Locked Room Mysteries

In a "locked room" mystery, a murder (or other crime) happens in a room that seems to be completely, well, locked to the outside world; typically from the inside. So in order to solve the crime, the detective has to figure out not only who committed it but also why the scene of the crime is a locked room in the first place, and how the perpetrator managed to get in and out of the room and leave it behind apparently locked from the inside. -- Sometimes, the locked room is also used as a decoy or in order to provide the murderer with an apparently unbreakable alibi for a crime committed somewhere else.

Locked room settings were a favorite with Agatha Christie and John Dickson Carr in particular, but there are several other crime novelists who have come up with ingenious scenarios as well. Edgar Allan Poe and Gaston Leroux are credited with having created the sub-genre, with "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" and "The Mystery of the Yellow Room," respectively.

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119 books · 126 voters · list created October 23rd, 2010 by Themis-Athena (Lioness at Large) (votes) .
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Comments Showing 1-7 of 7 (7 new)

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Themis-Athena (Lioness at Large) ... and a good Saturday to you! :)


message 2: by Bettie (new)

Bettie Themis-Athena wrote: "... and a good Saturday to you! :)"

pop your snail mail addy/post box into my mailbox and I'll send you a pair of hand-knitted socks to keep your tootsies warm. It's my way of thanking those that have been so lovely to me during the past year. That is what Socktoberfest is all about.

:O)


Themis-Athena (Lioness at Large) Thank you -- but only if you allow me to send you something in return! I have, after all, equal (and the same) reason to say thank you!!


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Bettie The Histories by Herodotus @56!?

bwhaha


Themis-Athena (Lioness at Large) Explanation in the comments: "For the story of "Rhampsinitus and the Master-thief""

Golly. Need to go and check that ...


Themis-Athena (Lioness at Large) Thanks for the "likes", all ...


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Bettie Themis-Athena (Does not and never will own a Kindle) wrote: "Explanation in the comments: "For the story of "Rhampsinitus and the Master-thief""

Golly. Need to go and check that ..."


I had better too!
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