“No word is wasted, and many words serve more than one purpose… Ritchie can write a long short story that is virtually the equivalent of a full suspense novel; and his very short stories sparkle as lapidary art.” –Anthony Boucher
A couple weeks ago, I reviewed. STARK HOUSE’s Jack Ritchie collection: The Best of Manhunt 4: The Jack Ritchie Stories (you can read my review here). Now we have Crippen & Landru’s Cardula and the Locked Rooms (2026). This collection brings together all nine Cardula stories plus some of Ritchie’s best impossible crime stories.
As you can tell from the cover artwork, Cardula is a vampire. In “Kid Cardula” Cardula uses his super strength as a boxer to earn money. It seems Cardula had run through his wealth over the years and now had to resort to winning fights. But in “The Cardula Detective Agency” Jack Richie decided to make his character a private detective who only works at night.
The Cardula stories feature plenty of cleverness and wit. Cardula solves problems using his unusual skills and intellect.
My favorite story in Cardula and the Locked Rooms is “The Crime Machine.” A professional hit man is blackmailed by a man who claims he witnessed “hits” with the help of a Time Machine. The hit man realizes he could make millions if he had a Time Machine, too. But…Ritchie makes sure it’s not that simple.
With The Best of Manhunt 4: The Jack Ritchie Stories and now Cardula and the Locked Rooms, fans of Jack Ritchie stories have plenty to enjoy. GRADE: A (for both books)
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
INTRODUCTION By Brian Supine — 7
CARDULA
Kid Cardula — 15
The Cardula Detective Agency — 27
The Canvas Caper — 41
Cardula to the Rescue — 53
Cardula and the Kleptomaniac — 63
Cardula’s Revenge — 79
The Return of Cardula — 87
Cardula and the Locked Rooms — 95
Cardula and the Briefcase — 103
THE LOCKED ROOMS
Upside-Down World — 113
Swing High — 131
Pearls Before Wine — 143
Play a Game of Cyanide — 147
Box in a Box — 155
The Crime Machine — 163
Checklist of the Cardula Stories — 184
Crippen & Landry Lost Classics –187
Not familiar with the writer nor the writing but I do like locked room mysteries.
Patti, Jack Ritchie Stories appeared in 117 issues of ALFRED HITCHCOCK’S MYSTERY MAGAZINE. Ritchie was a master short story writer. And, he will surprise you with his Locked Room stories.
Great minds…yada, yada, yada….
Jerry, somehow I knew you were a Jack Ritchie fan.
I did pick up that Manhunt/Ritchie collection after your review, and will get to it next, after I finish the Fred Brown and AHMM collections I’m reading now. But will have to wait until I get home to get this one, which I hope has been delivered while we’re away.
Jeff, you’ll enjoy both Jack Ritchie collections!
I like that both you and Jerry featured Cardula stories by Jack Ritchie. I will be looking for some Jack Ritchie stories on Kindle, and someday maybe I will get the Crippen and Landru collection.
Tracy, I talked the Acquisitions Librarian at the North Tonawanda Public Library into ordering it. You might want to ask your Library to order it.