Tim Major is a British Fantasy Award-winning writer and freelance editor from York. The latest book in his Jekyll & Hyde series sees the titular detective agency tasked with solving a locked-room mystery
The Mystery of the Yellow Room by Gaston Leroux
This fantastic 1908 novel takes an impressively methodical approach to solving a murder within a locked room and in seemingly impossible circumstances, even providing readers with a map of the crime scene.
The Hollow Man by John Dickson Carr
This is another ‘fair play’ mystery, in which readers are invited to solve the puzzle along with investigator Gideon Fell, who at times breaks the fourth wall to address the reader directly. The solution is complex but immensely satisfying.
The Red House Mystery by AA Milne
Did you know the creator of Winnie the Pooh wrote a murder mystery? While the setup feels almost like a pastiche of Golden Age mysteries, with all tropes present and correct, Milne twists them into one of the best whodunnits ever written, and it’s great fun.
The Honjin Murders by Seishi Yokomizo
This Japanese novel was written in 1946 but only translated into English recently. It’s steeped in the traditions of locked-room mystery, and is one of the most fiendish examples of the ‘impossible murder’ I’ve read.
Death and the Conjuror by Tom Mead
Over the course of four novels featuring retired conjuror Joseph Spector, Tom Mead has proved himself a modern master of the locked-room mystery. Start with this wonderful first book and work through the series!
