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!