March MysteryKIT - Locked-Room Mysteries

The Impossible Crime! Locked-room mysteries focus on this subgenre. Whether it seems impossible for the perpetrator to enter the room or to exit a room to commit the dastardly deed, the sleuth uses his skills to resolve the matter.

Considered a master of the genre, John Dickson Carr wrote many such puzzles. Many experts consider his The Hollow Man (1935; published in the United States as The Three Coffins) to be the best locked-room mystery of all time. Other top novels by him (or written using his other pen name Carter Dickson) fitting the genre include The Crooked Hinge, The Judas Window, and The Peacock Feather Murders

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Many classic authors wrote locked-room mysteries. Consider And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie, The Mystery of the Yellow Room by Gaston LeRoux, The Perfect Murder by H. R. F. Keating, His Burial Too by Catherine Aird, The Red House Mystery by A. A. Milne, The Clue of the Twisted Candle by Edgar Wallace, The Case of the Solid Key by Anthony Boucher, The Three Taps by Ronald A. Knox, The Moving Toyshop by Edmund Crispin

                               

Even more contemporary authors employ the genre from time to time. A few include A Rule Against Murder by Louise Penny, The Bishop at the Lake by Andrew M. Greeley, Jerusalem Inn by Martha Grimes, The Burglar in the Library by Lawrence Block, Payment in Blood by Elizabeth George, Murder on the Flying Scotsman by Carola Dunn, 1222 by Anne Holt, Killer's Wedge by Ed McBain, Death by Water by Kerry Greenwood, Murder Most Holy by Paul Doherty, The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware, The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton, The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco

                       

                   

Mystery short stories often feature locked-room puzzles, and several anthologies feature them. Among these are The Black Lizard Big Book of Locked-Room Mysteries edited by Otto Penzler, Miraculous Mysteries: Locked Room Mysteries and Impossible Crimes edited by Martin Edwards, Classic Locked Room Mysteries edited by David Stuart Davies, All but Impossible!: An Anthology of Locked Room and Impossible Crime Stories by Members of the Mystery Writers of America edited by Edward D. Hoch, Death Locked In: An Anthology of Locked Room Stories edited by Douglas G. Greene and Robert C. S. Adey

               

I'll read Payment in Blood by Elizabeth George.

>2 clue: Sounds good. There are so many more options than I had time to list. I just wanted to include these.

I actually completed The Black Lizard Big Book of Locked-Room Mysteries over the weekend. I began reading it a few days before Christmas. At a story per day, it took just under 2 months to complete.

I’m all set to read Hag’s Nook by John Dickinson Carr.

Great list! I really need to check out Carr.
I'll be reading A Likely Story, which takes place on an island.

>3 thornton37814: I read the first one in that series 3 years ago and wanted to continue on but haven't. When I saw that you had the second in the series listed it was an easy choice.

If you like sci fi and in particular AI, read Six Wakes. Great locked room mystery.

I have 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle so will try to get to that.

I have an anthology of stories in the British Crime Library that all take place on trains or railways Blood on the Tracks! I also have a book of Midwinter Murder by Agatha Christie that includes some locked room mysteries. Lots to choose from here.

I am planning on reading The Hollow Man by John Dickson Carr.

I was thinking of rereading Laurie R. King's excellent mystery Locked Rooms for this challenge, though the rooms she is referring to are those in the mind. Think that will work?

>10 fuzzi: It sounds like a good choice to me.

My most likely contender for this one is And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

>4 LittleTaiko: That's a classic!

>5 mstrust: I confess. The list was most compiled from tags on LibraryThing with the exception of the anthologies and a little research.

>6 clue: That one came up in the LibraryThing tags and it appeared to fit.

>7 majkia: I have to admit I don't know a lot about sci-fi mysteries because I don't really like sci-fi. Feel free to suggest others for people that like that variety.

>8 LadyoftheLodge: The train one sounds enticing!

>9 DeltaQueen50: I'll be curious to see if it's as good as the praise I found for it suggests.

>10 fuzzi: Well, the mind can be mysterious!

>11 LadyoftheLodge: Thanks for chiming in!

>12 Robertgreaves: That's still one of my favorites by Agatha Christie.

I'm not sure if it really fits, but this one (on my tbr) is tagged "Locked room mystery":
Blue Lightning / Ann Cleeves

There's also one (I'm not sure if I'm going to get it or not, but maybe...) that came up in BookBub for me for cheap:
The Escape Room / Megan Goldin

I'm planning on The Chinese Orange Mystery by Ellery Queen.

I have a copy of The Red House Mystery by A.A. Milne. I plan on reading that one since it will also fit the AlphaKit

I'll be reading 1222 by Anne Holt. It's tagged "locked room" so . . .

>15 LibraryCin: Well, someone tagged it that way. Looking back on my review, I believe it probably fits because it's a small pool of people who could have committed the crime.

I have found Sjöwall/Wahlöö's Verschlossen und verriegelt on my shelves which is a locked room mystery according to the blurb.

>1 thornton37814: What a fun challenge! I really like it and I love all the examples and suggestions you have provided, Lori! Thank you so much!

I have set aside three novels for this, two from my shelves and one I recently bought:

Death in the Clouds and The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie
The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins

>20 MissWatson: Sounds good!

>21 MissBrangwen: Some great ones listed there!

>19 thornton37814: Thank you! I did also get the other book. I'll probably start with it, as it is an obvious fit. If I have more time to fit in extra books as the month goes on, maybe I'll read both.

>23 LibraryCin: Sounds good!

I have 1222 by Anne Holt so I'll read that but I may also try to read some John Dickson Carr too as I have enjoyed those of his that I have read.

>25 leslie.98: I read 1222 several years ago. I've enjoyed Carr's work under his own name as well as his pseudonym.

Am planning to read The Tokyo Zodiac Murders by Soji Shimada for this. New author for me that I wanted to try out.

I haven't read Keating's A Perfect Murder, so this month's challenge is the perfect time to do so.

>27 bookworm3091: Good choice of author! I haven't read that one but I did read Murder in the Crooked House.

>7 majkia: I liked Six Wakes when I read it, but don't have a clear recollection of the plot. Maybe I'll reread it.

>10 fuzzi: Laurie King's Locked Rooms is the first one I thought of for this challenge.

>30 markon: I've been focused on comfort and lighter reads lately, so a reread of Locked Rooms was perfect. It's also in my top four books in the series, along with The Beekeeper's Apprentice, O Jerusalem, and A Monstrous Regiment of Women.

I've just gotten to the murder in The Chinese Orange Mystery, and alas, the body was NOT found in a locked room! One of the doors is explicitly described as unlocked. So unless this crime turns out to be impossible for some other reason, I don't think I can count it here! I'll finish the book anyway, though -- it's quite interesting so far.

I have two for this challenge: Sherlock Holmes and the Thistle of Scotland and Killer Keys. The Holmes book deals with the theft of a jewel from a locked room. Killer Keys is about the killing of two people, set in a mountain hotel during a snowstorm.

And I have finished Verschlossen und verriegelt in one sitting, it is that good. Martin Beck, recently recovered from getting shot, solves the locked-room mystery while the others rush around with a task force dealing with a series of bank heists. The writing style was nicely sarcastic, the social critique sometimes a bit intrusive.

The Escape Room / Megan Goldin
4.25 stars

When four co-workers are brought together last-minute on a Friday night, no one expects this. They are meant to do an escape room – is this team building? No one really knows why they were asked to come, but the prestigious financial firm where they work has been laying people off, so Vincent (team lead), Jules, Sylvie, and Sam don’t feel that they can decline. Their escape room has them locked in an elevator, solving clues. But they don’t seem to be able to get out no matter what they do…

I’ve done a lot of escape rooms and they are fun, but this is terrifying! In a real elevator, not having the safety features of a set-up room, and not even knowing who set it all up. None of the characters are especially likable. The chapters actually alternate between the four in the elevator, and backing up in time to another character, Sara Hall, who once worked with them, so her chapters go over her time at the firm. Despite disliking the characters, I certainly wanted to keep reading!

I finished Death in the Clouds by Agatha Christie which is a very classic Poirot that I enjoyed very much!

I have completed my read of The Hollow Man by John Dickson Carr, and although this book was voted "Best Locked Room Mystery" by a panel of mystery writers in 1981, it didn't resonate with me.

>37 DeltaQueen50: Oh that is a shame Judy! I only have dim memories of that but I do remember thinking highly of it at the time...

>36 MissBrangwen: That is a great "out of the box" example of a locked room mystery! :)

Finished my reread for this challenge...


Locked Rooms by Laurie R. King

I love this book, I've read it more than once, twice, maybe even more than thrice. The author does a fantastic job of not only giving us a twisty plot, but also developing the characters even more so, beyond the previous installments of the series. I don't think there is anything I can fault in this one.

>38 leslie.98: I thought it was perfect for this!

I have finished 1222 - thanks >1 thornton37814: for including this book in your introduction as I hadn't known it was a locked room mystery! Though this book was #8 in the series, it was my first book by Holt & I really enjoyed it. In addition to a great mystery, I liked the bits of commentary about Norwegian society that various characters let fall.

Survivors of a train wreck are trapped in a nearby hotel which can only be reached by train (not possible now the wreck is blocking the tracks) or by helicopter which is not possible due to the raging blizzard outside. Hanne, the main character & narrator, is a former police inspector who is now confined to a wheelchair as a result of being shot in the spine several years ago. Despite the fact that she wants nothing so much as to be left alone by everyone, she is forced to help out when the murdered body of one of the survivors is found the next morning. Plus there are the mysterious occupants of the train's unusual extra car about whom rumors swirl...

Though the idea of people trapped by a snow storm is fairly common in the locked-room mystery subgenre, this is the first time I have read one which had such a relatively large pool of suspects. Most of the others I have read using this device have maybe 10 or so people trapped in a country house; this book has 196 survivors plus hotel staff. This much larger group of suspects, most of whom do not know each other beforehand, makes an interesting twist.

>41 leslie.98: I enjoyed it when I read it a few years ago.

I read A Likely Story by Jenn McKinlay. The murder takes place on an island off the Connecticut coast, inhabited by two elderly brothers. Not only is it an island, but they've turned their grand old home into a hoarder trap, with little burrows throughout.
I don't give this one high marks, but then it's the sixth in a series so maybe I would have liked it more if I'd started at the beginning, but I not interested in continuing this series.

Read Hag's Nook by John Dickson Carr which was a bit dated but a clever locked room mystery nonetheless. Not sure I want to run out and read more by him, but it was a nice way to spend an afternoon.

I finished listening to Death in the Family by Tessa Wegert on my drive home today. It was outstanding, especially for a first in series. Great private island setting in upstate New York with a flawed investigator.

The April thread is up: https://www.librarything.com/topic/330577

I finished The King is Dead by Ellery Queen for this topic. It was interesting reading a classic mystery. This one seemed less about the actual mystery and more about the background of the characters. While this seemed to be for the purpose of finding a motive, I found myself still unclear of the motive after all of the backstory. I liked the Queens though and will probably try to read the series from the beginning. It definitely fit into the locked room mystery genre in its most literal sense.

I finished John Dickson Carr's The Burning Court (1937). This book featured a true 'locked room' mystery by which I mean the victim appears to have died inside a locked room which it was impossible for anyone to enter. Carr was the master at this sort of puzzle. This one isn't one of his Gideon Fell series but rather a very atmospheric (i.e. spooky) book set in Pennsylvania. I really liked it up until the epilogue, which rather ruined it for me.

I finished The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie - although the window is open, the victim is found in a locked room (meaning the door is locked) and this is very important to the plot.

This morning, I also finished Maigret voyage by Georges Simenon (translated titles: Maigret auf Reisen/Maigret Travels/Maigret and the Millionaires).

I expected this to be a locked room mystery because the summary sounds like it: A millionaire is found dead in his locked hotel room. However, this situation - that the hotel room is locked - isn't even ONCE referred to in the story. It is mentioned when Maigret is called, but that's it. It doesn't play a role at all.
Thus, while I will list this book in my personal thread for this KIT, I think I will not add it to the wiki.

I have read several of the stories in Death Locked In, a collection of locked room stories. A few are well-known but many are obscure. And while many are about locked rooms, just as many are about impossible disappearances. If you enjoy impossible crimes, this is (so far!) a great collection.

Who knew this would qualify? I was happily plunging into my next-in-the-series for Louise Penny. Voila! I found it was a locked room mystery set in a monastery. Loved it! See my review here
https://www.librarything.com/work/12285134/reviews/197930114

>52 beebeereads: I think that book is my favorite in the Gamache series!

>52 beebeereads: It was one of my favoites too and I might have reread it if I had thought of it.

>52 beebeereads: That one definitely qualifies.