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Locked Room Murders and Other Impossible Crimes: A Comprehensive Bibliography
Locked Room Murders is a bibliography containing a description of the problem and, separately, the solution to locked room and impossible crime novels and short stories.It has been a classic in the locked room pantheon for over 40 years, beginning with a 1972 article by Bob Adey in The Armchair Detective. The first edition of Locked Room Murders, published by Ferret Fantasy in 1979, covered 1280 titles. The 1991 second edition, published by Crossover Press, covered 2019 titles. Due to limited print runs, both editions have become prohibitively expensive. Locked Room International (LRI) is now making a revised version of the Second Edition available at an affordable price. Edited by Brian Skupin, LRI consultant and co-publisher of Mystery Scene magazine, this revised version contains the same 2019 titles, but with corrections and additional references which have appeared since 1991.Plans are in place to publish a Supplemental Edition in 2019, to include novels and short stories (including translations from sources outside the Anglosphere) published since 1991, films, TV series, graphic novels, and other media. It will not contain any of the titles in the Second Edition, Revised.
411 pages, Hardcover
First published April 1, 1992
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
November 24, 2025
A reference work — a complete bibliography of Locked Room stories and novels, with lengthy introduction.
Also useful lists at:
https://moonlight-detective.blogspot....
https://theinvisibleevent.com/2022/12...
https://mysteryfile.com/Locked_Rooms/...
Also useful lists at:
https://moonlight-detective.blogspot....
https://theinvisibleevent.com/2022/12...
https://mysteryfile.com/Locked_Rooms/...
August 24, 2018
This is a review of the second edition, revised (August 2018) published by Locked Room International.
The first edition published in 1979 listed 1280 impossible crime novels and short stories with their publication dates, the name of the detective and a brief description of the impossible crime problem. Brief solutions were given for all towards the end.
An updated and enlarged edition was published in 1991 which listed 2019 novels and short stories.
Both editions have been out of print for a long time and only a few copies were available in the used books market at exorbitant prices ranging from 250 dollars upwards !
Fortunately for impossible crime fans, Locked Room International has now published a revised version of the 1991 edition. This revised version contains the same 2019 titles, but with corrections and additional references which have appeared since 1991. And this at a modest price of about 20 dollars !
Further good news. Plans are in place to publish a Supplemental Edition in 2019, to include novels and short stories (including translations from sources outside the Anglosphere) published since 1991, films, TV series, graphic novels, and other media. It will however not contain any of the titles in the Second Edition, Revised.
The book has 500 pages. It starts with an introduction of 38 pages, which provides an outstanding history of the genre. Then follows the listing author-wise alphabetically. It begins with the author Jacques Aanrooy and ends with Donald Zochert. Under each author are listed their novels and short stories regarded as impossible crimes. For example under Agatha Christie are listed 5 novels and 10 short stories. The publication dates are then mentioned with the names of the publishers and the magazines in respect of short stories. Then the name of the detective is mentioned . Finally the impossible problem is stated briefly generally in one sentence. Towards the end, the solution is provided also briefly generally in one sentence.
I give below 4 examples of the entries mentioning only the author, the title, the detective and the problem:
1. Adams, Herbert
Black Depth, novel
Detective: Roger Bennion
Problem: Death by stabbing in a locked room
2. Carr, John Dickson
The Dead Sleep Lightly, play
Detective: Dr. Fell
Problem: A man accidentally rings the number on a gravestone and a dead woman answers him, even though the phone is found not to be connected
3. Eldredge, Gilbert
Murder In The Stratosphere, novel
Detectives: Chip Carpenter and Thibault Parew
Problems: 1) Disappearance of a man from an aeroplane flying at high altitude
2) Death by poison in a room under observation
4. Morland, Nigel
The Case Of The Impossible Theft, short story
Detective: Pyn
Problem: Theft of an invaluable vase from a locked flat.
This book is an excellent and unique reference book. No impossible crime fan should be without it. Since it is now available at a modest cost, I urge the reader to buy it without hesitation. He will not be disappointed.
The first edition published in 1979 listed 1280 impossible crime novels and short stories with their publication dates, the name of the detective and a brief description of the impossible crime problem. Brief solutions were given for all towards the end.
An updated and enlarged edition was published in 1991 which listed 2019 novels and short stories.
Both editions have been out of print for a long time and only a few copies were available in the used books market at exorbitant prices ranging from 250 dollars upwards !
Fortunately for impossible crime fans, Locked Room International has now published a revised version of the 1991 edition. This revised version contains the same 2019 titles, but with corrections and additional references which have appeared since 1991. And this at a modest price of about 20 dollars !
Further good news. Plans are in place to publish a Supplemental Edition in 2019, to include novels and short stories (including translations from sources outside the Anglosphere) published since 1991, films, TV series, graphic novels, and other media. It will however not contain any of the titles in the Second Edition, Revised.
The book has 500 pages. It starts with an introduction of 38 pages, which provides an outstanding history of the genre. Then follows the listing author-wise alphabetically. It begins with the author Jacques Aanrooy and ends with Donald Zochert. Under each author are listed their novels and short stories regarded as impossible crimes. For example under Agatha Christie are listed 5 novels and 10 short stories. The publication dates are then mentioned with the names of the publishers and the magazines in respect of short stories. Then the name of the detective is mentioned . Finally the impossible problem is stated briefly generally in one sentence. Towards the end, the solution is provided also briefly generally in one sentence.
I give below 4 examples of the entries mentioning only the author, the title, the detective and the problem:
1. Adams, Herbert
Black Depth, novel
Detective: Roger Bennion
Problem: Death by stabbing in a locked room
2. Carr, John Dickson
The Dead Sleep Lightly, play
Detective: Dr. Fell
Problem: A man accidentally rings the number on a gravestone and a dead woman answers him, even though the phone is found not to be connected
3. Eldredge, Gilbert
Murder In The Stratosphere, novel
Detectives: Chip Carpenter and Thibault Parew
Problems: 1) Disappearance of a man from an aeroplane flying at high altitude
2) Death by poison in a room under observation
4. Morland, Nigel
The Case Of The Impossible Theft, short story
Detective: Pyn
Problem: Theft of an invaluable vase from a locked flat.
This book is an excellent and unique reference book. No impossible crime fan should be without it. Since it is now available at a modest cost, I urge the reader to buy it without hesitation. He will not be disappointed.
July 27, 2022
What an amazing bibliography and guide. And of course I haven’t read the last bit, which explains the secret behind every locked-room mystery Adey identifies. It would be an unforgivable sin to read that without reading all the entries first. Maybe someday.
June 5, 2022
Four and a half stars: A must-read for the locked room mystery fan. Since copies on Amazon were selling for around $1500, I opted to get a copy as an inter-library loan, which I recommend since it's not a book one rereads every few years.
Adey's 33 page Introduction outlines his views on the genre's books and short stories from 1841's Murders in the Rue Morgue to the 1990 books of current master Paul Halter (he laments that none of Halter's books has been translated from the French, which has since been rectified.)
You'll need a pencil and paper to jot down books he mentions that you will want to search out (some are available, but most are rare and unavailable or very pricey.)
The next section of the book is an alphabetical listing (by Author) of 2000 books and stories which involve an impossible crime. Each lists the publication information, the detective involved and a brief sentence about what the impossible crime is. (Happily there is a section at the back with solutions to all the listed works. Don't read these if you plan to search for the books to read; obviously.)
While this is a bibliography and not a work of criticism (although those 33 pages do have some recommendations), I was disappointed that there wasn't more of a thumbs-up or -down notation for most of the books, many of which the author presumably read.
Adey's 33 page Introduction outlines his views on the genre's books and short stories from 1841's Murders in the Rue Morgue to the 1990 books of current master Paul Halter (he laments that none of Halter's books has been translated from the French, which has since been rectified.)
You'll need a pencil and paper to jot down books he mentions that you will want to search out (some are available, but most are rare and unavailable or very pricey.)
The next section of the book is an alphabetical listing (by Author) of 2000 books and stories which involve an impossible crime. Each lists the publication information, the detective involved and a brief sentence about what the impossible crime is. (Happily there is a section at the back with solutions to all the listed works. Don't read these if you plan to search for the books to read; obviously.)
While this is a bibliography and not a work of criticism (although those 33 pages do have some recommendations), I was disappointed that there wasn't more of a thumbs-up or -down notation for most of the books, many of which the author presumably read.
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May 14, 2013I want to read
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews