The Hit List: Top 10 Favorite Cases from Motohiro Katou's Q.E.D. vol. 26-50

I reviewed the first volume, of fifty, in Motohiro Katou's Q.E.D. series back in 2018, reached the halfway mark (vol. 25) in May 2023 and posted "The Hit List: Top 10 Favorite Cases from Motohiro Katou's Q.E.D. Vol. 1-25" a few months later – intending to have part two up by the end of 2024. You know how it goes with even the most vaguely stated, flexible of "deadlines" on this blog. I'm a traditionalist, if there ever was one. That being said, if my track through the first-half of this series was done at a snail's pace, the second-half was a sprint to the finish. Only a little a year and a half to get from vol. 26 to vol. 50. So not bad by my standards!

I reached vol. 50 last month and having reviewed every volume in addition to several specials, crossovers and sampling its sister series, C.M.B., Katou and his cast of regulars hardly need an introduction. Neither do I need to go over the points on why I started calling Q.E.D. the detective story for the 21st century. I have regurgitated all that over, and over, again in previous reviews. Just read the top 10 vol. 1-25 for a short introduction. I'll take a moment to go over the selection process.

This time, picking ten favorites was not as easy as the first time. I simply started compiling a list to whittle down to ten stories, but ended up with seventeen stories and kept moving them around between the candidate list and the final list – every story made the top 10 at one point. I wanted the list to reflect the scope of variety across this series. One thing I rarely mentioned is how Q.E.D. found a way to combine the advantages of a long-running series (familiarity) with the creative freedom afforded by standalones. So the stories and plots cover everything from traditionally-plotted whodunits, impossible crimes and alibi crackers to character explorations, slice-of-life mysteries and down right experimental fiction. And pretty much everything in between. You know me... there's always the risk I'll jump on my hobby horse and do a "Top 10 Favorite Locked Room Mysteries & Impossible Crimes from Motohiro Katou's Q.E.D.," but managed to keep temptation at bay. I think I weeded out a fairly representative top 10 list from my original seventeen picks, which get an honorable mention at the end. Even if they didn't make the final cut, they're still technically top 10 material.

Before tumbling down the top 10, I want to assure those who don't care about Katou, Q.E.D. or manga mysteries in general, you'll be getting a break from them after this one. I don't think I'll get to Gosho Aoyama's Case Closed, vol. 94 until sometime next month. I'll pick something a little different as a palate cleanser, before returning to C.M.B. or starting with Q.E.D. iff. So with all that poorly done blog-padding out of the way, let's begin.

 

"Summer Time Capsule" (vol. 26)

The first entry on this list appears on first sight to be minor stuff, a slice-of-life mystery, centering on a time capsule unearthed by construction workers with Kana Mizuhara's name on the lid – buried during her primary school days. Mizuhara's memories of her primary school days have already become hazy and the contents of the capsule poses a big mystery to her. Such as a group photograph with a kid neither she nor her friends remember. Mizuhara begins to suspect she might have done something very bad. Not to mention a mini-puzzle hidden inside the narrative. Where the story sets itself apart is using a simple, innocent childhood mystery to show how time ravages the memory, because you can't recall every single second of your life. So you leave more of yourself in the past than you take into the future. As an anonymous comment on my review pointed out, "Summer Time Capsule" is one of the best human drama mysteries in this series.

"Motive and Alibi" (vol. 29)

This second entry represents Q.E.D. at its most traditional and conventional, but an absolutely first-rate, classically-style whodunit. Sou Touma becomes involved in the murder of a celebrated, award winning painter, Kuromame Fukuzo, who's murdered at his home surrounded by three potential suspects. Only problem is that they possess rock solid, unshakable alibis. The murderer has every reason to be confident in their alibi, but Touma spotted a contrived set of circumstances that created a "golden window of opportunity" for murder. Even better than the ingenious and original alibi trick is how Touma's explanation built on Inspector Mizuhara's evidence and bare-bones solution. I like it when the brainy amateur and experienced, casehardened professional actually compliment each other.

"Magic & Magic" (vol. 32)

Similar to the first entry, "Magic & Magic" is one of the best character-piece this series has to offer and my personal favorite. Kurohoushi Manto, a magician, overhears Touma explaining his tricks to Mizuhara during a performance and proposes a challenge to the teenage know-it-all – wanting an opportunity to genuinely surprise Touma. A wonderful story full with magic tricks and the seemingly impossible disappearance of a book from a locked and guarded safe. However, the locked safe trick and magic trick is not the main draw of the story, but Manto's demonstrating there's a small, essential difference between fooling someone and surprising them. Bravo Katou!

"The Detective Novelist Murder Case" (vol. 33)

A return to the traditionally-styled detective story centering on a group of four published mystery writers discussing a plot idea for the perfect crime, a murder disguised as a domestic accident, but how's the murderer going to leave the scene locked from the inside? Someone obviously found an answer when one of them dies in exactly the same circumstances as they discussed and examined. Only difference is that all the doors and windows were found locked and securely fastened. What makes this story standout is the elegant, brilliant simplicity of the original locked room-trick and Touma not only revealing who, why and how, but also showing why the other suspects couldn't have done it. A detective story with a high purity plot!

"Christmas Present" (vol. 35)

Despite the story title, "Christmas Present" is not a seasonal mystery with the December festivities serving as background decoration for a clever piece of genre parody, playfully poking the shin honkaku mystery in the ribs – staged and presented as mock theatrical mystery. The notorious Detective Club of Sakisaka High School helps out making up the numbers of the Drama Club to prevent their Christmas Show from getting canceled, but under condition they stage a mystery play. Touma and Mizuhara naturally get put to work with the former having to write a script on the spot. Touma comes up with Murder at the Pentagon House about a murder in a small, pentagon-shaped house with the door and windows locked on the inside. While being tongue-and-cheek, the locked room-trick is actually quite clever and original. A trick that can actually be used in a comedy mystery play. So really fun and successful parody of the shin honkaku mystery.

"The Incident in Urban Hills Room 6" (vol. 39)

I constantly moved this story back and forth between the candidate list and the final list, before deciding to keep it in the final ten. This story takes place at a shabby, rundown lodging house where the landlady was found hanging in the titular room, dismissed by the police as a suicide. But left the place with a stigma as nobody wanted to apply for the job of housekeeping. One day, Mizuhara appears on their doorstep to take the position and immediately begins to asking questions, which she relies to Touma playing armchair detective in the background. However, this story is not nearly as conventional as it sounds and, like said in my original review, somewhat of an anti-detective story that's not really an anti-detective story at all. I really liked how Touma showed none of tenants have a motive only to turn around and show why one of those non-motives is a motive for murder.

"Secret Room No. 4" (vol. 40)

This entry undeniably is dictated by my personal obsession taste for locked room mysteries and every other kind of impossible crime fiction under the sun. Touma, Mizuhara and the members of the Sakisaka High School Detective Club partake in a test run for murder game, based on the works of a well-known mystery novelist, on behalf of the tour company – which brings them to the perfect setting for a murder, Sasakure Island. A game consisting of various locked room puzzles challenging the players to find out how the crime was carried out, not whodunit or why. Not unexpectedly, the test game is interrupted by an actual locked room murder. There are a total of four locked room mysteries in this story and an argument can be made Touma's solution revealed a fifth, neatly hidden, impossible crime. While not all the locked room-tricks carry that brand new car smell, they're brilliantly employed together to create a special treat for impossible crime fans like me.

"Tuba and Grave" (vol. 44)

The three disaster magnets of the Sakisaka High School Detective Club again get themselves into serious trouble when they foolishly mistook a sleeping drunk for a murder victim with their wildly incorrect, ludicrous deductions. So they find themselves in a boy-who-cried-wolf situation when witnessing an actual murder and the body being hidden inside an abandoned, rundown factory. They call in an anonymous tip to the police who search the place from top to bottom, which include a freshly dug, filled-in hole and a tuba case. No murder victim is discovered. So they turn to Touma and Mizuhara to help them out of another hole. A really fun story, but the plot is great as well with an even better conclusion. Touma basically turns what appears to be the problem of an impossibly disappearing body into an inverted, Columbo-style breakdown of the murderer's alibi and trapping the killer with incriminating knowledge.

"Pilgrimage" (vol. 46)

Q.E.D. is not exactly a cozy mystery series, but neither is it excessively dark or disturbing and tends to find a happy balance between the darker and lighter sights of life. Usually done in colors rather than shades of gray. Not this unsettling, pitch-black story centering on a long-forgotten incident dating back to World War II. A forgotten incident rediscovered inside an unpublished manuscript from a dead non-fiction author with some cryptic words scribbled on the cover. Why did the husband of a murder victim traveling to Hanoi, under wartime to conditions, to confront the murderer court decided halfway through the journey to continue on foot? Why did he, following a track of 1000 km on foot, arrive at the court two months later to asked the court to spare his wife's killer by commuting his death sentence to a prison sentence? Why did it fail to save the killer? A story deceptively starting out as a human interest story with a dash of Chestertonian wonder, but the ending revealed a nightmarish horror plucked from the pages of of an Edgar Allan Poe or Edogawa Rampo tale.

"Escape" (vol. 50)

I realize I should have swapped this entry with any of the honorable mentions listed below, but enjoyed vol. 50 too much to not include one of its two stories. I decided to go with "Escape" over the global spectacle that's “Observation,” because enjoyed the former slightly more. A fun combination of the locked room mystery with a mystery thriller. Touma and Mizuhare receive an anonymous request and money to organize a private escape room game for a small group of people, but the participants soon find themselves trapped inside as a bomb is ticking down the minutes. This situation is tied to an unsolved, sixteen year old locked room murder dismissed at the time as a suicide. Three things make this story standout: the reason for staging the escape game, the original locked room-trick for a padlocked door and a plot unfolding itself through the escape game. Touma and Mizuhara have little else to do other than being impartial observers. Leave it to Katou to find a way to be unconventional in a conventional locked room mystery.

Honorable Mentions from the Cutting Room Floor: "Pharaoh's Necklace" (vol. 28), "Promise" (vol. 31), "Paradox Room" (vol. 33), "Empty Dream" (vol. 38), "Escher Hotel" (vol. 42), "The Representative" (vol. 48) and "Observation" (vol. 50).

The Hit List: Top 10 Locked Room Mystery Novels That Need to Be Reprinted

In 2022, I posted an addendum to Nick Fuller's "Detective Stories to Reprint" entitled "Curiosity is Killing the Cat: Detective Novels That Need to Be Reprinted" going over a lengthy list of tantalizingly obscure, out-of-print mystery novels that remained out-of-reach – even in the midst of a reprint renaissance. Some writers and novels on the list have since returned to print. Such as Anthony Gilbert's The Tragedy at Freyne (1927), Mignon G. Eberhart's From This Dark Stairway (1931) and the complete works of Eunice Mays Boyd and James Ronald, but most remain annoyingly out-of-print today.

So wanted to do a shorter, trimmed down version focusing on out-of-print locked room mysteries and impossible crime novels (because, of course). Not simply as an excuse to climb on my favorite hobbyhorse, but because I really needed a filler-post to replenish the diminished backlog of blog-posts and reviews.

However, I always try to avoid doing a standard top 10 list of favorite characters or mysteries by picking somewhat unusual, sometimes niche, topics allowing for a surprising list. For example, "Top 10 Fascinating World War II Detective Novels" starts with a novel from 1934 and ends with one from 2008. "Top 10 Non-English Detective Novels That Need to Be Translated" lists ten mysteries from four continents, written in six different languages, peeking over the language-barrier at us. "Top 10 Works of Detective Fiction That Have Been Lost to History" goes over the list of unpublished manuscripts from some very well-known, celebrated mystery writers that were lost or destroyed – consigned to the phantom library in the sky. On a more positive note is the "Top 10 Beneficiaries of the Reprint Renaissance." So didn't simply want to go over my personal locked room mystery wishlist and pick ten titles.

This list is basically split in two, mashed together halves. There are five titles directly plucked from my wishlist, while the other five have been reviewed before on this blog. But they all deserve or need to be reprinted for one reason or another. So publishers take note! Hope everyone else finds it an entertaining and interesting list with hopefully a few picks that'll surprise you.

The Case of the Gold Coins (1933) by Anthony Wynne

Robert McNair Wilson, a Scottish-born physician, is the man behind the "Anthony Wynne" pseudonym and, before John Dickson Carr, was the first Golden Age writer to specialize in novel-length locked room mysteries – producing twenty-one impossible crime novels and some short stories. The quality of Wynne's Dr. Eustace Hailey series is uneven, but The Case of the Gold Coins is considered to be one of his most ingenious takes on the impossible crime problem: a body found on a beach without any footprints. John Norris called the solution "simple and rather brilliant" and Curt Evans thought the explanation "worthy of John Dickson Carr." The Case of the Gold Coins sounds like a perfect, long overdue follow up to the British Library reprint edition of Wynne's Murder of a Lady (1931; a.k.a. The Silver Scale Mystery).

Three Dead, One Hurt (1934) by Scobie Mackenzie

Robert Adey highlighted Mackenzie's Three Dead, One Hurt in his introduction of Locked Room Murders (1991) as "something a little different." Something he described as a Buchanesque tale about a group of people marooned on a Scottish island with "a clever locked room situation." In 2022, Martin Edwards reviewed Three Dead, One Hurt and thought it "a notch or two above many others that were being written at the time." But, as he pointed out, the book has never been reprinted since its original publication over 90 years (!) ago.

Terror at Compass Lake (1935) by Tech Davis

Brian Skupin highlighted Tech Davis' Terror at Compass Lake in Locked Room Murders: Supplement (2019) as an intriguing mystery in which Aubrey Nash investigates the deaths of a chauffeur and his employer in upstate New York. The death of the chauffeur apparently that was "neither murder, suicide nor natural death" and the murder of his boss offers "a new twist on the locked room mystery." You should know that a review from 1990 by the late William F. Deeck points out that the book is better plotted than written ("recommended for locked room fanciers, and other problem solvers").

The Whispering Ear (1938) by Clyde B. Clason

Clyde B. Clason wrote only ten detective novels, over a five year period, but they're among the most sophisticated, well-written and often soundly plotted the American detective story produced during the Golden Age – making his obscurity all the more baffling. Rue Morgue Press reprinted eight of Clason's Theocritus Lucius Westborough mysteries in the 2000s and 2010s. The second novel in that series, The Dark Angel (1936), was one of the last reprints they published before closing their doors. So we missed out on a complete set of reprints that would have included The Fifth Tumbler (1936) and The Whispering Ear. Recently, Chosho Publishing reprinted The Fifth Tumbler, The Purple Parrot (1937), The Man from Tibet (1938), Murder Gone Minoan (1939) and Green Shiver (1941). The Whispering Ear remains the only title in the series that has not been reprinted since the 1930s or '40s. It could very well be Clason's most substantial impossible crime novel concerning "an impersonation problem in which a bad twin, taking the place of his famous brother, gets the latter's money and is killed" – shot in a locked bathroom. A 1938 review called it a "fair enough puzzler."

The Longstreet Legacy (1951) by Douglas Ashe

So the first of the previously read and reviewed titles on this list. Ashe's The Longstreet Legacy, alternatively published as A Shroud for Grandmama, was discussed earlier this year by Martin Edwards, "a classic whodunit with macabre trimmings," who linked to my review. Not only is this a classic whodunit from the twilight years of the Golden Age, but an imaginative and original impossible crime novel. The elderly victim, Ella Longstreet, is found lying at the bottom of staircase dressed in a bikini and surrounded by a circle of dusty, waltzing footprints with the rest of the hallway inexplicably free of footprints. Regrettably, The Longstreet Legacy is likely to remain out-of-print for the foreseeable future. John Norris tried to get the books reprinted in 2014, but the author's son is "sort of contentious and is holding on tight to the rights."

The Glass Spear (1950) by S.H. Courtier

This is going to be contentious entry! Wynne's The Case of the Gold Coins, Davis' Terror at Compass Lake and Clason's The Whispering Ear appear a little dubious when it comes to the overall quality (i.e. writing, characterization and plot), but they appear to be fully-fledged locked room mysteries. And two of them are reportedly excellent when it comes to the locked room-tricks. Courtier's The Glass Spear is, what John Norris called, an anthropological detective novel and a fine one at that. Simply as a regional detective novel it succeeded in what a regional detective novel is supposed to do: create a story, plot and crime that feels native to the setting. Something that feels like it could not have taken place anywhere else, except in the setting of the story. There's a locked room murder, but it's immediately solved and the locked room-trick routine. I decided to include it as a reminder Courtier is still waiting to be reprinted.

Note for the curious: John Norris (what, him again!?) reviewed Courtier's Let the Man Die (1961) earlier this year, describing it as "remarkable retro" and "truly feels like a love letter to the plot heavy books of the 1930s and 1940s." Something tells me the traditional, Australian detective story has been criminally overlooked by the rest of the world.

Withered Murder (1956) by A. & P. Shaffer

Many of the once extremely rare, prohibitively expensive and out-of-print (locked room) mystery novels returned to print in recent years. A notable example is Christianna Brand's Death of Jezebel (1948). It used to be one of the most wanted, next to impossible to obtain impossible crime novels in the genre as secondhand copies were scarce and often expensive. That list of ridiculous rare, out-of-print mysteries with the quality to match their legendary reputation has been thinned out considerably. I think the most famous title to top that list today is Shaffer's Withered Murder. Nick Fuller praised Withered Murder for being "as flamboyantly fantastical and fearsome as a Father Brown case" and "as brilliantly clued and surprising as a Carr." So you understand us locked room fanatics need a reprint of Withered Murder almost as much as oxygen.

Diving Death (1962) by Charles Forsyte

There were a few unsuccessful, short-lived attempts during the 1960s to continue and modernize the fair play, Golden Age-style detective novel. One of these short-lived attempts came from the husband-and-wife team of Gordon and Vicky Philo, writing as "Charles Forsyte," who penned a handful of classically-styled whodunits. Three of them feature their series-detective, Inspector Richard Left, who's confronted in Diving Death with a seemingly impossible murder during an archaeological expedition at sea. A reprint of this wonderful detective novel full with impossible murders, false-solutions, waterproof alibis and a fallible detective would be greatly appreciated by fellow mystery aficionados.

Black Aura (1974) by John Sladek

Sladek's wrote two famous and beloved, classically-styled detective novels featuring his equally popular detective, Thackeray Phin, whose specialty is solving locked room murders and other seemingly impossible crimes. Black Aura and Invisible Green (1977) are fan favorites often mentioned in same breath as John Dickson Carr and Hake Talbot. We've been arguing for years, some even decades, about which of the two Thackeray Phin novels is better. Fortunately, copies of Black Aura and Invisible Green are neither absurdly rare nor ridiculously expensive, but what's absurd and ridiculous is that neither have been reprinted since 1983.

Operazakan – aratanaru satsujin jiken (The New Kindaichi Files, 1994) by Seimaru Amagi

I wanted to include a translation, any translation, of a non-English locked room mystery in need of fresh printing-ink, but choices proved to be limited. I could pick between S.A. Steeman's Six hommes morts (Six Dead Men, 1930/31) or Chin Shunshin's Pekin yūyūkan (Murder in a Peking Studio, 1976). I then remembered there's another option, Seimaru Amagi, who in my opinion is the Soji Shimada of the anime-and manga detective story. Amagi co-created the anime/manga franchise The Kindaichi Case Files and penned a series of “light novels” about Hajime Kindaichi and his cohorts. A light novel is a relatively short-ish, illustrated novels and four of Amagi's Kindaichi light novels received English translations. However, Ho-Ling Wong pointed out the translations were intended for educational purposes and the reason why every edition has a long English-Japanese vocabulary list. So they were translated to help improve the English of Japanese readers.

That being said, they are generally excellent, shin honkaku-style detective stories with ready-made translations. Originally titled Opera House, the New Murder, the much more mundanely-titled The New Kindaichi Files is the best of the four. A theatrical mystery set on an island theater where an actress ends up underneath a crystal chandelier behind the locked doors of a theater. My second favorite is the fascinating Ikazuchi matsuri satsujin jiken (Deadly Thunder, 1998) with its strange setting and bizarre impossible murder. Dennō sansō satsujin jiken (Murder On-Line, 1996) is a solid detective story distinguished by incorporating early internet and internet culture into a classically-styled whodunit. Only Shanhai gyojin densetsu satsujin jiken (The Shanghai River Demon's Curse, 1997) failed to impress. Considering the current interest in Japanese detective fiction, these ready-made translations can be bundled together as an omnibus and all that needs to be added is an introduction to the characters and history of the series. Because it would a shame to have them waste away in obscurity when, now more than ever before, there's an actual audience for them.

Murder in Retrospect: The Best and Worst of 2024

 

Last year, I started "Murder in Retrospect: The Best and Worst of 2024" with remembering Rupert Heath, of Dean Street Press, who suddenly passed away earlier in the year and now have begin with acknowledging the passing of John Pugmire – who died in March of this year. John Pugmire and Locked Room International not only helped popularizing translations of non-English detective fiction, but instrumental in rejuvenating and reviving the locked room mystery novel. The locked room novel, not short stories, had been in a deep rut for over half a century, until Pugmire's 2006 translation of Paul Halter's La nuit du loup (The Night of the Wolf, 2000) was published.

I noted in "The Locked Room Mystery & Impossible Crime Story in the 21st Century" it was the first tremor of a massive shift and a decade later the reprint renaissance, translation wave and an honest to god locked room revival were in full swing! Pugmire left an indelible mark on the genre and, more, importantly revived his beloved locked room mysteries by broadening its horizon and bringing in a score of new fans. So he'll be missed, but will be with us locked room fans in spirit for many decades to come.

While LRI closed down, Dean Street Press reopened its doors for business and has began reissuing the courtroom mysteries by Sara Woods. A mystery writer whom Curt Evans called "a major figure in what I call the Silver Age of detective fiction." I'll be sampling one, or two, of those reprints next year. There's more exciting reprints, translations and brand new detective novels coming next year.

This year, British Library Crime Classics is reprinting Carter Dickson's The Ten Teacups (1937), Anthony Berkeley's Not to Be Taken (1938), Christianna Brand's Cat and Mouse (1950), Carol Carnac's Murder as a Fine Art (1953), Fiona Sinclair's Scandalize My Name (1960) and publishing an anthology, "a jam-packed travel case of short mysteries," entitled Midsummer Mysteries (2025) – edited by Martin Edwards. Otto Penzler's American Mystery Classics is going to reprint the rare, long out-of-print Obelists en Route (1934) by C. Daly King. Rufus King's Murder by the Clock (1929) is also returning to print. There are, of course, the translations. Pushkin Vertigo is diversifying their output of Japanese mysteries with translations of Seishi Yokomizo's Kuroneko tei jiken (The Murder at the Black Cat Cafe, 1947), Yukito Ayatsuji's Tokeikan no satsujin (The Clock Mansion Murders, 1991), Yasuhiko Nishizawa's Nanakai shinda otoko (The Man Who Died Seven Times, 1995), Taku Ashibe's Oomarike satsujin jiken (Murders in the House of Omari, 2021) and two novels by horror Youtuber "Uketsu." The BBB is currently serializing MORI Hiroshi's Warawanai sugakusha (Mathematical Goodbye, 1996 and complete edition will likely be out before spring. On top of a ton new titles.

So enough to look forward to in 2025, but 2024 needs to be tidied up first. First of all, I compiled a couple of lists this year under the collective title "The Hit List." The most recent one is "Top 12 Favorite Christmas Mystery Novels & Short Stories," but also did "Top 10 Works of Detective Fiction That Have Been Lost to History," "Top 10 Beneficiaries of the Reprint Renaissance" and "Top 10 Best Translations & Reprints from Locked Room International." I also rambled about "The Locked Room Mystery & Impossible Crime Novel in the 1980s" as a prelude to the previously mentioned piece about the 21st century impossible crime novel. So with that out of the way, all that's left to do is wish you all a Merry Christmas and best wishes for next year! Now let's get to the best and worst detective fiction read in 2024.

THE BEST DETECTIVE NOVELS:

The Tragedy at Freyne (1927) by Anthony Gilbert

A promising debut and a better than average, 1920s manor house mystery novel concerning the mysterious poisoning of Sir Simon Chandon solved by a young, rising politician, Scott Egerton.

The Creeping Jenny Mystery (1929) by Brian Flynn

This is a lighthearted, lightly plotted and written 1920s romp that reads like a fond farewell to the Twenties with its country house setting, stolen jewels and cast of bantering Bright Young Things. Flynn's doing a bit of webwork plotting gave it a hint of what was in store for the detective story in the decade ahead.

Murder Yet to Come (1929/30) by Isabel Briggs Myers

A rival of Ellery Queen's The Roman Hat Mystery (1929) for the first prize in a writing competition and both, interestingly enough, pay homage to the doyen of the American detective story, S.S. van Dine. The Van Dinean treatment considerably freshened up the turn-of-the-century tropes Myers paraded out in this entertaining locked room mystery, which makes it a pity her second detective novel bombed so bad it torpedoed her mystery writing career.

The Red Widow Murders (1935) by Carter Dickson (a reread)

The third recorded case of Sir Henry Merrivale is a classic take on the room-that-kills scenario bringing to Old Man to Mantling House and the notorious Widow's Room, which had claimed a handful of victims over the century – before getting permanently sealed. Widow's Room remained sealed for more than half a century, but only a few hours passed between the unsealing and the room claiming a fresh victim. A vintage H.M. and a fantastic Golden Age detective novel.

Death of an Author (1935) by E.C.R. Lorac

My favorite Lorac reprint to date! An excellent detective novel and a perfect example how you turn an ultimately simple situation into a dark, maze-like structure simply by playing an elaborate game of Guess Who? I'm still keeping my fingers crossed for reprints of Murder in St. John's Wood (1934) and her "Carol Carnac" novels Murder As a Fine Art (1953) and The Double Turn (1956).

Murder in the Family (1936) by James Ronald

A surprising, unexpectedly good (superb even) and deeply human, character-driven crime novel from a writer better known for his thrillers, gangster stories and pulp-style (locked room) mysteries. It can even be read as criticism of the detective story treating murder as a parlor game, but it was all done so well, I couldn't help but enjoy it. Never let it be said I only care about plot-mechanics.

They Can't Hang Me (1938) by James Ronald

Arguably, the definitive pulp-style locked room mystery. The kind of pulp-style locked room mystery John Russell Fearn and Gerald Verner made their own, but Ronald nailed it to near perfection. Simply the best treatment of the house under siege by an apparently near omnipotent murderer who seems to have the run of the place. The best of the pulps!

The Footprints on the Ceiling (1939) by Clayton Rawson (a reread)

Rawson is remembered today for Death from a Top Hat (1938), but it's classic status has not aged very well and, upon rereading The Footprints on the Ceiling, found it to be a superior detective novel. A bizarre, tightly packed mystery novel taking place on a small river island with a helter-skelter plot that had no right to work, but it did, which makes it one of the best tricks Rawson played on his readers.

Green for Danger (1944) by Christianna Brand (a reread)

The most well-known, widely celebrated British World War II mystery novels taking place in a military hospital during the Blitz with the death of a patient on the operating table bringing Inspector Cockrill to the scene. Even though Death of Jezebel (1948) has toppled it as the definitive Brand novel, Green for Danger still lives up to its reputation. One of the best pure whodunits of the 1940s!

Shadowed Sunlight (1945) by Christianna Brand

A short-ish novel, originally serialized in Woman, but never reprinted in book form and the story was, sort of, forgotten about – until it appeared in Bodies from the Library 4 (2021). An admittedly minor, but solid, mystery novel about an impossible poisoning aboard a pleasure yacht deserving of its own edition.

Nomen satsujin jiken (The Noh Mask Murder, 1949) by Akimitsu Takagi

The translation wave has brought us not only some gems of today's premiere Japanese mystery writers, but also previously inaccessible, Golden Age detective fiction. This classic Japanese locked room mystery involves the impossible murder of the family patriarch involving the titular mask with a 200-year-old curse attached to it.

The Footprints of Satan (1950) by Norman Berrow (a reread)

Berrow's most impressive contribution to the locked room mystery and impossible crime story partially based on the reported 1855 incident of the Devon hoof-marks. Berrow used the story of the devil's hoof-marks to turn the already tricky problem of impossible-footprints-in-the-snow into an Olympic winter sport!

The Case of the Burnt Bohemian (1953) by Christopher Bush

An excellent mystery concerning the murder of a reclusive, completely unknown artist and a fine example of Bush finding his footing again in the 1950s with one the last appearances of the great Superintendent George Wharton, before Bush decided to phase him out of the series.

Riddle of a Lady (1956) by Anthony Gilbert

This is a late-period Golden Age mystery novel and all the more interesting for it as it offers a glimpse of what the plot-driven detective story could have been like in the age of the character-driven crime and thriller novels. Gilbert basically polished, what's ultimately, a sordid crime story into a detective story by presenting it as an ambiguous inverted mystery. Arthur Crook being Arthur Crook always helps. Not to the police. Certainly not them, but his clients and readers are always happy to see him make an appearance.

Akuma no temari uta (The Little Sparrow Murders, 1957/59) by Seishi Yokomizo

A solidly-plotted, lavishly-spun whodunit bringing Japan's most iconic detective figure, Kosuke Kindaichi, to the small, remote mountain village of Onikobe. A two-decade old, unsolved murder hangs like a dark cloud over its inhabitants and fresh murders are committed not long after Kindaichi's arrival – bizarrely patterned after the lyrics of temari song. So an Agatha Christie-style nursery rhyme mystery and perhaps the most accessible translations for readers who find the usual honkaku-style mysteries a bit strong with its chopped up bodies, eccentric architecture and multiple impossible crimes, unbreakable alibis and dying messages.

Tsumetai nisshitsu to hakase tachi (Doctors in the Isolated Room, 1996) by MORI Hiroshi

Maybe a little too technical and specialized for some, especially since the characterization is not great, but found this story about a double murder in the low-temperature laboratory of a Polar research facility to be better than Hiroshi's famous and celebrated Subete ga F ni naru (Everything Turns to F: The Perfect Insider, 1996). Yes, I can be an annoying contrarian at times.

Hoshifuri sansou no satsujin (Murders in the Mountain Lodges Beneath the Shooting Stars, 1996) by Jun Kurachi

Contrary to what most readers have come to expect from shin honkaku mysteries, Murders in the Mountain Lodges Beneath the Shooting Stars is a non-impossible crime without the usual trappings – like strange architecture, corpse-puzzles and locked room murders. I called it a no-gimmicks-needed, simon-pure jigsaw detective novel in the classical mold that's a must-read for fans of Ellery Queen and Alice Arisugawa.

 

Rurijou satsujin jiken (The "Lapis Lazuli Castle" Murders, 2002) by Takekuni Kitayama

Masahiro Imamura's Shijinso no satsujin (Death Among the Undead, 2017), a locked room mystery infested with zombies, has popularized the hybrid mystery among Japanese writers, but the form has been explored and experimented before. The "Lapis Lazuli Castle" Murders is a particular fine example in which reincarnation ties the main characters together over a 700 year period. So a novel structured like an interconnected short story collections stretching from 13th century France to 1980s Japan. The locked room murder at the Library at the End of the World is the impossible crime story on steroids!

Jikuu ryokousha no sunadokei (The Time Traveler's Hourglass, 2019) by Kie Houjou

Kie Houjou can now be counted among my favorite mystery writers on the strength of her first and third hybrid mystery in the Ryuuzen Clan series. The Time Traveler's Hourglass, first in the series, is a brilliantly plotted time travel mystery, but even more distinguishing is that the characters have heart and the story a soul. It allowed for an ending that would have died a death in the hands of a less talented writer.

 

Mortmain Hall (2020) by Martin Edwards

Another intricate, webwork-plotted and classically-styled detective novel masquarading as retro-pulp from the Nestor of the Golden Age Renaissance. So the nature of the plot doesn't allow much room for discussion or being described, but the next two titles in the series, Sepulchre Street (2023) and Hemlock Bay (2024), are on the big pile for next year.

Meitantei ni kanbi naru shi wo (Delicious Death for Detectives, 2022) by Kie Houjou

Arguably, my favorite detective novel read this year and the third novel in the Ryuuzen Clan series, which brings Kamo Touma to closed circle event to test a new virtual reality mystery game. And to say he gets an immersive gaming experience would be an understatement. I believe Delicious Death for Detective could very well end up becoming the iconic detective novel of the 21st century like Christie's And Then There Were None (1939).

 

Bunraku Noir (2023) by K.O. Enigma

A self-published "murder mystery for the modern, online age" from "the Ellery Queen of the Vtuber Era" and is a clever, genre-savvy genre parody and better than most would expect from a fan written web release.

 

Gospel of V (2023) by H.M. Faust

A thoroughly bizarre, but pleasing, highlight from the budding independent scene and locked room revival. The book is a challenge to describe or properly summarize. For example, the story has a disconnected, but thematically consistent intermission, "The Jesus Christ Murder Case," retelling the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ as unexpectedly good locked room mystery. There's logic to all the madness. Sure, the logic of a mad dream, but still... I loved it!

77 North (2023) by D.L. Marshall

The third and apparently final entry in John Tyler series of action packed mystery thrillers packed with locked room murders and impossible crimes. This time, Tyler is dropped in the Arctic circle to retrieve a bioweapons expert from a Cold War era facility, a "hotel," where the KGB with ESP, astral projections and telekinesis – someone died under impossible circumstances in the nuclear bunker. Hopefully, 77 North is not the last we have seen of Tyler and the impossible crimes he encounters in all those remote, dangerous places.

The Mystery of Treefall Manor (2023) by J.S. Savage

A genuine retro-GAD locked room mystery, introducing Inspector Graves and Constable Carver, hitting all the familiar notes, but there's nothing stock or time-worn about the excellent solution. A homage to the Golden Age mystery novel that would have actually been quite at home in the 1920s or '30s. I was less enamored with Savage's second, modern-set locked room mystery, Sun, Sea and Murder (2024), but look forward to the second Graves and Carver novel, The Riddle of the Ravens (2024).

Rechercheur De Klerck en de status in moord (Inspector De Klerck and the Status in Murder, 2024) by P. Dieudonné

A good, old school detective novel presented as a typical, Dutch police novel in which the combination of old world problems and solutions result in complicated murder case with multiple victims. Better than the previous, double-sized Rechercheur De Klerck en de sluier van de dood (Inspector De Klerck and the Veil of Death, 2024)!

The Dry Diver Drownings (2024) by A. Carver

A detective's coming-of-age, of sorts, in which Alex Corby is invited to the shoot of a crossover episode for two horror web series at an abandoned building, but without her great-aunt Cornelia. Alex is pretty much on her own when the subject of the two web series, Dry Diver, apparently stirs to live and begins picking people off in locked and watched room. Not the locked room spectacle of novels, but still an excellent, classically-styled contemporary whodunit. And love the idea of a creepypasta character coming to live who can dive through locked doors and solid walls as though they're made of water.

Cabaret Macabre (2024) by Tom Mead

A locked room mystery with a pair of skillfully-handled impossible murder, notably the body on the lake providing the story with an original two-pronged impossibility, but they're only one part of web work plot of "byzantine complexity." The best of the Joseph Spector novels, so far!

THE BEST SHORT STORY COLLECTIONS AND SHORT STORIES

Short Story Collections:

The Communicating Door and Other Stories (1923) by Wadsworth Camp

Les veillées de la Tour Pointue (The Secret of the Pointed Tower, 1937) by Pierre Véry

13 to the Gallows (2008) by John Dickson Carr and Val Gielgud (a reread)

The Casebook of Jonas P. Jonas and Other Mysteries (2012) by E.X. Ferrars

The Killer Everyone Knew and Other Captain Leopold Stories (2023) by Edward D. Hoch

Golden Age Whodunits (2024) edited by Otto Penzler

Short Stories:

"The Talking Stone" (1955) by Isaac Asimov (a reread)

"Greenshaw Folly" (1956) by Agatha Christie

"Murder Behind Schedule" (1963) by Lawrence G. Blochman

"Cardula and the Locked Rooms" (1982) by Jack Ritchie

"The Sweating Statue" (1985) by Edward D. Hoch

"The Murder in Room 1010" (1987) by Edward D. Hoch

"Murder in the Urth Degree" (1989) by Edward Wellen

"The Theft of Leopold's Badge" (1991) by Edward D. Hoch (reviewed together with "The Murder in Room 1010")

"The Adventure of the Glass Room" (2002) by Philip J. Carraher

"Kanojo ga Patience wo korosu hazu ga nai" ("She Wouldn't Kill Patience," 2002) by Ooyama Seiichiro

"Knockin' On Locked Door" (2014) by Aosaki Yugo

"De schilder die de waarheid liefhad" ("The Painter Who Loved the Truth," 2019) by M.P.O. Books" (reviewed together with "Murder Behind Schedule")

"Jack Magg's Jaw" (2022) by Tom Mead (reviewed together with "Murder Behind Schedule")

"Eggnog and the Cylinder" (2023) by Miogacu (reviewed together with "Cardula")

“The Silent Steps of Murder" (2023) by James Scott Byrnside (reviewed together with "Murder Behind Schedule")

THE WORST OF DETECTIVE NOVELS AND SHORT STORIES:

The Girl in the Fog (1923) by Joseph Gollomb

A badly written, poorly plotted, unforgivably dull and ludicrous pulp-style mystery with a villain named Pete Ennis. Sometimes it's not difficult to understand how some writers completely disappeared into obscurity, because that's where they belong.

Who Goes Hang? (1958) by Stanley Hyland

Started out strong and promising, hobbled along to a splendid, midway twist before going to pieces, but enjoyed putting together my own solution.

The Crossword Mystery (1979) by Robert G. Gillespie

One of those attempts to incorporate classical tropes, locked rooms, dying messages and secret codes, into a modern crime novel, but not a very successful one. Phillips Lore made a much more valiant effort a year later with Murder Behind Closed Doors (1980). 

 

Ubume no natsu (The Summer of the Ubume, 1994) by Natsuhiko Kyogoku

Nobody is a bigger fan and supporter of the shin honkaku mystery than I am, please ignore Ho-Ling and everyone else around here who can read Japanese, but even I can admit they produce a stinker every now and then. This is one of them. A historically important work for the second wave of shin honkaku mystery writers and a fascinating contrast with other seminal, second wave novel, Hiroshi's The Perfect Insider – which is blend of scientific mystery and futurism. The Summer of the Ubume, on the other hand, blends folklore with the supernatural, but it was a boring drag to read. And the ending was simply infuriating!

The Naughty List: Top 12 Favorite Christmas Mystery Novels & Short Stories

Now let me see... Sinterklaas candy has been on store shelves for months now, closely followed by Halloween ornaments and Christmas decorations, while the days get shorter, colder and darker – which can mean only one thing. It's that time of year again. The time for pepernoten, treats, presents and spreading cheer and goodwill during the miracle of the Christmas season. It's also the time when fans of Golden Age detective fiction turn their pile of seasonal mystery novels to read or, as it used to be more often is the case, reread one or two of the classic Christmas-themed mysteries published during the genre's golden decades.

That pile of vintage Christmas-themed mysteries used to be quite modest with only a handful of notable titles, but over the past ten years, several publishers added considerable height to that pile. Kate, of Cross Examining Crime, even compiled an "Epic Ranking of Christmas Mysteries" with no less than 40 novels in 2019. More has been added to the naughty list since then. Last year, British Library republished Carter Dickson's The White Priory Murders (1934), Galileo brought Joan Coggin's Who Killed the Curate (1944) back into print and this year Elizabeth Anthony's long-lost Dramatic Murder (1948) is added to the stack. Not to mention numerous anthologies, like Crimson Snow: Winter Mysteries (2016) and The Christmas Card Crime and Other Stories (2018), appropriate for the dark days of December.

I made it a tradition to read, and revisit, these merry mayhem mysteries during the holiday month and have read enough to do a seasonal edition of The Hit List. Like previous editions, I make an earnest attempt to avoid making a basic listicle or use it as an excuse to ride my locked room mystery hobby horse by picking somewhat unusual topics – allowing to avoid lists dominated with all usual suspects. So decided mix novels and short stories for this festive list ensuring there would be no easy pickings.

Hopefuly, some of you'll find the list handy to help pick, choose and put together your annual pile of Christmas mysteries to enjoy this month.

L'assassinat du Père Noël (The Murder of Father Christmas, 1934) by Pierre Véry

Véry's The Murder of Father Christmas is not the most devious, intricately-plotted title appearing on this list, however, the book certainly embodies the essence the spirit of Christmas. A gentle, fairy tale-like detective story about the search for a fabled relic, two gems spirited away from a vault and the body of Santa Claus found near the entrance of an underground passage to a castle. A charming, lighthearted seasonal mystery novel written in the spirit of G.K. Chesterton's short story "The Flying Stars" (1911).

Thou Shell of Death (1936) by Nicholas Blake

Last December, I revisited Blake's Thou Shell of Death and was surprised to find a better detective novel than I remembered it to be from my first read. Nigel Strangeways spends Christmas at the home of World War I flying ace, Fergus O'Brien, who's found shot and killed in the garden hut on Boxing Day – only a single track of footprints going from the veranda to the hut. I honestly had forgotten Blake at his best wrote and plotted the same legends league as Christianna Brand, John Dickson Carr and Agatha Christie. Blake delivered with Thou Shell of Death a serious rival to another entry on this list for the title of best Golden Age Christmas mystery novel.

"Blind Man's Hood" (1937) by John Dickson Carr (writing as "Carter Dickson")

Lighting a fire to gather around to drink hot cocoa and telling ghost stories was once a staple of the good, old-fashioned family Christmas celebration, "there'll be scary ghost stories and tales of the glories of Christmases long, long ago," during that most wonderful time of the year – which is the premise of this small classic. A newlywed couple arrive at the home of friends to celebrate Christmas, but find the front door standing open and the house apparently abandoned. They're eventually greeted by a woman who tells them the household is away to attend a special church service, which is an excuse to be away from the house at a specific time on Christmas Eve. She then them about a murder that happened in the house decades ago as the ghost story slowly takes over the reigns from the detective story. Leave it to the maestro to turn a detective story into a ghost yarn without ruining the detective story part.

Hercule Poirot's Christmas (1938) by Agatha Christie

Christie's Hercule Poirot's Christmas is the quintessential, über conventional seasonal country house mystery, but, until rereading it in 2022, I had forgotten why it had been the Christmas mystery novel for ages. The book is simply a vintage Christie in which she applies her plotting talent to the problem of the brutal murder of nasty, old Simeon Lee on Christmas Eve. A murder methodically unraveled by Hercule Poirot with a keen eye for both the physical and psychological clues. Hercule Poirot's Christmas has become a model for the-country-house-family-Christmas-party-interrupted-by-murder, but rarely equalled or surpassed. A Christmas mystery classic!

Murder After Christmas (1944) by Rupert Latimer

One of those little-known, forgotten festive murder mysteries that had been out-of-print for nearly eighty years, until British Library reprinted it in 2021. Latimer's Murder After Christmas had no business languishing in obscurity as it ranks alongside Blake and Christie's Christmas mysteries as one of the best of its kind. A richly-plotted detective novel with the customary body in Santa Claus costume and a whole array of bizarre clues as slippery as red herrings, which range from a track of footprints to a toppled snowman to a parcel of mince-pies sewn in the upholstery of an armchair – which enough to make Superintendent Culley wonder if he's going balmy. A fun and unexpectedly excellent Golden Age mystery. One that's going to be fun revisiting in a few years time.

"The Christmas Bear" (1990) by Herbert Resnicow

Just like the first entry on this list, Resnicow's short story "The Christmas Bear" is not the most intricate, deviously-plotted yuletide puzzle, but it's a heartwarming story fully embracing the spirit of Christmas – taking place during a fundraiser in a poor neighborhood. A little girl needs a liver transplant and the neighborhood is trying to raise the money, which is why Miz Sophie Slowinski taker her great-grand daughter, Deborah, to the toy auction at the local firehouse. Deborah falls in love with a very odd, funny looking teddy bear. However, the bear disappears, presumably stolen, but how could it have been taken from the top shelf without collapsing the whole rickety, shaky structure? Yes, plot-wise, "The Christmas Bear" is very light bordering "Every Day Life Mystery," but, to quote Mike Grost, "every part of the story is developed with rich detail in the Van Dine School tradition." Simply a perfect little Christmas mystery.

Mom Meets Her Maker (1990) by James Yaffe

A radical departure from the conventional, British country house mysteries of previous entries or the seasonal whimsy of Resnicow and Véry. Yaffe does the murder around Christmastime the American way! Very loud, punctuated by the sound of gunshots. It all begins with a dispute over the Christmas decorations of Reverend Chuck Candy, a veritable light show complete with sound installation blasting holiday jingles, which devolves into murder rife with small town politics, religious strife and a dying message. A better Ellery Queen-style Christmas mystery than Ellery Queen's The Finishing Stroke (1958).

Original Sin (1991) by Mary Monica Pulver

If you, like me, can't help but shudder at modern mysteries advertised as loving send ups of the classic, snowed-in country house mystery at Christmas, rest assured. Pulver's Original Sin is not a tangle of poorly dome, often mishandled cliches and tropes presented as a clever, humorous take on the snowed-in gathering at Christmas – rudely interrupted by murder. I don't want to give too much away, but the plot-patterns emerging from this story are both original and very pleasing. Like the modern crime novel is performing a synchronized dance routine with the ghost of the Golden Age detective around the Christmas tree. So a modern-ish country house mystery that actually has something to say and new to add to what came before.

"La marchande de fleurs" ("The Flower Girl," 2000) by Paul Halter

I need to reread "The Flower Girl" and refresh my memory, but remember being convinced the story would become a staple of future impossible crime-themed anthologies. This time, the impossibilities concern physical evidence for the existence of Santa Claus. Evidence that would implicate Santa Claus in the murder of a Scrooge-like figure trying to ruin Christmas for a 12-year-old girl. A slightly darker, shorter, but better plotted, take on Véry's fairy tale-like The Murder of Father Christmas.

"The Miracle on Christmas Eve" (2016?) by Szu-Yen Lin

This story appears to have become a fan favorite shortly after its English translation was collected in John Pugmire and Brian Skupin's The Realm of the Impossible (2017), which rivals the disgustingly warm, sugary sweet content of Resnicow's "The Christmas Bear." Meng-Hsing Ko was raised by his kindhearted, widowed father who wanted to give him good, carefree childhood and instilled in him a believe in goodness – including a genuine believe in the existence of Santa Claus. That painted a target on his back in school, but his father invited the bullies over for a sleepover on Christmas Eve to prove Santa Claus is real. A sleepover ending with a sack of presents appearing as by magic inside a locked, closely guarded room and the children seeing the silhouette of Santa Claus flying across the sky in his sleigh. Years later, the now adult Ko asks the detective Ruoping Lin how his father managed to pull off a miracle like that. Only thing this story needed was "A Message from the Heart," as opposed to "A Challenge to the Reader," giving the reader to option to stop reading and keep the miracle in tact.

"Het huis dat ongeluk bracht" ("The House That Brought Bad Luck," 2018) by Anne van Doorn

This short story by M.P.O. Books, writing as "Anne van Doorn," has another interpretation of the Christmas tradition of telling ghost stories. The setting is a gated villa, somewhere in Oosterbeek, haunted by the ghost of a Nazi soldier who died there during Operation Market Garden. The current owner believes her ex-husband is behind the revived haunting and hires two private investigators, Robbie Corbijn and Lowina de Jong, to put a stop to paranormal activity. Corbijn is present at the villa, on Christmas Eve, to witness the apparent supernatural, inexplicable phenomena first hand. I called it a snowfall of impossible crime material. So "The House That Brought Bad Luck" is the kind of short story Hake Talbot would have written had he been around today.

The Christmas Miracle Crimes (2023) by A. Carver

This final, most recently published entry takes a novel-length approach to the snowfall of impossibilities at Christmas and upped the ante to brings a Christmas mystery like no other before. Alex Corby and her great-aunt Cornelia find themselves stranded at Whitefell Chimneys, a valley mansion somewhere in the middle of nowhere, which is conventional enough, but the mansion is invaded by a shotgun carrying Santa Claus who disappeared up the chimney – leaving behind a body in a locked room. This is only one of many, many Christmas-themed impossible crimes, locked room murders and attempted murder, eight in total, littering this ambitious holiday mystery. A holiday mystery in which Christmas is an integral part of the plot and not merely background decoration. Just take your time reading and digesting this delicious, rich plum pudding of a Christmas mystery novel.

Five Honorable Mentions: Moray Dalton's The Night of Fear (1931), Clifford Witting's Catt Out of the Bag (1939), Georgette Heyer's Envious Casca (1941), Francis Duncan's Murder at Christmas (1949) and Cyril Hare's An English Murder (1951).

 

And Two Dishonorable Mentions: I gave a seasonal twist to the title of this post, which is technically incorrect, because this should be The Nice List. The Naughty List simply sounds better for a best-of list of mystery novels than The Nice List. That and an accurate naughty list would only have two entries, Mavis Doriel Hay's The Santa Klaus Murder (1936) and Gilbert Adair's The Act of Roger Murgatroyd (2006). One is deadly dull and the other insultingly bad. A lump of coal in both their stockings!

 

The Hit Lists:

Top 10 Favorite Reprints from Dean Street Press

Top 10 Fascinating World War II Detective Novels

Top 10 Favorite Cases from Motohiro Katou's Q.E.D. vol. 1-25

Top 10 Non-English Detective Novels That Need to Be Translated

Top 10 Works of Detective Fiction That Have Been Lost to History

Top 5 Intriguing Pieces of Impossible Crime Fiction That Vanished Into Thin Air

Top 10 Best Translations & Reprints from Locked Room International

Top 10 Beneficiaries of the Reprint Renaissance