🔒 Why Readers Love Locked Rooms and Impossible Crimes

🔎 What makes a crime seem truly impossible, and why can't mystery readers get enough of these types of stories? Join me as we unlock the irresistible appeal of locked room mysteries that have delighted readers for over 150 years.

🧐 I’ll break down the difference between a locked room mystery and a closed circle — and why readers get genuinely cranky when authors mix them up. 

🗝️ Then I’ll  give you some classic locked room stories starting with Edgar Allan Poe, running through the Golden Age, and finishing up with some modern takes on the genre in both books and television. 

Links:

Trope Thesaurus: Mystery and Thriller by Sara Rosett and Jennifer Hilt: https://books2read.com/mysteryandthriller/

Related MBP Episodes: 

Bonus: Murder on the S.S. Cleopatra by Sara Rosett

S6E1 Agatha Christie

S4E5 Crime TV Shows for Cozy Mystery Readers

S3 E5 Under Lock and Skeleton Key by Gigi Pandian

🕵️‍♀️ 📦 Cozy Books Corner Subscription Box (affiliate code), a book box curated for cozy mystery readers.

➡️ Use code SaraR5 and get 15% off! ⬅️

Transcript

Locked Room Mysteries

SPEAKER_00 0:12

Welcome to Mystery Books Podcast. I'm Mystery Author Sarah Rosette. This is season seven, episode four, and it's all about locked room mysteries. Okay, we're continuing our look at some favorite tropes and plots in the mystery genre. And today we'll unlock one of the most popular. You see what I did there? We're talking about locked rooms and impossible crimes. And this is a very beloved subcategory of the mystery genre. And I want to look a little bit at why they're so popular, then talk about the difference between locked rooms and closed circle mysteries, the fair play puzzle element to them,

No Title

SPEAKER_00 0:55

and then I'll give you some recommendations if you're interested in finding out more about these books and these types of stories.

Locked Room Mystery

SPEAKER_00 1:02

Why do readers love locked room mysteries and impossible crime mysteries? I think the main draw to it is it's an intellectual puzzle that readers want to solve, and it seems to be impossible. So, of course, that's the hook. How was this murder committed? Who was able to do this? And it seems as if it couldn't have happened this way. Um, so what is a locked room mystery? It's a crime that appears to have no logical or earthly explanation. Now, one of the terms that's sometimes used for this is called the miracle problem mystery. And I had never heard that before, but when I started researching this, I was like, hmm, I understood the term comes from the thought that only a miracle could have caused this, the death in a locked room. It could only be a miracle. But to me, that's an odd definition of miracle because a miracle is usually something good that happens. And unless you're being blackmailed by the person who's in the locked room, I don't think that's a miracle. So I prefer locked room mysteries or impossible crime mysteries. But that is, if you see that term, that's what that means and where it comes from. So the promise of these books is that the author promises that even though it appears that there's no logical explanation for this crime, and it may appear to be supernatural, even, that's not the answer. There's always a rational, non-supernatural solution waiting at the end. Scooby-Doo is actually a prototype of this type of thing. It seems to be impossible. It seems like, oh, the ghost did it. It had to have been a supernatural element because there's no other explanation. But of course, at the end of the show, it's always unmasked that there is a logical, rational explanation. It's the same pattern as in Scooby-Doo, which I loved Scooby-Doo growing up. Um, so atmosphere and tone is a big part of these books. Sometimes they do have a ghostly or gothic overtones to them. Some authors really lean into that eerie feeling and play that up quite a bit. So if you like that gothic feeling, then sometimes that's hard to find. And so, as odd as it sounds, locked room mysteries are a good place to find

Locked Room versus Closed Circle Mysteries

SPEAKER_00 3:29

that. All right. What is the difference between a locked room and a closed circle mystery? A locked room is a literal physical impossibility. There's a body found inside some sort of space. It's usually a room, but it could be something else. But it's usually a room that all the doors and windows are locked from the inside, and there's no other way in or out. So there's no secret passages, there's no, you know, trap doors or anything like that. A closed circle mystery is similar, but not the same. A closed circle mystery is a limited group of suspects are isolated in a specific place. So this can be bigger than a locked dream. You could have a, you know, cut-off country home because of the weather, uh, Snowden Manor, or a train that stopped in the Alps, or you could be located on an island, or you know, something that you're cut off from the rest of the world. Or it could be that you've limited the suspects in some way. You have a limited number of suspects. For instance, if a murder takes place in a theater, you know that the murder has to be in the theater. So everyone who is there is a suspect. As long as you've set up a crime where the death was not somehow engineered remotely, then you've set up a closed circle with that situation. And your suspects are all right there. So the closed circle mystery is much more common, and that is the setup of most amateur sleuth mysteries. So I'll have some more examples of these in as we get into the episode, but I'll just mention uh Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers both have episodes discussing their types of books in season six, and they are very good at the closed circle mystery for sure. And there's a few locked room mysteries from them as well. Also, Murder on the SS Cleopatra, my most recent release, is an example of a closed circle mystery where the suspects are trapped together on a Nile steamer. The distinction between a locked room and a closed circle mystery is very important. It matters to mystery readers because they can get very cranky when a book is marketed as a locked room mystery, but it's actually just a closed circle. So they're waiting for the, oh, what where's the puzzle? Where's this locked room puzzle? And it doesn't show up, then that's when readers get a little annoyed.

Two Mysteries for the Price of One

SPEAKER_00 6:03

But the fun part about a locked room mystery, especially reading one, is you get two puzzles in one, basically. You get the who done it of who committed this crime, but then you also get the how done it. You've got the unlocking the method of the murder.

Fair Play or Fairly Clued Mystery Element

SPEAKER_00 6:20

And of course, like all mysteries, the bigger promise is that it will be fairly clued or a fair play mystery. Those are terms that are used interchangeably. That means that the author will give you all the clues you need to solve the case. And hopefully you do it, you know, a little bit before the detective. Um, but it's a good chase, right? It's a good puzzle, and you're trying to figure out the clues and eliminate the red herrings before the detective does. There's a competition and there's a race going on. It's a mental race, but it's there. So I'm curious when you're reading a mystery, do you like to work it out before the detective? Or are you okay with the detective solving it and you figuring and the detective sort of revealing it to you? I know there's both types of mystery readers, and I'm curious if people tend to be more one or the other. I like personally to figure it out, but usually right before the detective figures it out, because in that way I've enjoyed all the clues and enjoyed the book all the way through. I don't like to figure it out too early because then it's kind of boring. So there's a text the show link in the show notes. So let me know which type of reader you

Locked Room Book Recommendations

SPEAKER_00 7:37

are. Now we're going to look at sort of a hall of fame of what to read if you're interested in this type of book. The first thing you could do is go back to the beginning and go to the very first one, which was written by Edgar Allan Poe, and it's a short story called The Murders in the Room Work. And it set up this situation where there were two deaths inside a locked room, and it seemed to be impossible to solve. It was the first use of the brilliant detective and the baffled police trope. So um that was, or that's the it's the first experience that, or the first um story that I'm aware of. There might have been some earlier than that, but this is the one that is extremely well known, and um it's got a very interesting solution. Um yeah. I won't spoil it if you haven't read it, but if you've read it, if you know, you know. Then you could go on to the most prolific locked room author, John Dixon Carr. And he also wrote under the pen name Carter Dixon, keep things interesting. And he wrote so many locked room mysteries. One title that's very famous is called The Hollow Man. So you might look for that if you're interested in some of his books. And his books often have like kind of the supernatural overtones to it. Not always, but that is frequently found in his books. Another place that you find a lot of these is in Country House Mysteries. Uh, they've got this quintessential English setting for locked rooms, and one of these is by the author of Winnie the Pooh. He also wrote the Red House Mystery, and that's A Milnay, M-I-L-N-E. I hope I'm pronouncing that correctly. And then um Hercule Perose Christmas, her body is found inside a locked room. I wrote one of these set in the country house called Death in a Stately Home. There's a locked room mystery in that novel. When I wrote Death in a Stately Home, I thought, man, I wanted that challenge of writing that book, but man, it was hard. And I didn't know if I would ever do another one. And right now I'm working on Murder in the Twice-Sealed Tomb is going to be the title of the next book. And that is going to be a locked tomb. So I'm back at it again. But as you can see, it took several years for me to return to it. Then Christy also wrote Murder in Mesopotamia, and that has a victim that's killed in a room where no one could have entered and exited. It's hard to say, exited. And um, that one is set on an archaeological dig in Mesopotamia. So if you're looking for something a little different type of setting, that's a good place to go for that one. So those are two from Christy, and then a couple of others with locked rooms. And now I'm seeing a kind of a resurgence in locked room mysteries. And one of these is a whole series from GG Pandian, and it's called Under Lock and Skeleton Key. And it's a whole series of books, each one about impossible crimes. And I believe the first one is a locked room mystery for sure, and then other mysteries that seem like there's no solution.

Locked Room Televison Show Recommendations

SPEAKER_00 10:48

And then I have to mention a couple of TV shows that really focus on locked room themes. There is one called Jonathan Creek that I had never heard of. I ran across it, I think, on Amazon Prime a couple of years ago. Jonathan Creek is a sort of an assistant, a consultant to a magician. And the stage magician needs help constructing his illusions. In the beginning, Jonathan Creek, he's working with an investigative journalist solving crimes, along with this magician occasionally jumping in. So just the having the magic element there makes it interesting. And it's really the show is really focused on the solving the crime and figuring out how it was done. It's less about like the detectives and the police inspection type show. This is much more an amateur sleuth and it's a more cerebral look at trying to figure out, you know, how this was done, how these crimes were committed. You might have to search it out. I'm not sure if it's even online anymore or um streaming anymore, but if you run across it, you might check that out. And then another one, this Death in Paradise. And it just has quite a few impossible crime scenarios. The creator of it is a fan of classic mysteries, so that's no surprise. And it's set up very much in the amateur sleuth genre and leans into locked room elements. And then I've also heard that there is a Japanese series that the whole series is about locked rooms, and I have not been able to find it, so I won't mention it. If I ever do find it available and run across it, I will let y'all know.

Why do Readers Love Locked Room and Impossible Crime Books?

SPEAKER_00 12:26

So, why is this subset of mysteries so popular? I think that they're interesting because you find a satisfaction in bringing logic and reason to this seemingly impossible problem. Um, and in a way, it's it's inspiring, it's aspirational. If we can read this mystery and solve this crazy impossible crime, then maybe we can solve things in our life in a way. I think it gives us that satisfaction of solving something that seems impossible. And a lot of times we have things in our lives that feel impossible. And so maybe this gives us a little satisfaction and hope in the fictional world that we don't always get in our lives. You go from chaos and uncontrolled events to order and logic. And in the end, most mysteries, the world is sort of put back together. It's back, everything is back in its place. The crime has been solved, the person who did it has been brought to justice, and you're back in your normal world. So I think there's a satisfaction in that. That was a quick look at locked room mysteries. Let me know if you have a favorite. I'd love to hear what your thoughts are. You can, there's a link in the show notes. You can just tap that and send me a text and tell me what locked room stories or TV shows are your favorites. And a quick note, I'll be taking June off. So I will see you in July. I hope this podcast has given you some new possibilities for your to be red pile. And if you've enjoyed it, I hope you'll tell a fellow mystery reader about it or post a review or a comment. That would be greatly appreciated. If you can't get enough of 1920s Who Done It, check out my High Society Lady Detective series in ebook, audio, or print at SarahRosetteBooks.com. And if you want more information on Blocked Room Trope, you can check out the trope thesaurus that I wrote with Jennifer Hilt. And it is available on all retailers. Happy sleeping, and I'll see you next time.