rating — 1,351 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
29

by
3.81 avg rating — 1,232 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
30

by
3.85 avg rating — 969 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
31

by
3.74 avg rating — 994 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
32

by
3.67 avg rating — 976 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
33

by
3.46 avg rating — 1,237 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
34

by
3.56 avg rating — 625 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
35

by
3.59 avg rating — 222 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
36

by
3.73 avg rating — 222 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
37

by
3.88 avg rating — 411 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
38

by
3.52 avg rating — 865 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
39

by
3.54 avg rating — 748 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
40

by
3.79 avg rating — 514 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
41

by
3.84 avg rating — 2,094 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
42

by
3.73 avg rating — 49 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
43

by
3.94 avg rating — 73,242 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
44

by
4.10 avg rating — 51,769 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
45

by
3.74 avg rating — 498 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
46

by
3.47 avg rating — 75 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
47

by
3.50 avg rating — 708 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
48

by
3.40 avg rating — 62 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
49

by
3.97 avg rating — 61 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
50

by
3.94 avg rating — 106 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
51

by
3.66 avg rating — 104 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
52

by
4.12 avg rating — 67 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
53

by
3.37 avg rating — 41 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
54

by
3.38 avg rating — 32 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
55

by
3.78 avg rating — 2,648 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
56

by
3.75 avg rating — 124 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
57

by
3.81 avg rating — 79 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
58

by
3.67 avg rating — 428 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
59

by
3.78 avg rating — 85 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
60

by
3.87 avg rating — 541 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
61

by
3.74 avg rating — 102 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
62

by
3.85 avg rating — 82 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
63

by
3.82 avg rating — 85 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
64

by
4.14 avg rating — 77 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
65

by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 43 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
66

by
3.61 avg rating — 38 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
67

by
3.74 avg rating — 435 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
68

by
3.79 avg rating — 186 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
69

by
3.87 avg rating — 13,440 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
70

by
3.56 avg rating — 5,127 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
71

by
3.61 avg rating — 394 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
72

by
3.73 avg rating — 7,918 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
73

by
3.43 avg rating — 2,076 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
74

by
3.50 avg rating — 2 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
75

by
3.40 avg rating — 652 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
76

by
3.97 avg rating — 38 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
77

by
3.22 avg rating — 213 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
78

by
3.91 avg rating — 41,601 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
79

by
3.77 avg rating — 118 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
80

by
3.72 avg rating — 178 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
81

by
4.04 avg rating — 55 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
82

by
3.67 avg rating — 94 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
83

by
2.92 avg rating — 24 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
84

by
3.85 avg rating — 3,764 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
85

by
3.74 avg rating — 82 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
86

by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 44 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
87

by
3.86 avg rating — 963 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
88

by
3.88 avg rating — 57 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
89

by
3.89 avg rating — 91 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
90

by
3.93 avg rating — 2,502 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
91

by
3.51 avg rating — 3,817 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
91 books · 5 voters · list created June 22nd, 2021 by JDL (votes) .
2 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


People Who Voted On This List (5)

JDL 4976 books
2 friends
Jennifer 2553 books
350 friends
Saturday's 2294 books
66 friends
Sue 0 books
0 friends
Yuan 5529 books
121 friends



Comments Showing 1-4 of 4 (4 new)

dateUp arrow    newest »

message 1: by Len (new)

Len Just for the sake of infuriating completeness I have to mention The Christmas Holiday Mystery by Geoffrey Trease. It doesn't appear on the Goodreads database and I don't want to punish myself by putting it there. It was published in the 1930s and the public lost contact with it before World War Two. In the story a group of young men and schoolboys go on holiday to a remote hotel in the English Lake District and end up cut off by a heavy snowfall. As it was written for a young audience there isn't a murder; something is stolen which means that someone in the isolated community must be the thief. I read it at least thirty years ago and goodness knows why I remember it. However, it fits in with this list. So, as far as I know it has never been reprinted and a copy of the first edition will not be cheap - best of luck if you want to read it.


message 2: by JDL (new)

JDL Hmmm... this one sounds interesting. I've never heard of this one before and searching for it on Google does not yield a plethora of results. Seems like another one of those lost Golden Age detective stories (even if written for younger readers) just waiting to be unearthed one day for more people to enjoy. It's always intriguing to hear of a juvenile mystery with a locked-room or impossible mystery within it. Thanks for the recommendation!


message 3: by Len (new)

Len JDL wrote: "Hmmm... this one sounds interesting. I've never heard of this one before and searching for it on Google does not yield a plethora of results. Seems like another one of those lost Golden Age detecti..."

There is a short review of the book on the website treaseproject.livejournal.com. Based on what I can remember the reviewer sums up the basic idea of the plot but plays down the nature of the story as a crime thriller. She fails to mention the reason for the characters having to solve the mystery themselves is that they are snowed in and completely cut off from the outside world and not all of the characters trust one another.


message 4: by H (new)

H Since there's voting happening on the new locked room library, I became curious if Goodreads had a list for the old one and searched this up. JDL, I enjoyed reading many of your comments here.

I don't agree with everything (such as Decagon or Chinese Orange being locked rooms/impossible crimes), but it's a good list, and I appreciate it having modern examples like Tom Mead, James Scott Byrnside, and LRI's works.


back to top