tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5516189026477178777.post2747482084640676687..comments2024-03-27T22:32:02.739+01:00Comments on Beneath the Stains of Time: Myths and Murders: "The Case of the Modern Medusa" (1973) by Edward D. HochTomCathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03415176301265218101noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5516189026477178777.post-15798528889098277982023-07-08T12:50:43.999+02:002023-07-08T12:50:43.999+02:00That's a shame. "Modern Medusa" is o...That's a shame. "Modern Medusa" is one of Hoch's most inventive contributions to the locked room mystery and it's unfortunate a moderately inferior take on the trick took some of its shine away, but glad you still enjoyed it. I know of a few other takes on the trick, but they all post-date "Modern Medusa" and assume the same is true of the Nail Man story (shin honkaku?). So the locked room-trick was likely something fresh and new at the time. A true Hoch original!<br /><br />By the way, you can expect my historic overview of the locked room mystery in the 21st century sometime, uhm, next month. TomCathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03415176301265218101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5516189026477178777.post-34339914899229768292023-07-07T20:54:57.706+02:002023-07-07T20:54:57.706+02:00I finally read this on your recommendation; I real...I finally read this on your recommendation; I really liked it, though I sadly had JUST read a story with a similar, but different and moderately inferior, take on the trick. <br /><br />That story involved a serial killer known as "The Nail Man" who commits murders in locked-rooms with the victims strangled and then nailed to the floor, along with dolls nailed to the floors and walls; the third of such murders involved the key being nailed to a doll, which was in turn nailed to a pallet in the room. The story was really bad and the locked-rooms were excruciatingly banal despite the interesting set-up and promise of a corpse puzzle, but this particular locked-room was, I thought, not half bad compared to the other three. It relied on a similar concept of fbzrguvat gbb ynetr gb or cnffrq guebhtu gur jvaqbj sebz bhgfvqr vf vafgrnq cercnerq vafvqr bs gur ebbz naq gura znavchyngrq sebz bhgfvqr, va guvf pnfr gur cnyyrg orvat fubirq ntnvafg gur fznyy jvaqbj naq gur qbyy+xrl orvat anvyrq sebz gur bhgfvqr orsber gur cnyyrg vf fubirq bire.<br /><br />So, sadly, I really enjoyed this one, but I liked it a little less for seeing a not-dissimilar concept in a SIGNIFICANTLY worse story not even four days ago!L. Stumpnoreply@blogger.com