Tokuya Higashigawa's Lending the Key to the Locked Room is a humorous, rather gentle take on the impossible-crime murder mystery. It doesn't function well as a whodunnit (thanks to the paucity of suspects), but I feel as if it would be unfair to judge it on that basis. What it does exceedingly well is present… Continue reading Lending the Key to the Locked Room
Wow! John Dickson Carr's The Judas Window is a ripping impossible-crime whodunnit filled with bristling suspense and intelligence. It's the best Carr I've read since The Problem of the Green Capsule and my first unquestionable masterpiece of 2021. Believe me, I needed one! The Problem: It's the kind that's keeps you reading deep into the… Continue reading The Judas Window
Because The Plague Court Murders has plenty of enjoyable elements, I'd like to begin with its main flaw, one I consider entirely unnecessary, and one which has recently put me off reading another book. We're talking about the legend...excuse me...THE LEGEND. It works like this. 80 (or 700) years ago, this curse/murder/impossible event happened. Now,… Continue reading The Plague Court Murders
Some of the best murder mysteries play out like nightmares. There's a narrative point when all the clues, suspects, and blood turn meaningless. I'm thinking of the multiple confessions in Death of Jezebel or the second beautifully presented murder in Whistle Up the Devil. It's a challenge to ground a story in reality and then… Continue reading Death in the House of Rain
Brian Flynn's Fear and Trembling is an entertaining murder mystery with perhaps a bit more of the procedural about it than most of the books I read. Its primary strength is the personality of our Detective Anthony Bathurst who approaches his job with nary a hint of the tortured mentality afflicting so many brilliant sleuths.… Continue reading Fear and Trembling (along with a 2020 wrap up)
