The Horror At Staveley Grange - Sapper

Story: The Horror At Staveley Grange

Author: Sapper (Herman Cyril McNeile)

Book: My Best Detective Stories, The Saving Clause (Available on Project Gutenberg Australia)

Theme for the Month: Locked Room or Impossible Crime Stories

Sapper, the creator of the famous Bull-Dog Drummond, probably created his other series character Robert Standish to tackle the more intellectual puzzles which the former would have felt so pretty unconformable to deal with.

Mrs. Bretherton wakes up one night babbling about a shining hand that had touched her but when her husband and the servants rush to her room, they don’t find anyone. She is so afraid of this incident that she leaves the house next morning refusing to stay in that house anymore which ultimately forces her husband to sell off the house.

Robert Mansford with his two sons has moves in to Staveley Grange and he occupies the same room which Mrs. Bretherton had used. Shortly, he meets an untimely end in the same bedroom – he is found dead sitting up in bed as though trying to reach for the speaking tube, speaking through which would have fetched his butler. Cause of Death: Heart Attack instigated due to fear.

Next to use the room is the elder son Tom. He is also found dead a few days later with his body lying over the rail at the foot of the bed with a pistol still clutched in one hand. Cause of Death: Heart Attack. Tongues start wagging and the general public is of the view that the second son William was responsible for the death of both men. That’s when Ronald Standish is called in to look into the matters and find the murder method as both men were reasonably healthy and there was no reason for them to have met such a premature death.

Robert Standish is known for noticing small things and his first observation of the room reveals several things – the major clue being that the wire holding the headboard is slightly different from the wire holding the footboard. That night a trap is set to catch the murderer with the three men watching the windows (door being locked); the only outcome of this revealing a second clue in terms of the small desk fan which was previously off, is found running without anyone having entered through the door or the window. William who continues to spend the night in that room has a red swollen jaw the next day, which William claims to feel as though he had been bit by a family of hornets. This serves as the third and final clue for Standish to arrive at the solution of this neatly conceived locked room or impossible crime story.

A very interesting story which piques my interest to have a shot at the collection ‘Robert Standish’ aka ‘Ask Robert Standish’ which features 11 more of his adventures.

Swing High - Jack Ritchie

Story: Swing High

Author: Jack Ritchie

Book: Little Boxes of Bewilderment

Theme for the Month: Locked Room or Impossible Crime Stories

Jack Ritchie comes up with a different kind of an impossible crime here: a man is heard hitting the ground hard by several witnesses though nobody saw his plunge; there is only one building from where he could have been thrown out (or he himself jumped) but they just can’t identify a suitable location from that building where he could have been expelled from!

There are 5 floors in this building, the roof is blocked with a locked door and there’s no other means to reach the roof. The first two floors can be ignored as he wouldn’t have met such a violent death at such heights. The 3^rd floor window room belongs to a dentist – the doctor never left his duty room, the nurses & the patients in the waiting room can vouch for the fact that there was no one who didn’t come out after keeping the appointment with the doctor. The fourth floor window couldn’t have been used as the doctor has been away on vacation, the doors are locked and there is enough untouched dust in the room to show that no one has used the room in days. The fifth floor window room belongs to the ENT specialist – the room with the concerned window was locked with both the nurse and a patient waiting outside the room for the doctor to turn up and the doctor does turn up after the man met his death and both the doctor and the patient enter the room together!

So the impossible scenario which is hampering the further progress of the police investigation: from where did the man exit the building? The chief investigator does figure out how this clever murder was carried out but he doesn’t bring the culprit to justice. Why? Because he has his own secret agenda, to satisfy his own roguish motive - that is to use this same method of murder on his wife’s lover!

Case of The Ivory Statue - Sax Rohmer

Story: Case of The Ivory Statue

Author: Sax Rohmer

Book: The Dream Detective (Queen’s Quorum Title)

Theme for the Month: Locked Room or Impossible Crime Stories

Paxton has been asked by a rich man to create a very fine duplicate of a rare statue of Nicris. To make the statue look even more resplendent, it is adorned with some of the most rare and antiquarian ornaments.

Paxton is carving the sculpture based on a beautiful model and the inkling of impending problems start when the model complains that the statue moved on its own and uttered ‘Nicris’ when she was alone (only once) with the statue. The statue is being given the final touches in preparation to be displayed at an exhibition before it is whisked away from the public eye to the hidden chambers of the rich man. Paxton invites three of his friends to dinner (which includes the narrator Mr. Searles) to display the almost completed statue which is intricately connected to the throne on which it is sitting. When asked as to what security arrangements have been made, Paxton confesses that there is no need for security as he is always present in the same room along with the statue.

Later that night, Paxton hears a voice outside the house chanting the lone word ‘Nicris’. He takes his gun outside, finds no one, the policeman who is keeping guard at the end of the road is still at his post who confirms that nobody entered the house nor left it and when Paxton returns back to his house, the throne is empty and the Ivory Statue has disappeared! He has spent only 30 seconds outside the house; he should’ve surely seen a person coming out if that person entered the house and surely such a big statue couldn’t have disappeared into thin air – dismantling it from its throne alone would have taken half an hour for the most skilled worker!

Moris Klaw, who is called in by Mr. Searles decides to spend the night on his customary vigil in that room to get the psychic photograph. Klaw reveals the next morning that his psychic photograph shows the Statue to have walked out on its own! Based on this knowledge, Klaw pursues his investigation - he uses his knowledge of the history of the antiques involved to good effect to add to his wonderful deductive capabilities to bring the culprits to justice.

The trick of the impossible disappearance is quite neatly done though the mechanics involved to pull it off seems a bit stretched – but who cares as long as the author can put forth an ingenious puzzle and back it up with an equally ingenious solution, one can only sit back and savor the delight of another grandest game unfurling before you!

Case of The Greek Room - Sax Rohmer

Story: Case of The Greek Room

Author: Sax Rohmer

Book: The Dream Detective (Queen’s Quorum Title)

Theme for the Month: Locked Room or Impossible Crime Stories

Sax Rohmer is most famous for the creation of Dr. Fu Manchu and has a number of other creations to his name - Paul Harley, Gaston Max, Red Kerry, Morris Klaw and The Crime Magnet.

The first story in this collection introduces us to the Occult detective Moris Klaw, an old antique dealer who has been fancying his chances as an amateur investigator by hanging about the Criminal Court. He has the eccentric habit of applying a scented spray (verbena) upon his bald brows from a cylindrical container hidden in the lining of his flat-topped hat.

The night attendant of the Menzies Museum is found dead in strange circumstances in the Greek Room: there are only two entrances to the Greek Room – one leads to the private quarters of the curator and is kept locked at all instances and the other through which the general public use to enter the Greek room and this has been locked by the guard with the key on him and all the doors of the museum are bolted from inside which would make it impossible for anyone to even enter the Museum even if he had a duplicate key. Cause of death is determined to be due to broken neck, after being in the last stages of exhaustion - as though there was a great fight and he was hurled upon by an opponent possessing more than ordinary strength. Further investigation of the premises brings to light the unlocked state of the glass display containing the Athenean Harp.

Enter Moris Klaw – he requests the curator to allow him to spend a night alone in the Greek room – upon the very spot of floor where the poor attendant fell – so that he could from the surrounding atmosphere recover a picture of the thing that the dead man had at the last! He says the Odic Force, the ether carries the wireless message – it’s a huge, sensitive plate – where the supreme thought preceding death is imprinted on the surrounding atmosphere like a photograph and he has trained himself to reproduce those photographs! And he has his beautiful daughter Isis to assist him in developing the negatives for these photographs. The next day Klaw declares that his psychic photograph is that of a woman dressed all in white; the attendant died with this picture in his mind and great fear of the Athenean Harp which she was playing! He makes his departure as quickly as his untimely entrance to carry out more research.

A few days later, the replacement attendant meets the same fate in the Greek room, the only difference being the presence of the Harp on the floor right next to the fallen man. A few other peculiar features come to light but none that can help them solve the problem – until Moris Klaw comes back on one fine day (after completing his research abroad) and elucidates the secrets of the Greek Room. An impressive debut for Moris Klaw!

The Calico Dog - Mignon Eberhart

Story: The Calico Dog

Author: Mignon Eberhart

Book: The Cases Of Susan Dare

Theme for the Month: Locked Room or Impossible Crime Stories

Idabelle Lasher has inherited millions of dollars from her husband which she needs to pass along to her long lost son who disappeared along with his nurse some 20 years back. First to turn up is Dixon with a very convincing story about how he remembers playing with the house pet - the Calico dog – a fact which no one else other than the Mother knows. Next to turn up is Duane – with exactly the same story about the Calico dog and an additional story about a rare family heirloom to prove that he is her son. The widow has her friend Major Briggs to seek advice from but his choice of Duane as the legitimate heir doesn’t convince her. She has no other choice but to call in Susan Dare to help her identify her real son.

Both the gentlemen have been thoroughly investigated and no evidence exists to suspect foul play. With nothing much to go on, Susan Dare requests her host to declare one of them as the legal heir and that she would transfer the title with immediate effect. This announcement, she expects, would bring out some disturbance in one or both men and would help in revealing the true identity of the heir. The party on the next day would turn out to be the climax to this drama. Susan & Mrs. Lasher part the company of the three gentlemen near the soothsayer’s door and but they quickly return back to the room where they parted when they hear a shot being fired. Major Briggs is found shot to death with no weapon nearby and no sign of the two gentlemen. The young men left the room at the same time, none was seen entering the room and none was seen leaving the room after the shot was fired. Susan Dare has to do some quick thinking to stop further catastrophe, the impossible trick as to how the major was killed is explained by the murderer himself but it is the lady detective who reveals the true heir.

Identifying the real heir forms the major plot element for most part of the story and is fairly and most skillfully clued. The impossible crime scenario comes in as a bonus towards the fag end of the story and is very quickly explained away – neither too complicated nor extraordinary in its conception.

The Scapegoat - Christianna Brand

Story: The Scapegoat

Author: Christianna Brand

Source: Brand X, The Mammoth Book Of Great Detective Stories, Buffet For Unwelcome Guests.

Theme for the Month: Locked Room or Impossible Crime Stories

Christianna Brand, who has been compared to John Dickson Carr for plotting and fair play clueing in her novels, was also very deft with the short story form. This story is a wonderful example for that!

The story begins with 8 people enacting a courtroom drama where two people are being tried for an unsolved murder committed fifteen years ago. The reason: the son of the policeman who was suspected of murdering Tom believes that his Father was innocent and he wants to identify the real culprit. The men being tried: The young man in place of his Father (the policeman) and the Photographer Mr. Photoze.

The Crime: Mr. Mysterioso, a great magician and a cripple, has been invited to lay a cornerstone for a new hospital. He cannot do without his manservant Tom, on whose strong arms he balances himself while walking and standing. And the magician has been receiving threatening letters. There has been a policeman placed on the first floor (the hospital is still under construction and the top floor rooms doesn’t have doors or any other furniture in them) to keep an eye. A photographer has been allowed to take pictures from the roof of the building opposite the stage. During the function, a shot is heard; Tom goes down uttering that he is glad that they killed the wrong man, the photographer has captured everything – Tom going down & Mysterioso looking up towards from where the shot must have been fired, the policeman runs towards the first floor room where the shot was heard only to find a rifle neatly arranged overlooking the cornerstone and no sign of the murderer!

The Witnesses: 3 patients who were in the balcony and would have seen anybody escaping down the stairs (nobody did), Photoze who has been on the roof - exactly above the room where the rifle is found with the door to the roof being locked with a deadbolt and the policeman who was on the site from where the shot originated in such a short time that no one could have escaped from the room.

The Evidence: A small hole in the door between the roof and the room, a string tied to the rifle which could be hinged on a nail on the opposite wall (but wasn’t) and the charming clue in terms of a bag overfilled with apples placed right next to the rifle!

The Possibilities: A lot of theories are propounded as to how the gun could have been fired but each is disproved by the current chief inspector (who was a constable at that time and who came on the scene on the heels of his superior, the policeman on duty)

The Case: Unsolved – Photographer has a solid alibi, the policeman was seen outside the room when Tom was shot – so he couldn’t have been in the room and there was nobody else!

Repercussions: The Photographer becomes famous. The Policeman is discharged from duty and he dies a slow brooding death.

The Verdict in the fictional courtroom: Not guilty for both men.

Conclusion: Well, the young man has his own theory which he tries out with the great Magician after the case has been dismissed and the court emptied of its occupiers. The coup de grace comes from the chief inspector when he reveals to one of the witnesses the actual solution. A scintillating performance!

Mr. Bovey’s Unexpected Will - L. T. Meade and Robert Eustace

Story: Mr. Bovey’s Unexpected Will

Authors: L. T. Meade & Robert Eustace

Source: The Mammoth Book of Great Detective Stories

Theme for the Month: Locked Room or Impossible Crime Stories

This story has two interesting strands – the very peculiar terms of Mr. Bovey’s will and the strange disappearance of the gold sovereigns from a guarded store.

Mr. Bovey, a miser, was in the habit of hoarding his wealth in his safe deposit box with gold sovereigns. A clause in the will states that there are three claimants to this property, and that the one whose net body weight is nearest to the weight of these sovereigns is to become the legatee. The safe containing the property is not to be opened till the three claimants are present; the competition is to take place, and the winner is at once to remove his fortune.

To witness this competition along with the three claimants are Miss Florence Cusack, her Doctor and her Sister who is the fiancé of one of the claimants. Cusack suspects that if her sister’s fiancé wins the competition, his cousin Graham might do something evil.  The winner and the servant (who is also one of the claimants who ends up on the losing side) drive away with the gold to deposit them in a bank and on the way, they are intercepted by thugs. The truck is later intercepted at the famous Higgin’s shop due to the deductive skills of Miss Cusack. The police know that the gold was taken into the shop and since then the shop has been under constant observation from all sides. Yet when the police raid the shop, they fail to find the big bulk of gold (weighting 180 pounds). The gold seems to have disappeared from the face of the earth and again the clever lady sheds light on how the gold could have been whisked away right under their noses without them getting any inclination of it!