Links

To buy The Mysteries of Reverend Dean, please visit the following sites:

Lighthouse Publishing

Barnes & Noble

Amazon UK

Amazon Canada

Other Sites of Interest:

(Most headings, and all underlined words, are hyperlinks.)

Crippen & Landru

Publisher of many of the books listed in the Suggested Reading page.

A Locked Room Library

These aren't short stories, but rather a list of over 100 of the best locked-room novels ever written, as selected by an international panel of experts. Background commentary is provided by panelist John Pugmire, with cover images compiled by Steve Lewis. I can't even imagine how long it took Steve to collect and scan the covers of all these volumes. This is one of several links to Steve's exceptional and comprehensive Mystery*File website, which has now morphed into an excellent blog.

Locked Rooms and Other Improbable Crimes

Initially conceived as suggestions for a third edition of Bob Adey's Locked Room Murders, Steve Lewis has compiled over 50 locked-room mystery references, the majority of which are short stories. A continuation of this list has been assembled by John Pugmire.

The Kindaichi Case Files

Virtually all volumes of this series can be purchased through Amazon.com. Failing that, many volumes are available at Mile High Comics. There is also a Kindaichi discussion group and Wikipedia article.

GAdetection

Although largely devoted to golden age detective fiction, this intelligent group discusses a variety of mystery-related topics, including locked-room puzzles.

GAdetection Wiki

Affiliated with Jon Jermey's GAdetection discussion group, this rapidly growing wiki has articles on a variety of subjects. Topics range from reviews of books listed in the Suggested Reading page, to biographies and bibliographies of several locked-room authors. Although space restrictions prevent citing all of its excellent articles, there are discussions of Ed Hoch's short stories here and here, as well as entries on John Dickson Carr here and here.

Locked Room Mystery

This is an excellent and detailed entry in Wikipedia.

Locked Room International

This site is devoted mainly to translating the novels of French impossible-crime writer Paul Halter, but also translates various Japanese authors. John Pugmire, the founder of LRI, is to be highly commended for making the works of these authors accessible to English-reading audiences.

Jdcarr

As might be inferred from its name, this site specializes in John Dickson Carr. Of particular note, however, are its excellent forums; including a "General" forum, which discusses "anything and everything Mystery related."

The Locked Room Mystery mystery

This amusing parody on locked-room mysteries was written by Jasper Fforde.

The Classic Mystery Homepage

This outstanding collection of articles by Mike Grost includes an extensive guide to early impossible crime stories, with an equally complete list of later impossible crime fiction. Not content to compile and intelligently critique such stories, Mike has also written several original locked-room mysteries. Moreover, he has assembled an excellent bibliography of stories by Ed Hoch, as well as a list of comic books featuring locked-room themes. Unfortunately, no comics or graphic novels published after 1965 are listed. I suppose even Mike has his limitations.

No Escape: Jacques Futrelle and the Titanic

This excellent article by Jeffrey Marks is from the equally superb Mystery Scene magazine.

JA Konrath

The personable author of Whiskey Sour, Dirty Martini, and other mixes and mysteries has also written two locked-room short stories, On the Rocks and With a Twist. They're among several stories collected in the Jack Daniels Stories compilation available for download at JA's site. With a Twist is particularly good.

Project Gutenberg

This site provides complete, online copies of G.K. Chesterton's The Innocence of Father Brown and The Wisdom of Father Brown. The former, in particular, has several locked-room mysteries. Audio books and titles from thousands of other authors are also available.

Mysterious Locked Room Mystery of the Body With A Knife In It

I suppose it was inevitable: a venerable sub-genre parodied in a YouTube video.

American and Japanese Churches

Although the good reverend is ensconced in Dark Pine, if he lived in any of the following areas he'd attend one of these churches: Mecklenburg Community Church (Charlotte, NC); Redeemer Presbyterian (NY, NY); Saddleback Church (southern California); Willow Creek Community Church (Chicago area); or University Presbyterian (Seattle, WA). In Japan, Rev. Dean would attend the church of his friend, Rev. Shinichi Ozu, at Akeno Christ Church in Yawata, Kyoto.  In Osaka, he would visit Ikeda Chuo Church.  In the greater Kinki region, he would consult Kinpoden.

The Lost Special

As any fan of Sherlock Holmes knows, the official canon of Holmes stories includes 56 short stories and 4 novels. However, if any entry can claim the status of a 57th story, it is The Lost Special. Not only was it written by Doyle, but it features "an amateur reasoner of some celebrity," who avers that "when the impossible has been eliminated the residuum, however improbable, must contain the truth."  There is even an allusion to Prof. Moriarty, described as "one of the acutest brains in England." In any event, The Lost Special features an impossible crime, rather than a locked-room mystery, but it deserves mention due to its pedigree alone.

The Battered Silicon Dispatch Box

Publisher of Locked Rooms and Open Spaces, The Adventures of Rogan Kincaid and many other books.

The Play of Light and Shadow

In this well-written mystery by Barry Ergang, the owner of a painting puts it on display in a windowless room, makes sure the room is vacant, and locks its only door as he departs. Minutes later he leads a group into the room for a viewing, but the painting has vanished; in spite of the fact that no one entered or exited the room in the interim. This novelette originally appeared in Futures Mysterious Anthology Magazine, and can now be downloaded at Amazon for $1.50.

Old Time Radio Catalog

This site not only features the John Dickson Carr Collection described in the Suggested Reading & Viewing page, but hundreds of other collections as well. All of the compilations are available in the MP3 format, with a few also available as standard audio CDs. Most are high quality, and all are inexpensive.

Beneath the Stains of Time

Since the 2011 creation of his blog, TomCat has reviewed a stunning number of mysteries, including a wide variety of locked-room stories. (Click the "Older Posts" link in the middle of each page for prior entries.) He's also compiled a list of his favorite locked room short stories, which graciously includes two Reverend Dean tales. TomCat also brings an impressive amount of knowledge to his reviews. Any blogger who can quote Spiderman's Aunt May, discuss the New Orthodox Movement in Japanese detective fiction, and remind me that Cornell Woolrich's "The Room with Something Wrong" is in an anthology I already own (Death Locked In)—all in the first pages of the impossible-crime section—deserves to be read.

The Locked Room

P.J. Bergman has created an excellent website which includes reviews of locked-room books and movies, news stories related to the genre, and links to impossible-crime stories in the public domain.  He's also included several stories written by himself which will be collected and published in the future. One of his stories, "Diagnosis Cancer," is particularly clever.

The Locked Room Mystery

This site contains a huge number of locked-room and impossible crime book reviews. It's attention to older books is particularly noteworthy.