Impossible Crimes

#1174: Case for Three Detectives (1936) by Leo Bruce

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Case for Three Detectives

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Case for Three Detectives (1936) by Leo Bruce was perhaps the first impossible crime novel I read after becoming aware that the subgenre existed, and it had such a marked effect on me that, nearly 15 years later, it was the first title added to my Locked Room Library. Revisiting it is, then, something I approached with trepidation: I have experience of beloved texts failing to live up to my memories…but, then, I’ve reread books I enjoyed and found them even more delightful on more than one occasion. So forward I sallied into this: a weekend gathering, a locked room throat-slashing, and the usual rounds of suspicion and obscure proclamations from three genius amateur detectives.

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#1173: Minor Felonies – Tyrannosaurus Wrecks (2020) by Stuart Gibbs

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It was after finishing Stuart Gibbs’ Moon Base Alpha trilogy that I turned my eye upon his FunJungle novels, wondering if he brought the same sense of open-handed clewing and enjoyable detection to his other books. And, as it happened, he had just published sixth FunJungle title Tyrannosaurus Wrecks (2020), in which a Tyrannosaurus skull disappears from muddy surrounds with no footprints to account for its removal. Colour me intrigued…

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#1169: A Little Help for My Friends – Finding a Modern Locked Room Mystery for TomCat Attempt #22: Murder by Candlelight (2024) by Faith Martin

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I really rather enjoyed Faith Martin’s impossible crime novel The Castle Mystery (2019) when I read it back in 2019, so stumbling over a new hardback by her at my local library — and learning that Murder by Candlelight (2024) features a murdered body discovered in a sealed room — was a very pleasant surprise.

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#1168: Patrick Butler for the Defence (1956) by John Dickson Carr

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Patrick Butler for the Defence

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It is perhaps fitting — though, I assure you, completely accidental — that a locked room murder in a novel by John Dickson Carr, doyen of the apparently undoable nevertheless rationally explained, is the focus of the 500th post on this blog to be tagged “impossible crimes“.  Sure, upon realising this I could have chosen one of Carr’s acknowledged masterpieces to reread, but I enjoyed the divisive barrister Patrick Butler, K.C. at first encounter, and was intrigued to see how the character fared without the support of Carr’s frequent and best sleuth, Dr. Gideon Fell. And, having given up on the two Carr novels I tried to read prior to this, I’m pleased to report that I enjoyed a fair amount of what Carr did here.

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#1161: “Who was murdered? When? How? Why?” – The Art of the Impossible, a.k.a. Murder Impossible [ss] (1990) ed. Jack Adrian and Robert Adey, Part 1 of 2

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In a bizarre turn of events, I have no memory of acquiring the much-sought-after anthology The Art of the Impossible, a.k.a. Murder Impossible (1990) edited by the legendary pairing of Jack Adrian and Robert Adey. And yet I do have a copy. So let’s worry about my leaky memory later, and instead pick through some classic impossible crimes selected by two of the most knowledgeable men in the business, eh?

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#1160: The Siren’s Call (1998) by Paul Halter [trans. John Pugmire 2023]

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Siren's Call

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Returning to the Devon setting which proved home to one of the best impossible crimes in fiction, The Siren’s Call (1998, tr. 2023) finds Paul Halter once again mixing mysticism with a small town setting to varied effect. Doubtless Halter is greatly enjoying himself in detailing the first ever case for his detective Dr. Alan Twist, sprinkling more than a few references to John Dickson Carr, ne plus ultra of the impossible crime, along the way, but the book still disappointed me: the eventual shape and the answers it provides to its somewhat amorphous mysteries ensuring a fun time if not a memorable one. Halter’s done far worse, but he’s also done much, much better.

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