"You Like This Four-dimensional Stuff. I Don't."

"The Unseen Door."

By Margery Allingham (1904-66; Wikipedia HERE; FictionMags HERE).

First appearance: Sunday Empire News, August 5, 1945.

Reprints:

  Mystery Book Magazine, August 1946 (today's text)

  MacKill’s Mystery Magazine, January 1954

  MacKill’s Mystery Magazine (U.S.), March 1954

  Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, April 1955, December 2016

  Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine (U.K.) #27, April 1955

  Ellery Queen’s Minimysteries (1969)

  Capital Crimes (2015).

Short short short story (4 pages).

Online at SFFAudio (HERE).

   "I hate miracles!"

A prominent member of Prinny's Club, Pall Mall, has been found strangled to death, and Superintendent Oates is nearing his wit's end. Since the murder occurred in an upscale venue, and since Albert Campion has been known to frequent such places, the Super-intendent has called in his friend and expert on aristocratic crime to assist. Oates has a suspect in mind, a slippery cuss in the Ponzi/Madoff/Bankman-Fried tradition, who has 

sworn revenge on everybody, but especially the victim lying there on the clubroom floor. 

How the killer pulled off the murder when everybody entering and exiting the place is under constant observation has the Superintendent baffled. It's up to Mr. Campion to show Oates the "unseen door" through which the murderer came, and all he needs is a blank sheet of paper . . .

Principal characters:

~ Superintendent Stanislaus Oates:

  "I know who's been threatening to do it for months and yet he wasn't here. That's why I sent for you."

~ Mr. Albert Campion:

  ". . . the elegant amateur of criminal investigation . . ."

~ Robert Fenderson:

  "Campion indicated the white mound at their feet."

~ Bowser:

  ". . . has a perfect view from his box of the street door, the staircase and this door. He insists he has neither slept nor left his seat. He's unshakable."

~ Chetty:

  "He couldn't have done this, sir, any more than I could."

~ Merton:

  ". . . broke jail last night."

Resources:

- We last made contact with Margery Allingham through her non-Campion story "They Never Get Caught" (HERE). Her novel Dancers in Mourning failed to impress at least two critics (HERE), but her short stories featuring Mr. Campion have fared better (Mystery*File HERE).

Unless otherwise noted, all bibliographical data are derived from The FictionMags Index created by William G. Contento & edited by Phil Stephensen-Payne.

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