Impossible Crimes

#1293: The Whistling Hangman (1937) by Baynard Kendrick

/ JJ / 3 Comments


One of my favourite discoveries of recent years has been the character of Captain Duncan Maclain, the blind protagonist of a baker’s dozen of books by Baynard Kendrick. Having enjoyed The Odor of Violets (1941) and Blind Man’s Bluff (1943) as part of the American Mystery Classics range, I’ve been keeping an eye out for other books in the series, and got very lucky stumbling into a copy of The Whistling Hangman (1937) that was so severely beaten it must have owed money to six different loan sharks. And this was an especially exciting find as the novel has been praised by TomCat, apparently featuring some more ingenious impossible deaths in a large New York hotel…and, yeah, largely lives up to its billing.

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#1284: The Dead Man’s Knock (1958) by John Dickson Carr

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As my grandfather used to say, “Good god, it’s tough being a John Dickson Carr fan — he wrote some of the genre’s best and most enduring masterpieces, and yet the decline in his later works like Behind the Crimson Blind (1952) and The Cavalier’s Cup (1953) means that when you get to that end of his career he can prove to be frustrating and unenjoyable to read. But try The Dead Man’s Knock (1958), which at least features Dr. Gideon Fell, a character I’m sure you’ll like when you encounter him.” And, over 40 years later, his prophecy has been borne out, with The Dead Man’s Knock arresting a recent slide in quality where my Carr reading is concerned.

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#1279: “You ought to be able to make like Sherlock Holmes or Ellery Queen…” – The Man Who Read Mysteries [ss] (2018) by William Brittain [ed. Josh Pachter]

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The first of (so far…) two volumes of William Brittain’s short fiction from Crippen & Landru, The Man Who Read Mysteries (2018) contains the eleven stories written under the non-series ‘The X Who Read [Author Name]’ titles and seven selections from editor Josh Pachter of the tales featuring crime-solving high school science teacher Leonard Strang.

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#1278: The Labyrinth House Murders (1988) by Yukito Ayatsuji [trans. Ho-Ling Wong 2024]

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Even before the sad death of John Pugmire, who brought us much in the way of foreign language impossible crime novels through Locked Room International, Pushkin Vertigo had started some heavy lifting in supplying us with ingenious puzzle plots from the other side of the language barrier. They’re not all bangers, of course, but the commitment Pushkin have shown, and continue to show if the raft of upcoming titles on their slate is anything to go by, is heartening for those of us who love a complex problem rigorously exploited. And The Labyrinth House Murders (1988) by Yukito Ayatsuji, recently translated by the talented Ho-Ling Wong, is certainly that.

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#1270: “I flatter myself it is impossible to tell how my stories will end until the last chapter.” – The Clue of the Twisted Candle (1918) by Edgar Wallace

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There’s been a some confusing talk of horses here lately, so let’s abandon that metaphor for now and turn to an author who is often entertaining without any weighty expectations of being good: cue Richard Horatio Edgar Wallace and The Clue of the Twisted Candle (1918).

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#1267: “Simple, isn’t it? Simple enough to hang a man.” – Fen Country [ss] (1979) by Edmund Crispin

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A posthumous collection occasionally wrong billed as “Twenty-six stories featuring Gervase Fen” (there should really be, at least, a comma after ‘stories’, since series detective Fen isn’t in all of them), Fen Country (1979) was, I believe, the first collection of Edmund Crispin’s short fiction I read. And now I’m back, to get some thoughts on record.

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#1266: Constable, Guard Thyself! (1934) by Henry Wade

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I was one of many Golden Age fans who was quite excited when Orion’s now-defunct Murder Room acquired the rights to the novels of Henry Wade. And I was one of many Golden Age fans who signally failed to buy any of those titles and read and review them, which in part resulted in the aforementioned defunctness. But when titles began to vanish from availability, I snapped a couple up, including Constable, Guard Thyself! (1934) on the understanding that it presented an example of my favourite subgenre, the impossible crime. So, now that you can’t buy it for yourself, I’m here to say that, yeah, it’s fine, and that Wade, like J.J. Connington, presents enough of interest in his procedural approach to warrant further reading.

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