Customer Reviews

Locked Room Puzzles (Academy Mystery Novellas)

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This little book contains four Fair-Play Puzzle Stories that allow readers to match wits with brilliant detectives--and their authors.

In my view, the weakest of these stories is Edward D. Hoch's DAY OF THE WIZARD (1963). It is about Simon Ark, the 2000-year-old Coptic priest, who solves a mystery about a wrecked plane in the desert. Although this story contains an interesting item on "magic," it otherwise seems poorly paced and very improbable, especially with respect to Reds.

In Bill Pronzini's rather clever BOOKTAKER (1982), the Nameless Detective discovers how and by whom items are removed from a bookstore.

Clayton Rawson's excellent piece FROM ANOTHER WORLD (1948), which has been reprinted fairly often, shows how the Great Merlini solves a sealed-and-locked-room murder case.

Finally, in John Dickson Carr's excellent THE THIRD BULLET (originally 1937, NOT 1948), Colonel Marquis solves how and by whom a judge was murdered in a locked and guarded room; BUT you might want to read the full and authoritative text in FELL AND FOUL PLAY (1991), edited by Douglas G. Greene; the text printed in Greenberg's & Pronzini's ACADEMY MYSTERY NOVELLAS 3: LOCKED ROOM PUZZLES (1986 & 1991) is the abridgment made by Frederick Dannay and published in ELLERY QUEEN'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE in Jan. 1948. Among much else, Dannay cut out bits of description, characterization, and even some clues.

Any mystery fan will enjoy these well-selected locked room yarns. It's like a little box of bonbons-- none too long, all amusing and well-plotted, all with a nice twist. I hope to trip over the previous volumes.