Miraculous Mysteries: Locked-Room Murders and Impossible Crimes (British Library Crime Classics)

Editor Martin Edwards prefaces each story with a short bio of the author and mentions other works if a reader is interested in further work by each author. His
observations elevate the collection.

Plots and my rating (* to *****)

The Lost Special (Arthur Conan Doyle) A man hires a specially chartered train from Liverpool to London, but he and the train disappear between two stations. The mystery is explained in a lengthy letter written by the man behind it years later. Doyle's writing is wonderful, although this is a little too preposterous (although it seems you can accomplish anything with enough money.) ***

The Thing Invisible (William Hope Hodgson) Carnacki the Ghost Hunter relays his experiences with what appears to be a haunted chapel where a dagger is able to attack people without a human hand wielding it. A touch of the supernatural infuses this story where Carnacki tackles a mystery by spending a night inside the chapel which allows him to figure out what's going on. Not exactly a new twist of the problem (but when it was written in 1913 maybe it was), it's an enjoyable story. ****

The Tragedies in the Greek Room (Sax Rohmer) Night watchmen die in a museum's locked room where the most valuable item is removed from its case but left behind. Moris Klaw sleeps at the scenes of crimes and sees the thoughts of the victims and criminals involved. Written in 1920 in the style of the period and somewhat outlandish in the solution. (Dr. Fu Manchu is nowhere in sight.) **

The Aluminium Dagger (R. Austin Freeman) Dr. Thorndyke is called in to help solve the murder of man stabbed inside a room with the only door bolted from the inside and whose (open) window is 40 feet from the ground in an un-scalable wall. Plays fair although the solution is maybe a little obvious as the story goes along. ***

The Miracle of Moon Crescent (G.K. Chesterton) Father Brown helps unravel the disappearance (and subsequent death) of a man who was inside a room with the one door observed by the priest and three other men. The room is 100 feet from the ground and the building has walls that cannot be climbed. OK mystery and logical solution, I sort of had a problem with a page or two of psychological / spiritual babble, though. ***

The Invisible Weapon (Nicholas Olde) Rowland Hern solves the problem of a man who is bludgeoned to death inside a room with people outside the only door and where no weapon can be found, even on the one man who probably committed the crime. Fun take on an old (well, this was written in 1928) locked room device. ****

The Diary of Death (Marten Cumberland) Interesting take on a motive: the killer is avenging a dead diary writer who wrote venomously about people she knew. If you've read a number of locked-room mysteries the solution will come as no surprise, although in 1928 it might have been. ****

The Broadcast Murder (Grenville Robbins) An announcer in the middle of a radio broadcast (from inside a sound-proof studio whose only door is visible by his boss) screams for help over the air, then disappears. The introduction mentions that Robbins left behind no novels, which is too bad since his writing is fresh and zippy, as are his policeman and narrator. Again, the solution is not that amazing. ****

The Music Room (Sapper) During a house party in his newly bought (and under renovation) manor house a man tells about a mysterious death years before in the music room. A man was found bludgeoned to death inside the locked room. Later that night the man's young nephew is killed in the same room by what looks like a falling chandelier. One of the house party suspects it was another cause. Nicely written tale but the solution to both deaths isn't so surprising. ***

Death at 8:30 (Christopher St. John Sprigg) A killer acts when his victims refuse to pay a huge sum. One victim is a police official and he spends the predicted actual time of his murder encased in a glass room observed by fellow officials; but he still dies at the appointed time. OK variation on the problem, but not awe-inspiring. ***

Too Clever By Half (G.D.H. & Margaret Cole) What looks like a suicide inside a locked room might have too many details pointing towards that. An ok tale but a bit pedantic. **

Locked In (E. Charles Vivian) A man is found dead in a room whose door is locked from the inside and the windows are unable to be opened; one policeman suspects it's not the suicide everyone thinks it it. OK story with a sort of different twist on the problem of the locked room. ***

The Haunted Policeman (Dorothy L. Sayers) On the night of his son's birth Lord Peter is outside his London home when a policeman appears. Seeking company, Lord Peter invites the constable in for a drink and listens to an incredible tale of a murder in a nearby house that doesn't seem to actually exist. An amusing story, well written and executed. (Note: Sayers included the N Word as spoken by one of the characters.) *****

Sands of Thyme (Michael Innes) Appleby relates a story about following a set of footprints to a dead body in the middle of a beach that must be a suicide. Sort of silly with a silly explanation. **

Beware of the Trains (Edmund Crispin) The motorman of a train disappears at a station surrounded by police who were anxious to apprehend one of the passengers. Great writing but not all that surprising a solution to the mystery. ***

The Villa Marie Celeste (Margery Allinham) Campion is consulted by police when a young couple disappears from their home, breakfast on the table with warm tea, and all their possessions intact. Lighthearted tale with a solution that makes perfect sense. ****

Locked-room mysteries are rather tricky. Writers of detective stories try to write about cases where an ‘impossible’ crime has been committed, and which has got the regular establishment, i.e. the hapless Police force, utterly ‘baffled’, ‘out of their depth’, etc. But, this style of writing has gone out of fashion, despite a certain kind of charm about them.
I had approached the book under review, brought out as part of the British Library Crime Classics with a little bit of trepidation, knowing fully well that if I read another story of hidden panel and a complex system of levers, I would abandon ship, i.e. the book.
Luckily, there were very few occasions to feel vengeful after that.
After a concise and to-the-point introduction, we have the following stories: -
1. “The Lost Special” by Arthur Conan Doyle: Unjustly regarded only as the creator of the Great Detective, Sir ACD shines in this OTT story, with fantastic criminals going to inordinate lengths, to achieve something equivalent to password for CIA mainframe these days: scandalous materials!
2. “The Thing Invisible” by William Hope Hodgson: Among the few occasions where the celebrated ghost-hunter Carnacki has tried to hunt something more tangible, this is one. It’s crap, as expected, full of hidden panels, flying daggers, and all explained as senile dementia. Luckily, I had been previously acquainted with this story, and therefore simply skimmed through it rather than getting all worked up.
3. “The Case of the Tragedies in the Greek Room” by Sax Rohmer: Sensational, not very intelligent, and definitely forgettable.
4. “The Aluminium Dagger” by R.Austin Freeman: With this case of Dr. Thorndyke, we venture into the arena of innovative and intelligent crime. It’s a good story.
5. “The Miracle of Moon Crescent” by G.K. Chesterton: A sharp, witty, intelligent, and yet humane story involving Father Brown.
6. “The Invisible Weapon” by Nicholas Olde: Enjoyable story, with a basic premise, and clean prose.
7. “The Diary of Death” by Marten Cumberland: Unlike the cleaner & precise stories befitting the British mystery tradition, this one is sensational, full of lurid stuff, and rather poor even otherwise.
8. “The Broadcast Murder” by Grenville Robbins: Brilliant. Not only was the mystery solvable with intelligent reasoning & deductions, the writing was dry & witty to enliven the whole story.
9. “The Music-Room” by Sapper: Predictable story. Although well-written, it contained hidden chambers and levers!
10. “Death at 8.30” by Christopher St. John Sprigg: The trademark British wit makes this preposterous story highly enjoyable.
11. “Too Clever By Half” by G.D.H. and Margaret Cole: Good set-up, but extremely over-written. Could have done with half the length.
12. “Locked In” by E.Charles Vivian: Very good mystery. Very well written. Too bad we don’t have much of such writing these days.
13. “The Haunted Policeman” by Dorothy L. Sayers: I detest Lord Peter Wimsey and his world. This story, with its drawling & rambling prose, full of things which some people find charming while they put my teeth on edge, was crap.
14. “The Sands of Thyme” by Michael Innes: Rather preposterous, again, but written in a compact manner, that made the story readable.
15. “Beware of the Trains” by Edmund Crispin: A smart, witty, and crisp story, that might propel me towards procurement of more works from this author.
16. “The Villa Marie Celeste” by Margery Allingham: Brilliant! The best way to conclude this enjoyable collection.

Overall, thanks to some very-very enjoyable stories herein, duly supported by some crisp and memorable OTT ones, I’m inclined to make the review suitably starry.

Highly Recommended.

"Miraculous Mysteries" is a short story collection of 16 locked room or impossible-seeming mysteries, though some were not as baffling as that sounds. These are clue-based puzzle mysteries. Many could be solved from the provided clues, but some withheld clues until the big reveal. There are only so many ways to do a locked room mystery, so I could guess at least the general method of murder in most of the stories. There was no sex. There was occasional use of bad language. Overall, I'd recommend this enjoyable collection.

The included stories:
The Lost Special by Arthur Conan Doyle
The Thing Invisible by William Hope Hodgson
The Case of the Tragedies in the Greek Room by Sax Rohmer
The Aluminium Dagger by R. Austin Freeman
The Miracle of the Moon Crescent by G.K. Chestertom
The Invisible Weapon by Nicholas Olde
The Diary of Death by Marten Cumberland
The Broadcast Murder by Grenville Robbins
The Music-Room by Sapper
Death at 8.30 by Christopher St. John Sprigg
Too Clever by Half by G.D.H. and Margaret Cole
Locked In by E. Charles Vivian
The Haunted Policeman by Dorothy L. Sayers
The Sands of Thyme by Michael Innes
Beware of the Trains by Edmund Crispin
The Villa Marie Celeste by Margery Allingham

I received an ebook review copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.

You get quite a lot of mysteries in this set of 351 pages of mysteries, 16 stories in all.
The book is described as locked room mysteries, but many are not specifically set in that genre. The opener, Lost Special, about a missing train reminded me of a science fiction short story called Subway Named Mobius, by Deutsch, where the locomotive disappeared through another dimension. The Thing Invisible probably belongs in a ghost story anthology, rather than here; it's a pretty tedious read too. The plot device in the Miracle of the Moon Crescent seems to have been used many times, at least by A. Christie.

Some of my favorites were Death at 8:30 and Aluminum Dagger. However, there's a few stories where the detectives were so lackluster and the plot so sparse that you won't care whether the crooks are found or what happens at the end. I wished that stories like Sands of Thyme and Locked In were excluded.

Now a warning. Two of the stories had racial stereotyping: Too Clever By Half and Haunted Policeman. In the first one the narrator describes another doctor as having a "Jewish" face, and the second one uses the terrible "N" word to describe Indians. By the way, the Haunted Policeman was the first time I read the works of D. Sayers, and if that's the best sample of the Lord Wimsey series, I definitely don't need to seek out her works.

An anthology of "locked room" mysteries you've probably not read or heard of by authors you probably have.

Great stories from great authors. Thank you Mr Edwards for assembling these very enjoyable stories.

Love the book. Exactly as I expected

Interesting concept for a collection. Reading it now. Got book in excellent condition.