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Tantalizing Locked Room Mysteries
The 12 stories in this carefully-assembled collection reflect the history of the locked room mystery story. Beginning with the grandfather of the genre, Poe's "The Murders in the Rue Morgue," and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's classic, "The Adventure of the Speckled Band" featuring the great Sherlock Holmes, the reader will move on into the twentieth century, and be entertained by such modern masters as MacKinlay Kantor and Erle Stanley Gardner. The stories demonstrate the remarkable variety of the locked room puzzle: the scene of these impossible crimes might be a log cabin in the mountains, and it might be a big-city automat. The characters range from telephone operators to scientists to mystery writers themselves.
Jack Wodham's "Big Time Operator" centers around a machine that allows people to travel in time; and "Vanishing Act," by contemporary writers Bill Pronzini and Michael Kurland, involves a magician whose astonishing feats may be more than just mere illusion. Here then are a dozen choice morsels to challenge, entice, frustrate — and tantalize.
Jack Wodham's "Big Time Operator" centers around a machine that allows people to travel in time; and "Vanishing Act," by contemporary writers Bill Pronzini and Michael Kurland, involves a magician whose astonishing feats may be more than just mere illusion. Here then are a dozen choice morsels to challenge, entice, frustrate — and tantalize.
303 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1982
1 person is currently reading
157 people want to read
About the author
Isaac Asimov
4,336 books27.8k followersWorks of prolific Russian-American writer Isaac Asimov include popular explanations of scientific principles,
The Foundation Trilogy
(1951-1953), and other volumes of fiction.
Isaac Asimov, a professor of biochemistry, wrote as a highly successful author, best known for his books.
Asimov, professor, generally considered of all time, edited more than five hundred books and ninety thousand letters and postcards. He published in nine of the ten major categories of the Dewey decimal classification but lacked only an entry in the category of philosophy (100).
People widely considered Asimov, a master of the genre alongside Robert Anson Heinlein and Arthur Charles Clarke as the "big three" during his lifetime. He later tied Galactic Empire and the Robot into the same universe as his most famous series to create a unified "future history" for his stories much like those that Heinlein pioneered and Cordwainer Smith and Poul Anderson previously produced. He penned "Nightfall," voted in 1964 as the best short story of all time; many persons still honor this title. He also produced well mysteries, fantasy, and a great quantity of nonfiction. Asimov used Paul French, the pen name, for the Lucky Starr, series of juvenile novels.
Most books of Asimov in a historical way go as far back to a time with possible question or concept at its simplest stage. He often provides and mentions well nationalities, birth, and death dates for persons and etymologies and pronunciation guides for technical terms. Guide to Science, the tripartite set Understanding Physics, and Chronology of Science and Discovery exemplify these books.
Asimov, a long-time member, reluctantly served as vice president of Mensa international and described some members of that organization as "brain-proud and aggressive about their IQs." He took more pleasure as president of the humanist association. The asteroid 5020 Asimov, the magazine Asimov's Science Fiction, an elementary school in Brooklyn in New York, and two different awards honor his name.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_As...
Isaac Asimov, a professor of biochemistry, wrote as a highly successful author, best known for his books.
Asimov, professor, generally considered of all time, edited more than five hundred books and ninety thousand letters and postcards. He published in nine of the ten major categories of the Dewey decimal classification but lacked only an entry in the category of philosophy (100).
People widely considered Asimov, a master of the genre alongside Robert Anson Heinlein and Arthur Charles Clarke as the "big three" during his lifetime. He later tied Galactic Empire and the Robot into the same universe as his most famous series to create a unified "future history" for his stories much like those that Heinlein pioneered and Cordwainer Smith and Poul Anderson previously produced. He penned "Nightfall," voted in 1964 as the best short story of all time; many persons still honor this title. He also produced well mysteries, fantasy, and a great quantity of nonfiction. Asimov used Paul French, the pen name, for the Lucky Starr, series of juvenile novels.
Most books of Asimov in a historical way go as far back to a time with possible question or concept at its simplest stage. He often provides and mentions well nationalities, birth, and death dates for persons and etymologies and pronunciation guides for technical terms. Guide to Science, the tripartite set Understanding Physics, and Chronology of Science and Discovery exemplify these books.
Asimov, a long-time member, reluctantly served as vice president of Mensa international and described some members of that organization as "brain-proud and aggressive about their IQs." He took more pleasure as president of the humanist association. The asteroid 5020 Asimov, the magazine Asimov's Science Fiction, an elementary school in Brooklyn in New York, and two different awards honor his name.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_As...
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
December 11, 2014
I love anthologies. This selection is of older stories that are simply fun to read. If you like locked room mysteries, this is definitely one to read. There was not a single story to be skipped.
August 14, 2014
A splendid book for a locked room mystery anthology. Every one of them is uniquely interesting. And almost each can be called a fine example of perfect story. Loved them!
The Problem of Cell 13 introduced me to The Thinking Machine, whose exploits I will make sure to be following from now on. The Light at Three o'clock is a bit horror-ish but interesting all the same. The Exact Opposite could have been my favorite — Lester Leith is a very interesting character, and I am a fan of Arsène Lupin. The Bird House seems somewhat a bit philosophical, though the mystery is intriguing.
Big Time Operator, my favorite story in this book. True to the editors' remark, its ending is the thing that awed me the most. For obvious reasons I do not quite agree with the remark that "it possesses the greatest closing line since T. S. Striblings Passage to Benares" as I have not read Striblings's book. To me, Big Time Operator possesses the greatest ending I have ever seen!
And, at last, of course, the ending with Vanishing Act, the fall of the curtain. Well done.
I would surely have given this book a five-star rating, (the temptation is too great, I might actually give in :D sometime), if it was not for the fact that that one story left its mystery for the readers to wonder. I want to know what happened! I really want to! I would have killed William March had I the chance for taunting us with such good a story!!
And I still do not understand exactly how this story could have "suggested an ingenious solution to a real life crime." I mean, where is the solution?
The Problem of Cell 13 introduced me to The Thinking Machine, whose exploits I will make sure to be following from now on. The Light at Three o'clock is a bit horror-ish but interesting all the same. The Exact Opposite could have been my favorite — Lester Leith is a very interesting character, and I am a fan of Arsène Lupin. The Bird House seems somewhat a bit philosophical, though the mystery is intriguing.
Big Time Operator, my favorite story in this book. True to the editors' remark, its ending is the thing that awed me the most. For obvious reasons I do not quite agree with the remark that "it possesses the greatest closing line since T. S. Striblings Passage to Benares" as I have not read Striblings's book. To me, Big Time Operator possesses the greatest ending I have ever seen!
And, at last, of course, the ending with Vanishing Act, the fall of the curtain. Well done.
I would surely have given this book a five-star rating, (the temptation is too great, I might actually give in :D sometime), if it was not for the fact that that one story left its mystery for the readers to wonder. I want to know what happened! I really want to! I would have killed William March had I the chance for taunting us with such good a story!!
And I still do not understand exactly how this story could have "suggested an ingenious solution to a real life crime." I mean, where is the solution?
unread
July 15, 2011Includes the following: (Reviewed as I read them)
INTRODUCTION: "No One Done It" by Issac Asimov
Interesting, with a scientific refrence.
The Murders in the Rue Morgue by Edgar Allan Poe (1841)
For starters, our story doesn't begin until page 6. The first 5 pages are too confusing discussing things that are not relevant and don't make sense (in this case, referring very confusingly to playing chess, draughts, and whist). These first 5 pages nearly make me put the book down as they literally made no sense. Poe is not easy to understand anyway. I realize this was written in 1841, and was to take place in Paris, but I just found it a bit too... strange... to like it.
The Adventures of the Speckled Band by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1892)
The Problem of Cell 13 by Jacques Futrelle (1905)
The Light at Three O'Clock by MacKinlay Kantor (1930)
Murder at the Automat by Cornell Wollrich (1937)
The Exact Opposite by Erle Stanley Garnder (1939)
The Blind Spot by Barry Perowne (1945)
The 51st Sealed Room by Robert Arthur (1951)
The Bird House by William March (1954)
Big Time Operator by Jack Wodhams (1970)
The Leopold Locked Room by Edward D. Hoch (1971)
Vanishing Act by Bill Pronzini and Michael Kuriand (1976)
INTRODUCTION: "No One Done It" by Issac Asimov
Interesting, with a scientific refrence.
The Murders in the Rue Morgue by Edgar Allan Poe (1841)
For starters, our story doesn't begin until page 6. The first 5 pages are too confusing discussing things that are not relevant and don't make sense (in this case, referring very confusingly to playing chess, draughts, and whist). These first 5 pages nearly make me put the book down as they literally made no sense. Poe is not easy to understand anyway. I realize this was written in 1841, and was to take place in Paris, but I just found it a bit too... strange... to like it.
The Adventures of the Speckled Band by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1892)
The Problem of Cell 13 by Jacques Futrelle (1905)
The Light at Three O'Clock by MacKinlay Kantor (1930)
Murder at the Automat by Cornell Wollrich (1937)
The Exact Opposite by Erle Stanley Garnder (1939)
The Blind Spot by Barry Perowne (1945)
The 51st Sealed Room by Robert Arthur (1951)
The Bird House by William March (1954)
Big Time Operator by Jack Wodhams (1970)
The Leopold Locked Room by Edward D. Hoch (1971)
Vanishing Act by Bill Pronzini and Michael Kuriand (1976)
May 4, 2020
Still not sure what "The Bird House" was doing in here, but liked all the others!
February 29, 2020
A great book to have around, I only though one story wasn't really fitting with the rest.
April 17, 2012
Entertaining. Varying quality among the stories.
October 30, 2015
Mediocre selection. Only some of the stories were interesting.
October 14, 2016
I love all of the stories in the book. They are very interesting. These are some good locked room mysteries.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews