Murder in Retrospect: The Best and Worst of 2022

 

So far, it appears we almost made it through another year and barring any minor disasters, like World War III, next year might be marginally better on a whole. There's already some translations, reprints and even brand new detective novels from Seishi Yokomizo, Yukito Ayatsuji, James Scott Byrnside and Anne van Doorn to look forward to, but first there's unfinished business to be sorted out. Yes, the yearly roundup of best and worst mysteries novels and short stories encountered in 2022.

This year, the best-of lists is evenly mixed bag of tricks with a strong representation of the 1930s and '40s. Christopher Bush and Josef Skvorecky respectively represent the '50s and '60s. There are handful of 1970s titles and a scattering of (short) stories from '80s and '90s, but, surprisingly, there are more titles included from the past few years than usually is the case – a lot of them published in the last two, three years. Not as evenly mixed is the always domineering presence of the locked room mystery, but some of the best read this year were rereads. While the number of rereads has gone up, there are not as many translated, or untranslated, non-English mysteries that made the list as in previous years. Nor was it a particular bountiful year for short stories, but, on a whole, it was not a bad year for detective fiction with some of best work coming from debuting, self-published authors. I also finally managed to complete "The Updated Mammoth List of My Favorite Tales of Locked Room Murders & Impossible Crimes" and cobbled together "Curiosity is Killing the Cat: Detective Novels That Need to Be Reprinted."

So, with that out of the way, I wish you all a Merry Christmas and hope to see all back, happy and in good health, next year. Now let's dive into this overlong, rambling list.

THE BEST DETECTIVE NOVELS READ IN 2022:

 

In diepe rust (In Deep Peace, 2022) by M.P.O. Books (untranslated)

The first in a sequel to the District Heuvelrug series, starring Gisella Markus, who made her first appearance in Cruise Control (2014) and belongs to the category of troubled cop whose personal troubles tend to mess with her work – which might be a bit too contemporary for most classically-minded readers of this blog. However, Books is one of the few Dutch mystery writers who's not only aware of the genre storied history, but builds on that history as well. Whether he's writing a modern police thrillers, traditional detective stories or historical mysteries. The Dutch crime-and detective genre would have been a poorer place without him! 

Two and Two Make Twenty-Two (1932) by Gwen Bristow and Bruce Manning 

A case of saving the best for last with a banger of a surprise-ending and had the authors played things a little bit fairer, while punching up the mid-portion of the story, I would have unhesitatingly placed it among the best Golden Age mysteries. Still an excellent vintage that's miles ahead of Bristow and Manning's abysmal The Invisible Host (1930). So it earned a spot on the list. 

The Case of the Green Felt Hat (1939) by Christopher Bush 

This is a first-rate Christopher Bush detective novel and a shining specimen of the British Golden Age mystery. Ludovic and Bernice Travers spend a part of their honeymoon in an otherwise quiet, agricultural town, Edensthorpse, but a recently released swindler ruffled some local feathers – unsurprisingly leading to his murder before too long. There are plenty of alibis to demolish, as to be expected from 1930s Bush, but The Case of the Green Felt Hat is first and foremost a vintage whodunit. 

The Case of the Three Lost Letters (1954) by Christopher Bush 

By the mid-1950s, Bush had transformed Travers from an amateur detective to an American inspired private investigator, who runs the Broad Street Detective Agency, but The Case of the Three Lost Letters is a pure, old-fashioned detective story. Travers has to figure out who of the three visitors killed a client he didn't like in the first place. One of my favorites from this period in the series. 

The Case of the Russian Cross (1957) by Christopher Bush 

A fine example of late-period Bush and how he adapted to the changes of the post-war era, which here comes in the guise of three, apparently unconnected, routine cases coming together – culminating in murder. Very much recommended to long-time fans of the series. 

The Case of the Treble Twist (1958) by Christopher Bush 

A short, classy and fast-paced private eye novel and another fine example of late-period Bush with their grounded, trimmed down plots and more emphasis on characterization. 

The 5 False Suicides (2021) by James Scott Byrnside 

After three historical locked room mysteries featuring his two 1920s detectives, Rowan Manory and Walter Williams, Byrnside decided to try his hands at "some stand-alone, crazy-ass piece of pulp." That's no false advertising. Byrnside's pulp-style mystery has everything from a family curse and a Hungarian mystic to a series of impossible murders among a group of detective fans on Blood Island. Read it! 

Magic Makes Murder (1943) by Harriette R. Campbell 

A weirdly structured, but very well characterized and plotted mystery novel which begins as something straight out of John Dickson Carr or Paul Halter. A man is attempting to train his 5-year-old son in the black arts, which unsurprisingly leads to murder. The investigation itself is more procedural, but the clues and red herrings are golden. A commendable novel from one of those long-forgotten and overlooked mystery writers. 

The Crooked Hinge (1938) by John Dickson Carr (a reread)

The pulpiest of pulp murders presented and resolved as a proper, fair play detective story involving a possible strain of witchcraft, an impossible throat cutting and a damaged, time-worn automaton, The Golden Hag – which one comment accurately described as nightmare fuel. Not one of Carr's classic takes on the impossible crime story, but you have to admire how he made an outlandish, pulp-style mystery work as a straight detective story. There have been few men and women, then or now, who gets what makes a detective story tick like Carr. 

The Author is Dead (2022) by A. Carver 

An impressive, self-published debut with an ambitious, multi-layered and entangled plot with a galore of impossible disappearances and murders in locked room. The story lacks some polish and fine-tuning, but an impressive and ambitious debut nonetheless. Something comparable to James Scott Byrnside. I look forward to discover what Carver has in store for us next year. 

Death in the Clouds (1935) by Agatha Christie (a reread)

A strangely overlooked, openly declared impossible crime novel from no less a figure than the Queen of Crime herself. Christie gently pokes fun at the detective story's exotic, pulpier cousins, the thriller, but, as to be expected, she provided a satisfying solution to the problem how someone could have shot a poison-smeared dart out of blowpipe inside small, fully occupied airplane. A fantastic Hercule Poirol mystery! 

Hercule Poirot's Christmas (1938) by Agatha Christie (a reread) 

I mistakenly stated in the past that the Christmas country house mystery never produced a genuine classic, but I had forgotten how good Christie's definitive take on it really is. A mystery novel that should be regarded as our genre's A Christmas Carol. 

Rechercheur De Klerck en een dodelijk pact (Inspector De Klerck and a Deadly Pact, 2022) by P. Dieudonné (untranslated)

A fun, pulp-style take on the normally down-to-earth, Dutch politieroman as frozen bodies turn up all over the country with a dead, brightly colored frogs on their head. The number seven is all the over the plot, a nursery rhyme plays an important part and there's an additional mystery of a Swiss-style chalet that disappeared over night. 

The Sussex Cuckoo (1935) by Brian Flynn 

A thoroughly British takes on the American detective of S.S. van Dine and Ellery Queen concerning cryptically-worded ads and threats, a Jacobite collection and a practically perfect murder with six collectors as the primary suspects. One of my ten, or so, favorite Flynn mysteries. 

Le masque du vampire (The Mask of the Vampire, 2014) by Paul Halter 

A candidate for the bottom five of my top 10 favorite Halter mysteries, which twists, and turns, two storylines and several plot-threads together and contains numerous impossible situations, locked room murders and ghostly manifestations – like a murderer who's seen disappearing up a chimney as a cloud of smoke. Another imaginative, dark flight of fancy from Halter. 

Pray for the Dawn (1946) by Eric Harding 

An unconventional detective story disguised as an adventurous, pulp-style thriller set on an isolated island where a group of people find themselves trapped in a dark, lonely house with a murderer among them. A murderer who may be an undead witch doctor who had stirred from his glass coffin in the house. If you loved Theodore Roscoe's Murder on the Way! (1935), you'll enjoy Pray for the Dawn. 

Ripples (2017) by Robert Innes 

I felt conflicted whether, or not, to include Ripples, because it's a short story with romance padding and you need to endure one in order to enjoy the other. The plot involving a hooded murderer who apparently walked across water to get to his victim in the middle of a lake is too good to be left out. 

The Julius Caesar Murder Case (1935) by Wallace Irwin 

A completely tongue-in-cheek, self-aware parody of the pulp-style detective story and an early example of the now popular historical mystery novel in which Publius Manlius "Mannie" Scribo, of the Evening Tiber, investigates the murder of Julius Caesar – who's stabbed to the dead under apparently impossible circumstances. This is really a second-string mystery ("papyrus pulp") pretending to be a first-rate historical detective novel and getting away with it on charm alone. 

These Names Make Clues (1937) by E.C.R. Lorac 

Martin Edwards and the British Library Crime Classics continue to rehabilitate Lorac's reputation by cherry picking some of her best, but regrettably obscure and long out-of-print detective novels. Chief Inspector Robert Macdonald is called to Caroline House where a treasure hunt, on April Fools' Day, provided an opportunity for murder. Very much worth of being resurrected. 

Bats in the Belfry (1937) by E.C.R. Lorac 

While having some of Lorac's usual flaws, Bats in the Belfry is one of her best detective novels turning on that age-old problem of how to get rid of a body. Lorac had her own ideas about the detective story and how to tell it, which had varying degrees of success, but this one definitely can be chalked up as one of her success stories. 

Anthrax Island (2021) by D.L. Marshall 

An impressive hybrid of the classic detective story, contemporary thriller and claustrophobic spy tale set on an island where experiments were carried out during the Second World War, which rendered the place dangerous and inhabitable – teeming with mutant spores. The only pockets of habitability comprises of a small cluster of orange cabins forming a research base, but someone gets murdered under inexplicable circumstances and a body disappears. You can call me bias, if you want, but this is how you write a thriller! I really liked the post-apocalyptic aesthetics of the story. 

Ikeru shikabane no shi (Death of the Living Dead, 1989) by Yamaguchi Masaya 

A fascinating and imaginative hybrid mystery populating the traditional, fair play detective story with the living dead who normally can be found stumbling through the horror genre. These are not your typical, mindlessly wandering zombies who want to snack on your brains, but simply dead people with the same mental capabilities, personality and memories as when they were alive. So that's a real game changer as Masaya brilliantly ties together the motives of the living and dead together with "a Punk Ellery Queen living in an otherworldly Wrightsville" caught in the middle. I'm dismayed and disappointed at how little attention Death of the Living Dead has received since it's release. 

Seeker (2005) by Jack McDevitt 

The Alex Benedict and Chase Kolpath series is pure science-fiction and deals with two antique dealers from the far-flung future tracking down long-lost, space-age artifacts often requiring them to solve a historical mystery. Technically, the series is a distant cousin of the detective story and can be read as a kind of hybrid mystery. Seeker is not only brilliant where the central puzzle is concerned, but it's almost as good as James P. Hogan's Inherit the Stars (1977). 

The Mummy Case Mystery (1933) by Dermot Morrah 

An amateur detective story, in the truest sense of the word, driven by pure academic curiosity involving a deadly fire, a dead Egyptologist and a long-dead mummy that went missing. Not a perfectly plotted detective story, but a thoroughly enjoyable and amusing academic mystery from the 1930s. 

The Red Death Murders (2022) by Jim Noy 

Our very own Jim Noy, of The Invisible Event, penned a historical detective novel that re-imagined Edgar Allan Poe's "The Masque of the Red Death" (1842) as the bastard child of John Dickson Carr and Paul Doherty, which is set in the middle of a deadly epidemic – crammed with ingeniously-contrived, seemingly impossible murders. The Red Death Murders is a love letter to the genre from a fan who's obviously a better writer than critic. ;) 

Time to Kill (1974) by Roger Ormerod 

A short and sweet debut from a writer who would go on to carry the Golden Age detective story into the second-half of the previous century, but gave the whole thing a modern touch. Ormerod's first stab at the genre is a semi-inverted mystery in which the murderer's identity is crystal clear, but the only problem is that David Mallin handed him an unshakable alibi. A solid debut full with promise! 

The Manuscript Murder (1933) by Lewis George Robinson 

A detective novels with all the familiar ingredients from Robinson's previous and later mysteries, The Medbury Fort Murder (1929) and The General Goes Too Far (1936), but The Manuscript Murder is Robinson's best treatment of quasi-inverted mystery with an army background. 

Z is for Zombie (1937) by Theodore Roscoe 

Roscoe returns to the locality of Murder on the Way!, Haiti, where the living, once more, have to contend with the dead apparently rising from their graves, but there's a big difference between the two. Murder on the Way! is a roller coaster of insanity, while Z is for Zombie is more like a haunted house ride. Nonetheless, it's an excellent and imaginative piece of pulp fiction. Theodore Roscoe really was the John Dickson Carr of the pulps. 

Pekin yūyūkan (Murder in a Peking Studio, 1976) by Chin Shunshin 

A historical mystery that takes place on the eve of the Russo-Japanese War and the first-half is heavy on historical content, which is a necessary bit of world-building to lay the foundation for the second-half. The second-half features a murder in a locked studio with a poison-smeared dagger and the impossible disappearance of a big sum of money. A strangely forgotten, long out-of-print translation that's more interesting today than it was first published, because it also makes for interesting comparison material with Seishi Yokomizo and Soji Shimada. 

Black Aura (1974) by John Sladek (a reread)

One of only two locked room mysteries written by a well-known science-fiction author, John Sladek, which both became classics of the form and impossible crime fans have been bickering ever since which one is the superior locked room mystery. My vote goes to Black Aura. A brilliantly written and plotted mystery, in which Sladek's detective, Thackeray Phin, ingratiates himself into Mrs. Viola Webb's Aetheric Mandala Society – who all live together in a commune. Strange things happen in the house Mrs. Webb like people miraculously vanishing from locked rooms or getting themselves murdered while levitating in mid-air. A classic of its kind! 

Invisible Green (1977) by John Sladek (a reread)

A fan favorite and better, much, much better than I remembered from my first read. Thackeray Phin becomes involved with the six surviving members of a 1930s murder-of-the-month club, the Seven Unravellers, when a reunion is planned and one of the members believes he's being targeted. This naturally leads to a baffling, seemingly impossible murder. I prefer the elaborate, grandiosely staged Black Aura, but I can admit Invisible Green has subtlety and simply told the story instead of playing to the crowd. But their both classic locked room mysteries. 

The Scarlet Circle (1943) by Jonathan Stagge 

Cape Talisman is a small, seaside town that's slowly being reclaimed by the sea where graves are being opened under the light of paper lanterns, which become harbingers of death when a serial killer begins to prowl the cape. A top-notch mystery that went a long way in redeeming this series. 

The Hangman's Handyman (1942) by Hake Talbot (a reread)

A dark, desolate and tiny island where the dead rotted away at supernatural speed and people get attacked in locked rooms by something smooth, slimy and impalpable. This is remarkable debut of a mystery writer who combined, to quote Robert Adey, "Carr's flair for atmosphere and the bizarre with Rawson's magic tricks." But not to be overlooked is the brilliant way in which he introduced his short-lived detective, Rogan Kincaid. A character who shows Talbot ever so slightly leaned towards the pulps. 

Rim of the Pit (1944) by Hake Talbot (a reread)

One of the best-known, illustrious impossible crime novels ever written and often compared to the best locked room mysteries by John Dickson Carr, which is why it towers over its predecessor. Talbot created genuine terror of a house under siege from apparently other worldly entities and strung together a whole pack of seemingly impossible situations, but I think it earned its reputation solely on its masterly showmanship rather than the quality of the impossible crimes. But what a show! 

No Friendly Drop (1931) by Henry Wade 

A classical, 1930s whodunit presented as a typical, almost idyllic, country house mystery, but there's so much more to this strongly characterized, subtly plotted detective story that turned into a human tragedy during its closing stages – driving home an ending befitting a genuine classic. A sign that the fire that had been lit in the twenties was beginning to roar. 

Emergency Exit (1941) by Anthony Wynne 

The outbreak of World War II had a sobering effect on Wynne, because the out-of-date, Victorian-era melodrama, terse writing and flat characterization of The Silver Scale Mystery (1931) and The Green Knife (1932) are conspicuously absent in Emergency Exit – which makes way for a soberly told, characterized and capably plotted detective story. A solid, intriguing and mature WWII mystery showing a different side of Wynne. 

Gokumontou (Death on Gokumon Island, 1947/48) by Seishi Yokomizo 

A first-rate detective tale that has been called "the most respected Japanese mystery novel" and had been a resident of my wishlist ever since reading Inugamike no ichizoku (The Inugami Clan, 1951), which made this eagerly anticipated a real treat. The story drips with local color, culture and history intricately threaded into a plot crammed with bizarre, strange murders and clues. I need more of this.

 

HONORABLE MENTIONS: 

 

I felt a pang of guilt for not including Tom Mead's locked room mystery, Death and the Conjuror (2022), which is another debut stringing together impossible crimes, but not as good as the previously listed debuts by A. Carver and Jim Noy. However, I consider it to be Mead's It Walks by Night (1930) and I'm more than willing to give him the time to craft a modern-day equivalent of The Three Coffins (1935). Another honorable mention goes to Horatio Winslow and Leslie Quirk's Into Thin Air (1928/29), which is one of the earliest mystery novels presenting the reader with a parade of miracle crimes. Not a classic, but an interesting title nonetheless. Lastly, I want to direct your attention to my frequent reviews of manga mysteries like Case Closed, The Kindaichi Case Files and Q.E.D. I normally leave them out of these yearly best-of lists, because they're bloated enough as it's.

THE WORST AND MOST DISAPPOINTING READS OF 2022 (NOVELS):

The Sharp Quillet (1947) by Brian Flynn 

This one began promising enough with a very unusual, tantalizing prologue and even weirder murders, but Flynn made a mess of the plot and not at all representative of this talented, unjustly forgotten writer. Unfortunately, The Sharp Quillet used to be one of the easiest to find on the secondhand book market. So you can probably blame it for Flynn's dramatic tumble into obscurity. 

The King's Club Murder (1930) by Ian Greig 

An absolute obscurity that began as promising, second-string detective novel, before turning into a badly dated, third-rate pursuit thriller. A very slow, lethargic pursuit thriller. A piece of documentary evidence why some writers have not stood the test of time. 

Death of a Tall Man (1946) by Frances and Richard Lockridge 

A detective story riddled with botched and missed opportunity or good ideas that were poorly executed. And the whole story is extremely forgettable. I came across the review when cobbling together this list and had no recollection of reading the story or writing the review! 

Echo (2010) by Jack McDevitt 

Back in 2021, I began making excursions into science-fiction with McDevitt's series of futuristic-historical and archaeological space mysteries peaking with the previously mentioned Seekers. Echo occupies the opposite end of that spectrum that undermines the world-building of the preceding novels, an ending that wanted it both ways and an epilogue that really didn't help matters. 

Golden Age Locked Room Mysteries (2022) edited by Otto Penzler 

Shockingly, coming from the most annoying locked room fanboy around, but this anthology has a selection of stories that's both disappointing and repetitive with eight of fourteen stories having appeared in previous locked room anthologies. And the overall quality of the series leaves a lot to be desired.

THE BEST SHORT STORIES READ IN 2022 (COLLECTIONS):

The Mournful Demeanour of Lieutenant Boruvka (1966) by Josef Skvorecky

"Death on Needlepoint"

"The Case of the Horizontal Trajectory"

"Falling Light"

"His Easiest Case"

 

My Mother, the Detective (1997/2016) by James Yaffe (enlarged edition)

"Mom Makes a Bet"

"Mom Makes a Wish"

"Mom and the Haunted Mink"

 

Karmesin: The World's Greatest Criminal—Or Most Outrageous Liar (2003) by Gerald Kersh

"Karmesin and the Meter"

"Oalamaoa"

"Inscrutable Providence"

"Karmesin and the Gorgeous Robes"

"The Thief Who Played Thiel"

 

Seven Stories (2016) by MORI Hiroshi

"Kotori no ongaeshi" ("The Girl Who Was the Little Bird")

"Sekitō no yane kazan" ("The Rooftop Ornaments of Stone Ratha")

"Dochiraka ga majo" ("Which is the Witch?") 

 

The Further Misadventures of Ellery Queen (2020)

Edward D. Hoch's "The Circle of Ink"

Mă Tiān's "The Japanese Armor Mystery"

Arthur Porges' "The Indian Diamond Mystery"

 

Funeral in the Fog (2020) by Edward D. Hoch

"Funeral in the Fog"

"The Avenger from Outer Space"

"The Way Up to Hades"

"Master of Miracles"

 

Hildegarde Withers: Final Riddles? (2021) by Stuart Palmer

"Where Angels Fear to Tread"

"You Bet Your Life"

"Who is Sylvia?"

"Hildegarde Withers is Back"

"Hildegarde Plays It Calm"

THE BEST SHORT STORIES READ IN 2022 (SINGLES): 

 

John Dickson Carr's "The Other Hangman" (1935)

Joseph Commings' "The Scarecrow Murders" (1948)

Barry Ergang's "The Audiophile Murder Case" (1982)

Stuart Palmer's "The Riddle of the Whirling Lights" (1935)