Beneath the Stains of Time: The House at Devil's Neck (2025) by Tom Mead

Beneath the Stains of Time: The House at Devil's Neck (2025) by Tom Mead: Last year, Crippen & Landru published Tom Mead 's first collection of short stories, The Indian Rope Trick and Other Violent Entert...

Beneath the Stains of Time: The Indian Rope Trick and Other Violent Entertainments (2024) by Tom Mead

Beneath the Stains of Time: The Indian Rope Trick and Other Violent Entertainm...: I mentioned in my review of the third Joseph Spector novel, Cabaret Macabre (2024), Tom Mead has been a busy bee with not only working on t...

Beneath the Stains of Time: Cabaret Macabre (2024) by Tom Mead

Beneath the Stains of Time: Cabaret Macabre (2024) by Tom Mead: Previously, I revisited The Red Widow Murders (1935) by John Dickson Carr , writing as "Carter Dickson," which got a long overdue...

Beneath the Stains of Time: The Secret of the Pointed Tower (1937) by Pierre Véry

Beneath the Stains of Time: The Secret of the Pointed Tower (1937) by Pierre Véry: Last year, I reviewed the short story " Le mystére de la chambre verte " ("The Mystery of the Green Room," 1936) by Pier...

Beneath the Stains of Time: Locked and Loaded, Part 4: A Selection of Short Impossible Crime and Locked Room Mystery Stories

Beneath the Stains of Time: Locked and Loaded, Part 4: A Selection of Short Im...: I always try to somewhat vary the type of detective novels and short stories discussed on this blog. For example, I recently reviewed James ...

Beneath the Stains of Time: The Murder Wheel (2023) by Tom Mead

Beneath the Stains of Time: The Murder Wheel (2023) by Tom Mead: Tom Mead is a British writer, playwright and a self-described student of the impossible crime story, " there is something about a locke...

Lesa's Book Critiques: THE MURDER WHEEL BY TOM MEAD

 Lesa's Book Critiques: THE MURDER WHEEL BY TOM MEAD

SleuthSayers: Writing an American Novel

SleuthSayers: Writing an American Novel: Dutch author Anne van Doorn has previously written for SleuthSayers. Today, in the wake of the Dutch publication of the novel he's deeme...

Beneath the Stains of Time: Death and the Conjuror (2022) by Tom Mead

Beneath the Stains of Time: Death and the Conjuror (2022) by Tom Mead: Earlier this month, I reviewed two of Tom Mead's short-form locked room mysteries, "Invisible Death" (2018) and "The Wal...

Beneath the Stains of Time: Phantom Pests: Tom Mead's "Invisible Death" (2018) and "The Walnut Creek Vampire" (2020)

Beneath the Stains of Time: Phantom Pests: Tom Mead's "Invisible Death" (2018)...: Tom Mead is a British mystery writer, or, to be more precise, a mystery fan and " student of the locked room " turned mystery writ...

Lesa's Book Critiques: DEATH AND THE CONJUROR BY TOM MEAD

 Lesa's Book Critiques: DEATH AND THE CONJUROR BY TOM MEAD

Cozy Up With Kathy: Death and the Conjuror - An Interview Excerpt, & Giveaway

Cozy Up With Kathy: Death and the Conjuror - An Interview Excerpt, & G...: I'm pleased to welcome Tom Mead to Cozy Up With Kathy today. Tom writes the Joseph Spector Locked Room Mystery series. DEATH AND THE CON...

Guest Post: 5 Underrated Locked-Room Short Stories by Tom Mead

Please welcome author Tom Mead back to the blog today. Make sure that you check out his previous post here that he linked to today. 

 

5 UNDERRATED LOCKED-ROOM SHORT STORIES

by Tom Mead

 

I previously contributed a post to this blog about underrated locked-room mystery novels (you can read it here). But since I'm such a devotee of the genre, I couldn't stop there. There's something unique about the challenge of an impossible crime short story. If a locked-room mystery novel can be likened to a magic show, then a short story is a game of three-card monte. It requires the same levels of skill and panache, albeit in a more concentrated form. 

 

As before, I'll be steering clear of the biggest names in the genre to highlight some titles which deserve their moment in the spotlight. So you won’t be seeing Jacques Futrelle’s “Problem of Cell 13” or Melville Davisson Post’s “Doomdorf Mystery” here, nor any John Dickson Carr or Ellery Queen. And again, this isn't a "best of" list- it's just about highlighting some great work. There are so many sensational stories out there that it's impossible to include them all. So, without further ado, let’s get to the list:

 

“The Case of the Horizontal Trajectory” by JOSEF ŠKVORECKÝ 

Czech-Canadian author Josef Škvorecký had a remarkably distinguished career, championing dissident authors and fighting against totalitarianism in the country of his birth. He wrote a string of remarkable novels, and among his many honours he was nominated for the Nobel Prize in 1982. One of his finest creations is the sleuth Lieutenant Boruvka, who appears in a large number of short stories. Of these, “The Case of the Horizontal Trajectory” offers a unique and gruesome locked-room murder with a completely original gimmick. 

Where to find it: Originally published in The Mournful Demeanour of Lieutenant Boruvka, subsequently reprinted in The Realm of the Impossible (ed. John Pugmire & Brian Skupin)

 

“The Haunted Room” by GIGI PANDIAN

 

Gigi Pandian has established a highly successful mystery writing career, and frequently offers hints of impossibilities in her work. With her short story collection The Cambodian Curse she set herself the tantalizing challenge of using each and every trick discussed by super-sleuth Gideon Fell in his fabled locked-room lecture which appears in John Dickson Carr's classic novel The Hollow Man. All the stories in this collection are good, but "The Haunted Room" is GREAT. It features her series detective Jaya Jones in a tale of apparently uncanny theft. The trick is utterly original- dazzlingly so. This is a tale that deserves to be anthologized and celebrated far and wide.

 

Where to find it: Originally published in Bouchercon 2014 Anthology, subsequently reprinted in The Cambodian Curse.

 

“The Witch of Park Avenue” by EDWARD D. HOCH

 

Edward D. Hoch is a titan of the locked-room mystery genre, and a specialist in short stories. He wrote nearly 1000 of them. This is both a marvellous boon because it means there is so much of his work out there for us readers to enjoy, but it can also be frustrating in that the sheer volume of his work means there are plenty of excellent stories which have not received the critical acclaim they deserve. One example is “The Witch of Park Avenue,” which features the series detective Simon Ark. Ark is a mystical figure, who claims to be a 2000-year-old Coptic priest and frequently finds himself at the centre of mysteries tinged with the impossible. “The Witch of Park Avenue” features a murder that occurs in (of all places) the revolving door of a Park Avenue apartment building. How could a man step through unaccompanied, only to die as he crossed the threshold?

 

Where to find it: Originally published in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, subsequently reprinted in The Quests of Simon Ark.

 

“Coffee Break” by ARTHUR PORGES

 

Like Edward D. Hoch, Arthur Porges wrote a stunning amount of impossible crime short stories, though he remains unjustly obscure. He created several series detectives; the hero of “Coffee Break” is Ulysses Price Middlebie, erstwhile college professor turned “crime consultant.” This is a deceptively simple tale where an eccentric inventor is believed to have committed suicide in a locked cabin. But there is so much more to this apparently open-and-shut case than meets the eye.   

 

Where to find it: Originally published in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, subsequently reprinted in These Daisies Told.

 

“By an Unknown Hand” by JOHN SLADEK

 

John Sladek is best known as a science-fiction writer, but that is the mystery genre’s loss. With this short story, he introduced the world to eccentric super-sleuth Thackeray Phin, who would go on to appear in his novels Black Aura and Invisible Green- both neglected masterpieces of impossible crime. But “By an Unknown Hand” is where it all started, and finds Phin tackling the apparently impossible murder of an artist. The sheer breadth of imagination and ingenuity crammed into the scant few pages of this story is stunning. If only Sladek had written more.

 

Where to find it: Originally published in The Times of London Anthology of Detective Stories, subsequently reprinted in MAPS: The Uncollected John Sladek.

 

Tom Mead ©2022

Tom Mead is a UK-based crime writer specializing in locked-room mysteries. He has written short fiction for Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine and numerous others. Recently, his story “Heatwave” was included in The Best Mystery Stories of the Year 2021 (edited by Lee Child). His novel Death and the Conjuror is forthcoming from the Mysterious Press in July 2022. John Connolly has described it as “a novel to intrigue and delight” while Daniel Stashower calls it “both an elegant tribute and a cunning update of the classic ‘impossible crime’ story.” Tom’s author site: https://tommeadauthor.com/ and Facebook.

 

Guest Post: 5 UNDERRATED LOCKED-ROOM MYSTERIES by Tom Mead

 Please welcome author Tom Mead to the blog…  

  

5 UNDERRATED LOCKED-ROOM MYSTERIES

by Tom Mead

 

I make no secret of the fact that I’m obsessed with locked-room mysteries. I love to read them, I love to write them, and I love discovering books that offer new spins on the classic tropes and tricks of the subgenre. For those who aren't in the know, "locked-room mystery" is typically a sort of umbrella term for "impossible crime" fiction. That is, fair play puzzle mysteries in which the question is not only whodunit but also how. 

John Dickson Carr was the most prolific and accomplished writer of locked-room mysteries, as many genre fans know, and some of his most famous titles include The Hollow Man and He Who Whispers. He churned out a string of masterpieces, and needless to say I devoured them all- as I do with pretty much every story I can find which tackles the locked-room or the impossible problem.

But with such a niche subgenre, you will inevitably encounter repetition of the same trick from time to time. Speaking as someone who has attempted to come up with locked-room problems for my own stories, I can tell you originality is a major challenge- that’s part of the fun. It makes me admire the work of Carr and Ellery Queen and Clayton Rawson all the more, as well as the other authors who are rightly celebrated for their creativity in a very demanding sphere of the crime writing world. So here are a few titles that don’t get enough acclaim, but are well worth rediscovering.

 

(A quick disclaimer: I don't claim that these are the best locked-room mysteries, though they ARE very good. Simply that they’re underrated, and that they retain the potential to surprise even the most well-versed reader of puzzle mysteries. As such, they’re well worth seeking out.) 

 

Blood on his Hands by MAX AFFORD (1937) 

The work of Australian author Max Afford is often overlooked in studies of golden age mystery (which is a mystery in itself). Just about everything he wrote- with a couple of notable exceptions- was an impossible crime. His series sleuth, Jeffery Blackburn, appears in a string of complex and atmospheric novels. But I’ve picked Blood on his Hands as it may be the most gruesome and macabre of the bunch; a perfect showcase for Afford’s creativity and his very dark sense of humor.  

 

Hard Tack by BARBARA D’AMATO (1991) 

Barbara D’Amato’s Hard Tack is a seafaring mystery featuring series detective Cat Marsala. In the vein of Agatha Christie’s Death on the Nile, it places the sleuth on a ship whose passengers are positively seething with hidden resentment beneath a veneer of society savoir faire. Naturally, it’s only a matter of time before a murder takes place- this time in a locked cabin. The solution here is surprising, gruesome and fiendishly practical. What more could you want?

 

You’ll Die Laughing by BRUCE ELLIOTT (1945) 

Bruce Elliott is an anomaly in the world of mystery fiction. As far as I know, You'll Die Laughing is his only published novel. It's a sort of madcap caper in which a group of strangers are gathered at the mansion of a sadistic recluse for reasons unknown. A classic set-up, but the solution to the apparently impossible locked-room murder is completely original. This is a short and briskly-paced book that is punchily written and dexterously plotted. Elliott also just happened to be a professional stage magician, which no doubt explains his knack for literary sleights-of-hand.

 

Mr. Splitfoot by HELEN MCCLOY (1968) 

I’m a huge fan of Helen McCloy's "Basil Willing" series, and like many critics I would rank her novel Through A Glass Darkly up there with the very best of Carr, Christie and Queen. While that book is her masterpiece, it’s by no means her only contribution to the realm of impossible crime. Mr. Splitfoot was written long after the end of the so-called golden age of mystery fiction in which locked-room mysteries thrived. But at the same time it is crammed with so many of the features that made the golden age great. This time, Basil is faced with a fascinating conundrum involving an apparently cursed room, where those who spend the night are seldom seen alive in the morning.

 

More Dead Than Alive by ROGER ORMEROD (1980) 

More Dead Than Alive is another magic-themed mystery, this time by a very prolific author of traditional puzzle mysteries. Roger Ormerod managed to carve out a lengthy career long after the golden age was over. He had a knack for twisting the conventions of the genre, and More Dead Than Alive makes the most of its gothic setting in an English castle where a stage illusionist has been unceremoniously hurled from a window in the locked room at the top of a tower. The solution to this one is completely fair play, but I bet you won't see it coming...

 

So there you have it: five more mysteries for your teetering TBR piles. Hopefully you’ll find something here to puzzle, beguile and confound you- as all good mysteries should.

 

Tom Mead ©2021

Tom Mead is a UK-based crime writer specializing in locked-room mysteries. He has written short fiction for Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine and numerous others. Recently, his story “Heatwave” was included in The Best Mystery Stories of the Year 2021 (edited by Lee Child). His novel Death and the Conjuror is forthcoming from the Mysterious Press in July 2022. You can find Tom at his website or on Facebook.