Locked Rooms, The Indian Rope Trick and Cabaret Macabre

Locked room mysteries and other stories about seemingly impossible crimes have always appealed to me. I remember discussing them with a well-read work colleague many years ago; he was a crime fan, up to a point but he reckoned that the locked room mystery was 'played out'. I didn't agree with this view (which has popped up plenty of times over the years) then and subsequent events, starting with the success of TV shows like Jonathan Creek and Monk, have borne out my optimism.

For me, it's the puzzling nature of the locked room problem that exerts the greatest appeal. Of course, it works best if it's complemented by a truly satisfying solution, and this isn't as common as one would hope. Since I'm not in any way practical, learning that the crime was committed by some elaborate technical gizmo tends to underwhelm me. Often, a simple but unexpected solution works best. For that reason, I think that most of the best locked room mysteries are short stories rather than novels - and this is why the locked room mysteries in Blackstone Fell and Hemlock Bay are sub-plots rather than the main event. But of course, a locked room mystery novel that works well from start to finish is a joy, and there's no doubt that the master of the form was John Dickson Carr, who was wise enough to add lashings of atmosphere to his novels, especially books like The Hollow Man.    

My enthusiasm for Carr and for locked room mysteries is shared by many. They include Akira Moriwaki and his fellow authors of the wonderful graphic Carr books in Japanese - even though I can't read the language, I find them delightful to look at. And then there is Tom Mead, a young writer who is making quite an impact. He submitted an excellent story featuring his series character Joseph Spector to the recent CWA anthology Midsummer Mysteries and I had no hesitation in including it. So when I was asked by that wonderful publisher Crippen & Landru to write an intro to his new book of short stories, The Indian Rope Trick, I was glad to oblige. There are stories about Spector and also others, and I think it's a collection that deserves support.

Tom announced recently that his debut novel, Death and the Conjuror, is to be filmed shortly, and that's wonderful news. This was a book I enjoyed, with one especially appealing trick element. His latest novel, Cabaret Macabre, arguably manages to surpass it. It's a very entertaining puzzle, and Tom shows considerable skill in persuading the reader to suspend disbelief, which is always essential with locked room mysteries. And for good measure, Tom has written an interesting essay about his chosen sub-genre in a new collection of eclectic essays about the genre, Writing the Murder, edited by Dan Coxon and Richard V. Hirst. Other contributors include Barry Forshaw, Vaseem Khan, and Louise Welsh.