My Journey Through the Locked Room Library

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Originally posted June 10, 2024.

In a few previous posts, I’ve linked or referenced the 99 Novels for a Locked Room Library page compiled by the late, great John Pugmire along with fellow genre theorist and LRI editor Brian Skupin. It’s a fantastic place to start, and a few years back (during the height of lockdown-induced madness, ironically enough) I made an effort to try and read every book on the list. I made a dent but didn’t finish my goal. Given this blog’s mandate, I’ve been contemplating taking up the task again. I’ll update this list with a running tally as well as links to any blog posts I cover on here. Many of the books have since been translated into English since the original poll was made (yay!), so I’m listing them for personal reference under their English title.

What with this being my reading blog, I’m arranging this list by which books I can, well, read, followed by those in my second language. I’m also including some of the entries that didn’t make the list for not being translated into French, being incorrectly translated into French, or not being full-length novels.

  1. About the Murder of a Startled Lady by Anthony Abbot
  2. The Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov ✔
  3. The Seventh Guest by Gaston Boca
  4. The Tube by Pierre Boileau & Thomas Narcejac
  5. Nine Times Nine by Anthony Boucher ✔
  6. Suddenly at His Residence by Christianna Brand
  7. Tour de Force by Christianna Brand
  8. Death Has Many Doors by Fredric Brown
  9. Case for Three Detectives by Leo Bruce ✔
  10. The Hollow Man by John Dickson Carr ✔
  11. The Burning Court by John Dickson Carr ✔
  12. The Crooked Hinge by John Dickson Carr ✔
  13. The Case of the Constant Suicides by John Dickson Carr
  14. Till Death Do Us Part by John Dickson Carr
  15. He Who Whispers by John Dickson Carr
  16. Dead Man’s Knock by John Dickson Carr
  17. Murder in Mesopotamia by Agatha Christie ✔
  18. Murder for Christmas by Agatha Christie ✔
  19. And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie ✔
  20. Curtain by Agatha Christie ✔
  21. The Case of the Gilded Fly by Edmund Crispin ✔
  22. Sudden Death by Freeman Wills Crofts
  23. The Poison Oracle by Peter Dickinson
  24. The Plague Court Murders by Carter Dickson ✔
  25. The Red Widow Murders by Carter Dickson
  26. The Unicorn Murders by Carter Dickson
  27. The Peacock Feather Murders by Carter Dickson
  28. The Judas Window by Carter Dickson ✔
  29. He Wouldn’t Kill Patience by Carter Dickson
  30. The Curse of the Bronze Lamp by Carter Dickson
  31. The Night at the Mocking Widow by Carter Dickson
  32. Hard Cheese by Ulf Durling ✔
  33. A Child’s Garden of Death by Richard Forrest
  34. Too Many Magicians by Randall Garrett
  35. Death Out of Nowhere by Alexis Gensoul & Charles Grenier
  36. What a Body! by Alan Green
  37. The Fourth Door by Paul Halter
  38. The Crimson Fog by Paul Halter
  39. Death Invites You by Paul Halter
  40. The Seventh Hypothesis by Paul Halter
  41. The Tiger’s Head by Paul Halter
  42. The Demon of Dartmoor by Paul Halter
  43. Lord of Misrule by Paul Halter
  44. The Invisible Circle by Paul Halter
  45. The Seven Wonders of Crime by Paul Halter
  46. The Phantom Passage by Paul Halter
  47. The Nightingale Gallery by Paul Harding (Paul Doherty)
  48. The Forbidden House by Michel Herbert & Eugene Wyl
  49. The Thirteenth Bullet by Marcel Lanteaume
  50. The Mystery of the Yellow Room by Gaston Leroux ✔
  51. Bloodhounds by Peter Lovesey
  52. The Rynox Murder Mystery by Philip MacDonald
  53. The Polferry Riddle Mystery by Philip MacDonald
  54. The Devil Drives by Virgil Markham
  55. Through a Glass, Darkly by Helen McCloy
  56. The Wailing Rock Murders by Clifford Orr
  57. Bones by Bill Pronzini
  58. Hoodwink by Bill Pronzini
  59. The Chinese Orange Mystery by Ellery Queen ✔
  60. The Door Between by Ellery Queen
  61. The King is Dead by Ellery Queen ✔
  62. Death from a Top Hat by Clayton Rawson ✔
  63. The Footprints on the Ceiling by Clayton Rawson
  64. No Coffin for the Corpse by Clayton Rawson
  65. Dead Man Control by Helen Reilly
  66. The Red Right Hand by Joel Townsley Rogers
  67. They Can’t Hang Me! by James Ronald
  68. Black Aura by John Sladek
  69. Invisible Green by John Sladek
  70. Whistle Up the Devil! by Derek Smith
  71. The Hangman’s Handyman by Hake Talbot
  72. Rim of the Pit by Hake Talbot ✔
  73. The Death of Laurence Vining by Alan Thomas
  74. The Kennel Murder Case by S.S. Van Dine
  75. The House That Kills by Noël Vindry
  76. The Howling Beast by Noël Vindry
  77. The Double Alibi by Noël Vindry
  78. Through the Walls by Noël Vindry ✔
  79. The Malinsay Massacre by Dennis Wheatley
  80. Into Thin Air by Horatio Winslow & Leslie Quirk

Additional novels, English only:

  1. The Woman in the Wardrobe by Peter Antony
  2. Wilders Walk Away by Herbert Brean
  3. The Moving Toyshop by Edmund Crispin
  4. The Shade of Time by David Duncan
  5. Mr. Splitfoot by Helen McCloy
  6. The Wrong Letter by Walter Masterman
  7. Policeman’s Evidence by Rupert Penny
  8. Six Were to Die by James Ronald
  9. Murder on the Way by Theodore Roscoe
  10. The Tokyo Zodiac Murders by Soji Shimada ✔
  11. Withered Murder by A. & P. Shaffer
  12. Come to Paddington Fair by Derek Smith
  13. The Tattoo Murder Case by Akimitsu Takagi
  14. Darkness at Pemberley by T.H. White

Additional novels, French only at time of writing:

  1. La Malédiction de Chéops by Jean Alessandrini
  2. Le Labyrinthe des cauchemars by Jean Alessandrini
  3. La Quadrature du meutre by Jean Alessandrini
  4. L’Ombre sur le jardin by Gaston Boca
  5. Le Repos de Bacchus by Pierre Boileau [1]
  6. Six crimes sans assassin by Pierre Boileau
  7. L’Énigme de Téfaha by Alexis Gensoul
  8. L’Image trouble by Paul Halter
  9. Meutre dans un manoir anglais by Paul Halter
  10. L’allumette sanglante by Paul Halter
  11. Orage sur la grande semaine by Marcel Lanteaume
  12. Trompe l’oeil by Marcel Lanteaume
  13. L’Assassin de minuit by Thomas Narcejac
  14. La Mort est du voyage by Thomas Nacejac
  15. Les Humeurs fatales by René Réouven
  16. Tobie or not Tobie by René Réouven
  17. Le Mystère de la sombre zone by Pierre Siniac
  18. L’Ennemi sans visage by S.A. Steeman
  19. Les Quatre vipers by Pierre Very

Excluded novellas and “curious omissions”:

  1. Death of Jezebel by Christianna Brand [2] ✔
  2. The White Priory Murders by John Dickson Carr ✔
  3. The Third Bullet by Carter Dickson
  4. Why Didn’t They Ask Evans? by Agatha Christie ✔
  5. Off With His Head by Ngaio Marsh ✔
  6. The Big Bow Mystery by Israel Zangwill ✔

Looking at my checks, at time of writing, I really have a glaring lack of Halter under my belt! Apart from that, I haven’t yet decided if I’m going to read these in a particular order (revisiting ones I’ve already read) or check them out as they become available. Either way, they’ll be in the the same tag.

[1] This book was… adapted, I suppose is the word? …as The Sleeping Bacchus by Hilary St. George Saunders with permission of the author, taking the mystery but changing certain plot elements. I’m not sure whether to count that as “translated”.

[2] Apparently this is a divisive pick depending on the language you read it in, as the French translation takes some extreme liberties with the solution.

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