Golden Age Locked Room Mysteries (An American Mystery Classic) by Otto Penzler

Golden Age Locked Room Mysteries (An American Mystery Classic) Reviews

• 
  Carolyn Walsh

  I wish to thank NetGalley and Penzler Publications for the opportunity to read this fine collection of 14 locked room stories from the Golden Age of mysteries (mainly written in the 1930s-40s). I admit I am old enough to have read some of these authors who were still writing books later than this time period, and I was pleased that some of my favourite past authors were included in this book.
  
  This collection focuses on classic stories in the locked room category. This refers to a murder committed in a room locked from the inside, or in another location where the crime seems impossible to have been committed or to solve. My favourite mystery writers of the past were John Dickson Carr and Cornell Woolrich and was excited that they were included in this anthology. I had read the books Woolrich wrote under the name of William Irish. I also enjoyed Frederic Brown, known for his extremely brief short stories.
  I have come to prefer modern mysteries that rely more on showing rather than telling and with some intensity of action. Classic locked room mysteries challenged the reader with subtle clues, but it took a detective or an amateur sleuth to describe whodunit and by what ingenious method. They solved the crime by brilliant logic and deduction and explained it all at the conclusion. I felt the characters were underdeveloped, probably due to the abbreviated length of most of the stories.
  
  These sleuths worked without modern scientific techniques, such as DNA, surveillance cameras, and GPS tracking by cellphone or hidden devices. This made solving these impossible crimes more challenging but very clever. Their solution to a crime was creative and surprising. There was some obsolete slang that was not a problem. Stories involving a telephone switchboard and an automat dated them firmly to the past. Happily, there were no racist overtones frequently displayed in stories in that era.
  
  I thought the story by my former favourite, John Dickson Carr, to be too complex, overly long and drawn out to the point of becoming boring. The story by Ellery Queen was more the length of a novella, and it was just OK for me. With any anthology, readers will vary in their choices of stories they enjoy the most. My favourite were those by Anthony Boucher, Frederic Brown, Mignon Eberhart, and Cornell Woolrich, authors familiar to me. I also enjoyed some writers I was reading for the first time; Stuart Palmer, Craig Rice, and MacKinlay Cantor.
  
  Recommended for readers who are fans of classic mysteries, especially the locked room category.
• 
  Maine Colonial

  I received a free digital galley from the publisher, via Netgalley.
  
  I always find it frustrating when book descriptions of short-story collections don’t include a list of the stories and their authors, so I’ll list them here in case the description isn’t updated at some point to include them:
  
  Anthony Boucher: Elsewhere
  Frederic Brown: Whistler’s Murder
  John Dickson Carr: The Third Bullet
  Joseph Cummings: Fingerprint Ghost
  Mignon G. Eberhart: The Calico Dog
  Erle Stanley Gardner: The Exact Opposite
  MacKinlay Kantor: The Light at Three O’Clock
  C. Daly King: The Episode of the Nail and the Reguiem
  Stuart Palmer: The Riddle of the Yellow Canary
  Ellery Queen: The House of Haunts
  Clayton Rawson: From Another World
  Craig Rice: His Heart Could Break
  Manly Wade Wellman: Murder Among Magicians
  Cornell Woolrich: Murder at the Automat
  
  While these are supposed to be short stories, the Carr is almost novella length—and not really up to his usual standard, though it does include a drawing of the room, which I always enjoy in Golden Age tales. But the others are mostly entertaining takes on the fabled “impossible crime” subgenre. Murder at the Automat is a noirish take on murder, set in that brief bygone era when New York (and I don’t think much of anywhere else) offered food you could choose through a window after plugging in your coin. I enjoyed that one more for its atmosphere than the cleverness of its mystery.
  
  A standout in this collection is Ellery Queen’s The House of Haunts, in which the mystery is the disappearance of an entire decrepit mansion on Long Island. This collection will help pass a pleasurable few hours.
• 
  Diane Hernandez

  Who doesn’t love reading a locked room mystery? It’s fascinating how each author in this collection thought of a unique and intriguing impossible murder scenario. And then quickly unveiled their witty solution. Surely, one or more of the fourteen tales within the Golden Age Locked Room Mysteries will tickle your inner armchair detective. Or, even better, delight your inner child with their cleverness.
  
  That said, some of the tales’ solutions are just silly. In addition, a few of the plots require a bit more knowledge of customs only in existence between the two great wars than an average modern reader may possess to solve their mysteries. However, there is great value to such a large collection of locked room mysteries. 4 stars!
  
  Thanks to American Mystery Classics and NetGalley for a digital review copy of the book.
  
• 
  Fofo

  I received an ARC from Netgalley and am providing an honest review.
  I really enjoy classic detective and mystery stories so was thrilled when I received this E-ARC of an Otto Penzler curated selection of locked room mysteries. Thematically, all of the stories in this collection are about 'impossible' situations - which mostly involved physical locked rooms but also other impossible situations. I am a big fan of the better known British crime writers - Agatha Christie for example - so was happy to get exposure to more classics especially American ones.
  Positives - I really enjoyed all the stories and would recommend this collection to anyone who has an interest in classic detective fiction. A lot of them are certainly classic tropes - and would probably hit the mark more with someone who already is across the genre, and I enjoyed seeing, in some of them, the first iteration of now well-used tropes in detective fiction. I enjoyed all the stories but obviously some more than others. Some of them definitely show their dates...no spoilers but one story involved confirming the stereotype that blonde women are always innocent while darker haired women are not...I felt like that one, while the mystery was a good one, didn't quite hit the mark. On that note it would've been great for the curator to add in contextual details in the blurb.
  Definitely on the topic of context - I think what I missed a bit was more contextual details about the story itself and the context of the author. As mentioned before some of the stories are definitely a bit of their time and this would have helped present the story as a reflection or snapshot of the specific period this was written in and what kind of values and ideas were being reflected and represented. In general, the stories start off with a short blurb about the author - but I would like some more general context or history which may have inspired the story itself. The collection that did this best for me is another collection on Japanese mythology in the urban setting 'Kaiki: Tales of the Metropolis' - which, while a different subject matter, had some amazing contextual discussion on the stories. I think when books involve a curation or collection which spans time and history it's very helpful to the reader to give more rather than less in the way of contextual and historical details.
• 
  Moonkiszt

  Puzzles? Ciphers? Unexplainable escapes? If these appeal to you, and check the box for your reading preferences, grab this book, settle back in your favorite nest, put your feet up and read this collection of fourteen tales. These are authors who, between the world wars, offered their readership posers that are not easily untangled, and require a reveal. Stories range from quaint to eerie to noir-ish, and can be read all at once, or as I did, one at a time - to ponder and roll over in my mind.
  
  My favorites were House of Haunts, by Ellery Queen, Exact Opposite, by ES Gardner, and Calico Dog, by MG Eberhart. The tales will sweep you back in time, and offer an evening with the classics. . .for me that was a lovely way to welcome Autumn in. . .
  
  A Sincere Thank You to Otto Penzler, ed, Penzler Publishers and NetGalley for an ARC to read and review! #GoldenAgeLockedRoomMysteries #NetGalley
• 
  Rebecca

  Otto Penzler's curated anthologies of classic mystery fiction are always a delightful combination of stories I've read and others that are completely new to me, and I suspect that this is true for other readers as well. This anthology feels a bit more hit-or-miss than some of the others, but it's still a very good collection of locked room stories, with highlights being tales by Mignon Eberhart, Ellery Queen, and Cornell Woolrich. The Queen is especially noteworthy for the fact that it's written in such a way as to make the reader overthink the solution, while the Eberhart offering features some excellent characterization.
  
  Not all of the pieces hold up particularly well in terms of time passed since they were written, but neither are there any horribly racist stories in the book, which may well have taken some careful curation on Penzler's part. (Sexism is alive and well in several stories.) Mostly readers who aren't accustomed to stories from the early-to-mid 20th century could find themselves lost in outdated terms and tech; one story takes place in an automat while another relies heavily on a telephone switchboard. There's also not quite as many lost gems in this collection as in others, with a fair amount that I'd encountered in other books before. Having them all in one volume together, however, is very nice.
  
  All in all, this is a very nice addition to the available reprints of Golden Age mystery stories. I could see it used in a classroom or book club setting just as easily as for personal enjoyment, and even if it isn't the best of Penzler's anthologies, it's still well worth picking up.
• 
  Lisa Kucharski

  Another great collection with very helpful intros by Penzler. What I love about these collections is that I can read stories by authors whose work is close to impossible to read unless you got big $ to spend when you do find them.
  
  Boucher's futuristic mystery was an interesting way to start, and reminded me of a Spanish film (much more current) that also used this same type of scenario. The interesting element of these stories (besides locked room) was the essence of macabre. Also, I think the shorter version of the mysteries also brought out the evil of the bad persons more.
  
  Two authors that I haven't read stories of before (to my memory) are: Joseph Commings and Manly Wade Wellman.
  
  
• 
  Steve Fenton

  A great collection of 14 impossible crimes with a great diversity in set ups and the detectives trying to solve them. From locked rooms, to impossible disappearances, and plenty of murders. Penzler knows how to pick ace examples.
• 
  Lizabeth Tucker

  Golden Age Locked Room Mysteries
  Edited by Otto Penzler
  
  An ARC from NetGalley due to be published 5 July 2022, thanks to Penzler Publishers and distributor W. W. Norton for approval.
  
  A “locked room” mystery is actually a crime that appears to have been impossible to commit based on location or surroundings. While a locked room itself is the most common, it can also be a physical location such as a snow-covered landscape with only the murder victim’s footprints in the snow. The Golden Age of detective fiction is usually considered to be the years between the two world wars. Penzler has selected fourteen short stories from some of the best authors of that period, ranging from those well-known to this day and others who have faded into obscurity, recognized only by die-hard mystery fans of the era. While a few publication dates fall past the period, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to assume they were still written within that time frame.
  
  While the digital ARC I was provided had numerous format and spelling errors, I am confident that these will be addressed before the final product is released. Be prepared for out-of-date slang, different attitudes towards women, the poor, and the working class. Surprisingly enough, the racism common to the period appears to have been carefully eliminated (or possibly edited out).
  
  The introductions are some of the best that I’ve seen in collections since Isaac Asimov passed away. I love the look at both the author and the story, its history, and whether there have been films and/or television series based on the stories (or series characters, if appropriate). This collection is definitely for the die-hard mystery fan who has either delved into this era or would like to. As with every collection, there are highs and lows. My favorite would have to be “The Light at Three O’Clock” by MacKinlay Kantor. Definitely a winner of a collection. 3.5 out of 5 stars overall.
  _____________
  
  “Elsewhen” by Anthony Boucher. (Published in 1946) Amateur inventor Harrison Partridge accidentally discovers a time machine, immediately beginning to dream of fame and fortune as well as marrying the much younger Faith Preston. Unfortunately the time travel is only to the past and only for less than an hour earlier, making it essentially worthless to those who might be interested in the device. However, when Faith announces her engagement to a handsome young man of wealth and status, it sets Harrison onto a murderous path in which his time machine is an essential part. A locked room murder, a hapless suspect in the wrong place at the wrong time, and a desperate fiancee, all mixed with a time machine. Lots of unrealized potential in Boucher’s story. The mixture of mystery and science fiction might’ve been better served in a longer novella format which would’ve allowed more time to develop Fergus O’Breen, the series private detective brought in to solve the crime by Faith. Harrison was the best developed character, even generating pity and some sympathy. Not one of Boucher’s best, but also not bad. 3 out of 5.
  
  “Whistler’s Murder” by Fredric Brown. (1946) Can also be found as “Mr. Smith Protects His Client”. Henry Smith of Phalanx Insurance Co. was called to discuss a lapsed life insurance policy. Upon arriving at the young man’s residence, Henry discovers his client’s uncle was murdered and his client is under arrest. However the Sheriff cannot understand how the murderer actually gained access to the house without being seen by two private guards who were posted on the roof. Almost cozy, with a soft-spoken protagonist whose demeanor invites others to speak freely with him. The solution was cute, if you can call discovering who the murderers are with that term. A fun read. 3.5 out of 5.
  
  “The Third Bullet” by John Dickson Carr. (1937 in England as a novella; 1948 in the U.S. in an edited form) This is the shorter version. Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Colonel Marquis is intrigued by Inspector Page’s latest case, the murder of Justice Mortlake. It happened in almost plain sight of Page and a fellow officer, yet Page has serious doubts as to the identity of the perpertrator. A bit convoluted and with so much detail about pretty much everything to the point of boredom. My experience with Carr in the past has always been the same, long drawn out scenes as if he was writing in the early 1800s, not 1900s. If this is the shorter version, I cannot imagine what the longer one contained! By the time I was about halfway through the story, I didn’t really care who was guilty or how it was done. I did manage to struggle through, but to be honest, if this wasn’t an ARC, I probably would’ve DNF’d it. 2 out of 5.
  
  “Fingerprint Ghost” by Joseph Commings. (1947) Senator Brooks U. Banner is told of a mysterious murder by a fellow magician. When the police finally admitted they had no clues or leads, the family turned to a medium to get answers. The magician Larry Drollen challenges the medium as well as hoping he can draw the murderer out into the open. Banner is a lumbering caricature of an amateur detective, yet there is still a charm about him that would’ve had me wanting to delve into more stories in this series. Stage magic, freak show marriages, and misdirections galore all combine into a delightful mystery with a clever solution. CW: off-page suicide, fetuscide. 4 out of 5.
  
  “The Calico Dog” by Mignon G. Eberhart. (1934) Mrs. Idabelle Lasher, widow of multi-millionaire Jeremiah Lasher, is in a quandary. Twenty years ago their four year old son Derek disappeared with his nursemaid. Now two men, Derek and Duane, have appeared, claiming that they are the missing heir. Young Susan Dare, a mystery writer, is asked to find out which man is telling the truth, if either. Her plan to reveal the truth may put in motion more than she anticipated. As much a thriller as a mystery, but definitely a fun read. Dare is a bit careless with her plotting, but she definitely has her heart in the right place. 4 out of 5.
  
  “The Exact Opposite” by Erle Stanley Gardner. (1941) Lester Leigh has been both a private investigator and a thief in the manner of Robin Hood, stealing from the crooked rich and giving the proceeds to charity, minus a 20% “recovery” fee. His valet, called Scuttle by Leith, is actually a spy who reports to police sergeant Arthur Ackley, a man obsessed with putting Leith in jail. Well aware of this, Leith plants misinformation with the undercover operator to be shared with a frustrated Ackley. Scuttle brings the murder of adventurer George Navin and the theft of a sacred ruby to his attention. Leith claims he has promised himself to stop working out any more academic crime solutions, but is tempted by this one. Huh. I’m not certain what to say about this story. The use of a thief as the hero is a trope that I’ve always loved, whether television series such as “It Takes a Thief”, “Garrison’s Gorillas”, “Leverage”, and “The Saint” (as well as the books) or films in the same vein. A twisty plan to get results that aren’t explained at the start is also more than acceptable. Despite all that, I just found it hard to lose myself in the story. The characters are fascinating as to be expected from the writer of the Perry Mason book series. Basically I found this to be too much setup for such a short story. The ending, however, was a delight. 3 out of 5.
  
  “The Light at Three O’Clock” by MacKinlay Kantor. (1930) Switchboard operator Eddie Shultz is ready to quit when the buzzer and light for Room 22 keeps activating and there is no answer other than gurgling or rough breaths. The room is supposed to be unoccupied after the only resident was murdered the night before, or so the police believe to have happened. The body, based on the flimsy evidence, was taken away by the ones behind the attack. Now this was a ride! Part suspense, beginning with an undercurrent of horror, leading into the locked room mystery itself. I absolutely loved this story, from start to finish. 5 out of 5.
  
  “The Episode of the Nail and the Requiem” by C. Daly King. (1935) While accompanying an apartment manager to the penthouse over a report of music played over and over again, Trevis Tarrant recognized the song as a requiem mass. With no answer to banging on the door or calls to the room telephone, Tarrant climbs up to peer through the skylight. There he observes the body of a naked young woman, a knife protruding from under her left breast. A relatively tightly constructed mystery from an author who truly deserves more attention. This is more a “howdunnit” rather than a “who-” or “why-”. 3.5 out of 5.
  
  “The Riddle of the Yellow Canary” by Stuart Palmer. (1934) Schoolteacher and amateur sleuth Hildegard Withers is invited by NYPD Inspector Oliver Piper to the site of a suspected suicide as a way of showing how the police differentiate between a murder and a suicide. Everything seems to point to suicide, but something about it bothers Withers and she begins to investigate further. Quite possibly one of Palmer’s most known characters, Hildegarde is not the usual female protagonist. Smart, yes, but definitely not beautiful or even handsome in looks, the kind of older spinster who is a background character most of the time. She’s loud, tall, opinionated, and forceful when she needs to be. As to this inverted detective story (where the reader already knows who did the crime and how – think the television series “Columbo”), a rarity in mystery fiction, the author has done a bang-up job from start to finish. 3.5 out of 5.
  
  “The House of Haunts” by Ellery Queen. (1935) Can also be found as “The Lamp of God”. Ellery Queen is a man who believes in science and logic, a confirmed agnostic whose faith is in facts not fancy. When a lawyer friend calls for help, Queen agrees to go despite not knowing what is going on, but hearing a level of disturbance in his friend’s voice that concerns him. He is told to act as if he knows what is going on, not to ask any questions, leaving Queen to use what little information his friend can relay as well as what he can observe. There are strong gothic vibes within this mystery tale. The length is extreme for a short story, taking close to 20% of the collection. An extremely sloooooow read with a very convoluted plot and solution. I can see it appealing to many readers, but sadly I am not one of them. 3 out of 5.
  
  “Off the Face of the Earth” by Clayton Rawson. (1949) The Great Merlini is fascinated by the information relayed to him by NYPD Inspector Gavigan regarding the Helen Hope disappearance. A man who claims to be from the dark cloud of Antares predicted her disappearance down to the date and time it would happen. Now he’s predicting the same for the Judge overseeing his arraignment. When that prediction comes true as well, in plain sight of two police officers, Merlini is determined to discover exactly how it was accomplished. I did enjoy this one! Mixing magic and mystery is something I truly enjoy when done right. And Rawson, an illusionist himself, definitely knows how to set-up the trick as well as sell it to his audience. I’m very pleased with the story and the characters within. 4 out of 5.
  
  “His Heart Could Break” by Craig Rice. (1943) Shyster lawyer John J. Malone is furious when, while visiting his client on Death Row, the young man is found hanging in his cell. The man lives just long enough to utter “it wouldn’t break” to Malone before he dies. There was no reason for suicide considering Malone had finagled a new trial for him. Believing that his fees will go unpaid, Malone decides his only chance is to find the motive behind the hanging as well as how the rope was delivered and by who. It’s funny, as much as I enjoy stories with thieves and con-artists as the “heroes”, I strongly dislike those with crooked cops and lawyers. Here Malone doesn’t spare a moment to mourn his client’s cruel death, only the possible loss of his money. The prison-based song weaving through the story was an unusual touch, but well done. As was the solution to the mystery. 3.5 out of 5.
  
  “Murder Among Magicians” by Manley Wade Wellman. (1939) Five musicians, four men and one woman, are invited to master magician and escape artist Securtaris’ isolated island. When a practical joke turns fatal, Homicide detective Grinstead must make his way there through the impending storm to determine what happened. So melodramatic, but in a good way. There is also a touch of blossoming romance, multiple secrets that spill out during the investigation and informal reading of the will, and a surprisingly satisfying conclusion. Almost Christie-like in the telling. 3.5 out of 5.
  
  “Murder at the Automat” by Cornell Woolrich. (1937) Police detective Nelson and his partner Sarecky are called to an automat for the death of a man while eating. When the ambulance intern recognizes suspicious powder both on the man’s mouth and in the bologna sandwich, Nelson realizes it is murder. There were three other men, all strangers, eating at the same table, but one of them slipped away before the police could lock the place down. Nelson’s partner and captain are both convinced this is the killer. Nelson believes the man is innocent, but cannot say anything until he can find the real murderer. WARNING: contains police brutality (or as we call it nowadays, enhanced interrogation) and severe violation of a suspect’s rights. Nelson is a good cop, more interested in arresting the right man for the crime than grabbing whoever is to hand. An intriguing mystery with well-drawn out characters, good and bad. [For those too young to know or remember, automats were like cafeterias in many ways. Only the food would be put behind glass compartment doors. You would put your coin(s) in, usually a nickel or dime during that period, the door would unlock, and you would pull out your food. All self-serve. I was lucky enough to go to one of the last automats in New York City when I was young and, while the food wasn’t the best, it wasn’t bad for the price.] 4 out of 5.
• 
  Roy

  A great set of stories from the 30s through the 50s. The locked room trope is explored well, many of the great detective series from that time are included, and the authors of the period are well represented.
  
  The book includes perhaps the single best Ellery Queen novella,
  The Lamp of God. It may be a bit of a stretch to call this a locked-room mystery, but is surely is an "impossible event" mystery. If you've never read it, it's worth the book just for that.
  
  My only real complaint is opening the collection with an Avram Davidson (
  The Avram Davidson Treasury: A Tribute Collection) that depends on time travel. While Davidson was both a mystery and science fiction staple in the 40s, I think that was a poor choice for the collection and especially for the opening story. No other stories have a science fiction or fantasy element, and this one seemed an anomoly.
  
  Most of these stories are fun-to-solve mysteries, and a reminder of why these authors were so popular in their time -- and still entertain today.
• 
  Zaina

  elsewhen 4/5
  whistler’s murder 4/5
  the third bullet 3/5
  fingerprint ghost 4/5
  the calico dog 3/5
  the exact opposite 4/5
  the light at three o’clock 5/5
  the episode of the nail and the requiem 5/5
  the riddle of the yellow canary 5/5
  the house of haunts 5/5
  off the face of the earth 4/5
  his heart could break 3.5/5
  murder among magicians 3/5
  murder at the automat 4/5
  
• 
  Derek

  Some of these stories strained credulity, but others were a lot of fun. "The Third Bullet" was fantastic.
• 
  Annie

  Originally posted on my blog:
  Nonstop Reader.
  
  Golden Age Locked Room Mysteries is an anthology of American crime fiction from the first half of the 20th century (1930 - 1949) collected and curated by crime fiction historian
  Otto Penzler. Due out 19th July by Penzler on the
  American Mystery Classics imprint, it's 508 pages and will be available in hardcover, paperback, and ebook formats.
  
  This is a selection of 14 short works from very well known golden age authors from Craig Rice to Anthony Boucher, John Dickson Carr, Cornell Woolrich et.al. All the authors are relatively well known and will be familiar to most readers. Of the stories selected, only half were previously familiar to me (and provided a welcome re-read, I had forgotten most of the denouements). The detectives are selected from the authors' best known, and all of the stories are of a very high quality. Especially considering the addition of the information rich story notes, it's a very satisfying read overall.
  
  In the introduction and story notes, we are gifted a multitude of plum trivia and factoids which are delightfully obscure and lift the whole to another level of wonderfully nerdy and edifying. Background such as Mr. Penzler provides really enhances the overall enjoyment of the stories themselves and I always (always!) look forward to reading his insightful commentary. This volume also provides guided reading notes for classroom or bookclub discussion which will come in handy for more formal discussion (or solo rumination).
  
  Along with the classic and engaging stories, the background info and notes, and the discussion content, this is one of a series with coordinated cover art and layouts which provide a worthy service by protecting these early stories and presenting them to newer generations of readers.
  
  Five stars. The stories themselves are solidly 3.5 - 5 stars, weighted toward the higher end of the scale. Despite being pretty firmly an e-reader prejudiced reader at this point (sorry, not sorry), I have acquired these in physical copies as well, and I love the way they look on my bookshelves. This would make a good selection for library acquisition, book club & classroom use, or plain reading enjoyment. I recommend the series (and its editor) very highly.
  
  Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
• 
  Vivienne

  “Among aficionados of detective fiction, the term “locked room mystery” has become an inaccurate but useful catchall phrase meaning the telling of a crime that appears to be impossible. The story does not require a hermetically sealed chamber so much as a location with an utterly inaccessible murder victim. … “
  
  My thanks to Penzler Publishers for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘Golden Age Locked Room Mysteries’ edited by Otto Penzler.
  
  This anthology is part of the publishers’ excellent American Mystery Classics series. It is edited and introduced by Otto Penzler. He also provides a short introduction for each of its fourteen authors and the stories selected, providing biographical details and publication history.
  
  In discussing the attraction of the ‘locked room mystery’, Penzler writes: “It is not realistic and was never intended to be. It is entertainment, as all fiction is . . . or should be. Dorothy L. Sayers pointed out that people have amused themselves by creating riddles, conundrums, and puzzles of all kinds, with the apparently sole purpose being the satisfaction they give themselves by deducing a solution.”
  
  I found the anthology well curated and a pleasure to read. Rather than read straight through, I read a few stories each day. All were good, rating between 4-5 stars. My favourites were Ellery Queen’s ‘The House of Haunts’, John Dickson Carr’s ‘The Third Bullet’, and Anthony Boucher’s ‘Elsewhen’, which cleverly blended mystery with science fiction.
  
  The book is rounded out with suggested discussion questions and a list of the titles to date in the American Mystery Classics series, providing plenty of ideas for future reading.
  
  I expect that this anthology will appeal to readers interested in seeing how various American Golden Age crime writers approached the ‘locked room’ mystery.
  
  4.5 stars rounded up to 5.
  
• 
  EuroHackie

  As always, collections of short stories are a mixed bag. The issue with locked room mysteries is that the writer is more interested in the puzzle than the characters, so these types of stories can be a bit unsatisfying if you don't care about the cardboard cutouts moving through the motions. Perhaps its no surprise that my favorites were all stories (save one) starring a series character.
  
  General thoughts: I think it was a mistake to open this collection with an SF/F entry by Anthony Boucher. It would've been better to start with the Cornell Woolrich entry instead of end with it, but I digress. It was also a pleasant surprise to see that Penzler stifled his tendency to spoil the plot lines in his intros in this one. Maybe he's learned his lesson? Here's hoping.
  
  My favorites:
  [+] "The Calico Dog" by Mignon G. Eberhart (1934) - A Susan Dare short. Two men show up after twenty years claiming to be a rich widow's prodigal son.
  [+] "The Exact Opposite" by Erle Stanley Gardner (1941) - A Lester Leath short, quite amusing and clever - a locked room mystery with a side order of theft.
  [+] "The Light at Three O'Clock" by Mackinley Kentor (1930) - Phone calls are coming into an operator from an empty apartment, where a man was killed and his corpse disappeared. SUPER creepy.
  [+] "The House of Haunts" by Ellery Queen (1935) - aka "The Lamp of God." Ellery is confronted by a massive illusion, when a crumbling mansion in the middle of nowhere seems to disappear into thin air overnight.
• 
  Claire

  Someone should bring back the locked room short stories genre, because they're a delight. With the caveat that these were all originally published in the 30s and 40s and thus with the social values and vocabulary of the time, these stories were all so much fun. I did of course like some more than others, but overall the collection is evenly paced. Penzler's prefaces to each story were mostly interesting though not always contextually helpful. I would've loved to see more (or any tbh) diversity among the authors - there was hardly a dearth of women writing mysteries at the time, but only one makes it in.
• 
  CallahansBooks

  Cops burst through a barred door into a room. It’s any room in the world. Windows, locked. Below, a deadly drop. It’s quiet and sedate: the Any-Room, unremarkable but for the putrefying corpse of a slain young girl; nude, prostrate and soaking the sofa with her blood.
  
  That’s the rough setup in what was my favorite of the 14 stories included in “Golden Age Locked Room Mysteries” and it illustrates the niche celebrated in this new release from Penzler Publishers. How could a killer commit his crime, then exit a room that remains locked from the inside? The “locked room” mystery works as a shorthand for the impossible crime, the unbreakable life-and-death riddle.
  
  Leave it to Otto Penzler to find the the myriad writers who perfected this brain-busting sub-genre, primarily in the years between world wars. This anthology is a blast from the past, reaching beneath the heights of Agatha Christie to authors like Ellery Queen and beyond to modern obscurity. It could feel anachronistic or slow to the unprepared reader, but the collection will be grist for any diehard mystery fan’s mill.
  
  Approach knowing this is a genre that had its day, laying a foundation for innumerable talents to come. Penzler of course is the perfect curator, delivering the best from a time and place gone by, but no less fun to love.
• 
  Eric

  Selected and edited by Otto Penzler, this anthology of 14 American impossible crime stories-seven from the 1930s and seven from the 1940s - has a roster of star authors. They run the gamut from Boucher to Woolrich, alphabetically, from Eberhart to Rawson, chronologically, and divide 2-12 by gender.
  
  Many of the stories will be familiar to fans of the sub-genre, JD Carr being represented by The Third Bullet and Ellery Queen by the novella The House of Haunts/The Lamp of God, for instance. My personal favourites include Joseph Commings' Fingerprint Ghost and Clayton Rawson's delightfully-deft Off the Face of the Earth.
  
  Mr Penzler's Introduction and introductory notes add great value to this useful and mostly entertaining volume. Newcomers to the world of the Locked Room will find it essential reading.
  
  Thank you to NetGalley and Penzler Publishers for the digital review copy.
• 
  J. Elliott

  Assigned this to myself as required reading; I'm going to attempt writing a mystery with the locked room kind of setup. This chonky collection, almost 500 pages, is a must for anyone who likes this mystery subgenre. Sometimes a collection can be bumpy with a few standout stories and the rest rather mediocre. This one delivers. The stories are all tantalizing, from someone disappearing in a telephone booth in front of two witnesses, to JDC's lengthy Third Bullet where you go round and round to ferret out how three shots were fired from three different guns with only one person in the room whose single shot missed the target. I think my favorite is the Ellery Queen offering, "House of Haunts". In fact, I'll likely read it again before shelving this keeper of a book. Thank you, Otto Penzler!
• 
  Denice Langley

  I've always been a fan of an anthology, a group pf short stories tied together by a unique theme, such as locked room mysteries. This anthology is special in that it contains stories written by some of the greatest mystery writers of the "golden" era. Written when there was no technology to help them figure how the victim was killed in a room locked from the inside......readers had to read carefully to catch clues or outsmart some very clever crooks. Their style is unique to the writer, you won't find Erle Stanley Gardner's dedicated investigators anywhere else. I so enjoyed these stories. Read with an eye to the past and you will too.
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  Melisende

  A nice anthology of classic "locked room" mysteries dates from predominantly the 1930s and 1940s. The settings vary from a touch of the science fiction - a la HG Wells - to the supernatural, missing heirs, actors, greedy and murderous relatives. Add to this a strange selection of detective: a magician, a young girl, an insurance broker, the usual police / detectives, a spinster, and a switchboard operator. Each story is unique - some are lengthy, others short and to the point.
  
  Nice retrospective look back at the golden age of locked room mysteries.
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  Annarella

  i knew I was going to love this book since i read the title as I love locked room mysteries and I loved Golden Age mysteries.
  It's a fascinating anthology and all the stories are at high level. I knew almost all the authors and loved their stories.
  This type of puzzles are always a challenge and I love how well worked on a logical side.
  It could be used as a manual in a "how to write a whodunit" course
  Highly recommended.
  Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine
• 
  Jennifer

  The term "locked room mystery" is a catchall phrase used for crimes that appear impossible. The stories in this collection all fit into this description. They implement various scenarios, detective strategies and outcomes and are written by 14 authors in the years between the two world wars.
  Of course, I enjoyed some stories more than others. But they all entertained me and kept me guessing. I also appreciated the author information that introduced each story and gave me insight into the writer's career, techniques and legacy.