I’m a fan of Locked Room mysteries and Impossible Crimes so this volume of Tantalizing Locked Room Mysteries immediately appealed to me. My favorite stories in this anthology are Cornell Woolrich’s “Murder at the Automat,” “The Exact Opposite”–one of Erle Stanley Gardner’s clever Lester Leith stories–and Edward D. Hoch’s “The Leopold Locked Room” puzzle story where Captain Leopold is charged with the murder of his ex-wife.
I’m also fond of “Vanishing Act” by Bill Pronzini and Michael Kurland, which isn’t really a Locked Room mystery but an Impossible Crime. It involves the murder of a stage magician in front of an audience…and the murderer vanishes!
Are you a fan of Locked Room mysteries? GRADE: A-
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Introduction: “No one done it” / Isaac Asimov — ix
The Murders in the Rue Morgue / Edgar Allan Poe — 1
The Adventure of the speckled band / Sir Arthur Conan Doyle — 37
The Problem of Cell 13 / Jacques Futrell — 65
The Light at three o’clock / MacKinlay Kantor — 103
Murder at the automat / Cornell Woolrich — 119
The Exact opposite / Erle Stanley Gardner — 141
The Blind spot / Barry Perowne — 181
The 51st Sealed Room / Robert Arthur — 197
The Bird House / William March — 217
Big Time Operator / Jack Wodhams — 235
The Leopold locked room / Edward D. Hoch — 263
Vanishing act / Bill Pronzini and Michael Kurland — 285
I don’t remember the stories here though I’m sure I read the Poe, Conan Doyle and Gardner.
Of course the one book (and Movie) I remember is Agatha Christie’ s – now I forgot the title …
And I really like the “adaptation” of this to a high rise (13th floor?) where the elevator isn’t working, the staircase is closed and one after the other party guests is killed off …
Can anybody help me there?
Wolf, once again I think the Poe, Conan Doyle, and Futrell stories were added because they were in the Public Domain (free!).
Ten Little Indians/And Then There Were None.
Any anthology from Asimov and Greenberg is worth reading. The Kantor, the Gardner, and the Hoch stories stood out for me in this one.
The book itself has its own “locked room mystery” — one review from six years ago adds a 1951 story by Robert Arthur, “The 51st Sealed Room.” Where is it? How did it get in there? Did it get out? Since there was only one printing of TANTALIZING LOCKED ROOM MYSTERIES, is this a truly “impossible” story? Or was it just omitted from the Table of Contents? It’s been decades since I read the book and I can’t remember if the story was included or not.
Jerry, I can’t help you on if that story is included or not, but I just looked it up in LOCKED ROOM MURDERS (Second Edition, Revised) by my late friend Robert Adey, and the Arthur story is listed in the contents of the anthology. The main section of the book says the story (“death by decapitation in a locked room”) was originally published in the October 1951 EQMM. And Bob’s comment: “A real delight: witty, ingenious, unique.”
I bet that didn’t help.
Mr. Meyerson, I am a big fan of Robert Arthur! I read some of his stories in Jnr. High in the early 70s and stories like his inspired me to try and write my own. Which I did and I’m a published author today!
Jeff, congratulations on being a published author! I, too, read Robert Arthur’s work and enjoyed it!
Jerry, sharp eyes! Yes, “The 51st Sealed Room” by Robert Arthur is part of TANTALIZING LOCKED ROOM MYSTERIES. Somehow, it was wasn’t included the TABLE OF CONTENTS I found on WorldCat. I’ve made the correction since it slipped past my radar.
In my early years as a mystery reader I loved locked room mysteries, especially ones by John Dickson Carr and Ellery Queen. But I pretty quickly grew tired of them and moved on to more realistic novels, so I haven’t read one in years.
Michael, like you I read the Ellery Queens and John Dickson Carr mysteries in my youth. And then, like you, I drifted away into Science Fiction and other genres. But, in the 1990s, I started reading Edward D. Hoch’s clever stories and I became a fan of locked rooms and impossible crimes again.
Hoch is one of those writers whose name I see everywhere and I’d like to give him a try, but his stories seem to be mostly scattered around in anthologies. Is there a Hoch collection you’d recommend?
Michael, here’s the link to the Crippen & Landru web site: http://www.crippenlandru.com/shop/oscommerce-2.3.4/catalog/index.php
They publish several Edward D. Hoch collections. I own them all. Great stuff! I’m especially fond of More Things Impossible: The Second Casebook of Dr Sam Hawthorne
The five Dr. Sam Hawthorne books are my favorite Hoch collections (George gives you the Crippen & Landru link), but they’ve also done collections of several other of Hoch’s detectives, and all of them are worth reading.
Jeff, I totally agree with you on the Crippen & Landru collections. I wish they would reprint some of the early Hoch books so contemporary readers would have access to them. The older editions cost a mint online!
Good choice. Of course, the Futrelle is one of the most famous locked room stories. And, of course, Futrelle himself died on the Titanic.
I agree with you on the Woolrich. I reread another of his short stories (not locked room, but serial killer) this week, and the atmosphere of the ’30s and ’40s really comes through. (It was ‘The Dancing Detective.”) I also love the Gardner series, and have read hundreds of Hoch’s short stories.
Wolf: AND THEN THERE WERE NONE aka TEN LITTLE INDIANS, or the original British title TEN LITTLE N… And I think I know the adaptation you mean too, though the title escapes me at the moment.
Jeff, I love Woolrich’s stories. And you’re right about the Futelle. Nobody did it better!
Jeff, thanks!
Of course I should have known – that’s the difference between my active and passive memory.
And looking up wiki I found to my surprise:
That novel by Gwen Bristow which I thought to be an adaptation appeared almost 10 years before Agatha’s!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Invisible_Host
That was the one I was thinking of too! So our aging brain cells do still work, Wolf.
I haven’t really thought much about locked room mysteries. I’ve enjoyed the ones I’ve read, but probably haven’t read all that many. This collection seems like a good place to start. Right now, I’m not reading much, so short stories seem to be the way to go. The adaption Wolf talks of sounds very interesting, but nothing I remember.
Maggie, I’ve been reading a lot of short stories during this Stay-At-Home order. My part of New York State isn’t going to re-open until the number of Covid-19 cases (and deaths) come down.
I loved locked room stories too. One of the Wahllo-Sjowal ones was a locked room. The solution was a bit fanciful if I remember it right but not impossible.
Patti, I’ll have to go back and reread the Wahllo-Sjowal series since this Stay-At-Home order hasn’t been lifted.
Patti, I picked up all 10 of the Sjowall-Wahloo Martin Beck books to reread. I see MHZChoice has a BECK series. I wonder if you’ve watched it.
I’ve read them all, though not in this anthology. Some good ones there.
Rick, I’m always informed by Isaac Asimov’s comments on the authors and Greenberg’s introductory material before each story.
If I remember rightly THE LEOPOLD LOCKED ROOM was adapted as an episode of MACMILLAN AND WIFE.
Ray, you might be right. “The Leopold Locked Room” was the cleverest story (to me) in TANTALIZING LOCKED ROOM MYSTERIES. But, of course, I’m a big Ed Hoch fan so I’m far from impartial.