"It Concerned a Murder Committed Behind a Locked Door!"

"Locked Door."

By Henry A. Milton (?-?).

First appearance: Bluebook for Men, October 1960.

Illustrated with a photograph.

Short short story (5 pages).

Online at The Luminist Archives (HERE).

   "The door was securely bolted from the inside, and only the dead woman could have locked it. Yet it turned out to be . . . MURDER!"

Can it be that a middle-aged mediocrity unhappy in his marriage has developed such an overwhelming sweet tooth for a curvaceous cupcake that he's willing to kill his wife and 

make it look like a suicide? Two cops launch a "quiet investigation" to find out . . .

Principal characters:

~ Edwin F. Mueller:

  ". . . announced to the desk sergeant on duty that he'd been locked out."

~ Sergeant Garrity:

  ". . . wheezed again, and indicated a patrolman who lounged against the back wall and who also contemplated an early relief."

~ Patrolman Boyle:

  "Looks as if the door's bolted from the inside."

~ Jensen:

  "'Mr. Jensen says he hasn't seen my wife all day,' Mueller said worriedly, jerking his thumb toward the janitor."

~ Henrietta Mueller:

  ". . . or a plump facsimile, hung suspended from the overhead, a pair of neckties around her bulging neck, her tongue jutting out, her face a ghastly blue, and her eyeballs protruding like marbles in a mosaic."

~ Birgit Axelsen:

  ". . . a plump Norwegian widow who lived down the hall from the Muellers, had liked the drab bookkeeper's mousey wife, and had felt sorry for the woman in her marriage to such an obviously stingy and unloving man."

~ Millie Benton:

  "Mrs. Benton's husband, George, was a detective on the San Francisco police force."

~ George Benton:

  ". . . began a quiet investigation."

~ Emily Curran:

  ". . . had devoted most of her time during the past six months to a gentleman named Edwin F. Mueller."

~ Inspector O'Brien:

  "You can't argue with that locked door."

References and resources:

- "all the wisdom of the Sanhedrin":

  "In the Hebrew Bible, Moses and the Israelites were commanded by God to establish courts of judges. They were also commanded to establish a 'supreme court' located at the central sanctuary (after arriving in the Land of Israel), to handle cases too difficult for local courts." (Wikipedia HERE.)

- "a creaky Morris chair":

  "A Morris chair is an early type of reclining chair. The design was adapted by William Morris's firm, Morris & Company, from a prototype owned by Ephraim Colman in rural Sussex, England. It was first marketed around 1866." (Wikipedia HERE.)

- "a mohair sofa that must have been the pilot model for the species":

  "Mohair is used in scarves, winter hats, suits, sweaters, coats, socks and home furnishing. Mohair fiber is also found in carpets, wall fabrics, craft yarns, and many other fabrics, and may be used as a substitute for fur." (Wikipedia (HERE.)

- "like marbles in a mosaic":

  "A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface." (Wikipedia HERE.)

- "the sweat-stained bowler had given way to a new fedora":

  In America the bowler hat has a checkered past:

  "The bowler, not the cowboy hat or sombrero, was the most popular hat in the American West, prompting Lucius Beebe to call it 'the hat that won the West'. Both cowboys and railroad workers preferred the hat because it would not blow off easily in strong wind while riding a horse, or when sticking one's head out the window of a speeding train. It was worn by both lawmen and outlaws, including Bat Masterson, Butch Cassidy, Black Bart, and Billy the Kid. In the United States the hat came to be known commonly as the derby, and American outlaw Marion Hedgepeth was commonly referred to as 'the Derby Kid'." (Wikipedia HERE.)

The Wright Brothers wearing bowlers in 1910.

  And what would a private eye be without a fedora?

  "The fedora was worn by film actors such as Edward G. Robinson, George Raft and Humphrey Bogart. The fedora was a characteristic of film noir and has been the chosen accessory of movie detectives and criminals alike. It was worn by Bogart as Sam Spade in The Maltese Falcon (1941) and Philip Marlowe in The Big Sleep (1946). Peter Eliopoulos wrote in The 1930s: The Reality and the Promise: 'The popular Bogart-styled fedora was worn slightly cocked, it was pulled down just above the eye line, so that the wearer peaked beneath the brim and through the cigarette smoke that gathered momentarily before curling itself around the top of the hat'." (Wikipedia HERE.)

- "an International Settlement bierstube":

  "American beer halls became popular in the mid-19th century, following a wave of immigration from Germany to the United States. They became an alternative to the 

American-style tavern." (Wikipedia HERE.)

- "Nick Carter thrillers":

  Not much in the way of Holmesian detection:

  "Nick Carter is a fictional character who began as a dime novel private detective in 1886 and has appeared in a variety of formats over more than a century. The character was first conceived by Ormond G. Smith and created by John R. Coryell. Carter headlined his own magazine for years and was then part of a long-running series of novels from 1964 to 1990." (Wikipedia HERE.)

- "Ben Hur":

  "Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ is a novel by Lew Wallace, published by Harper and Brothers on November 12, 1880, and considered 'the most influential Christian book of the nineteenth century'. It became a best-selling American novel, surpassing Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852) in sales. The book also inspired other novels with biblical settings and was adapted for the stage and motion picture productions." (Wikipedia HERE.)

  The movie version of Ben-Hur had been released just about a year before our story:

  "Ben-Hur is a 1959 American epic religious film directed by William Wyler, produced by Sam Zimbalist, and starring Charlton Heston as the title character. A remake of the 1925 silent film with a similar title, it was adapted from Lew Wallace's 1880 novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ." (Wikipedia HERE.)

- "The Klansmen":

   No idea.

- "a ferry poking its way into its slip after a run from Oakland":

  "San Francisco Bay in California has been served by ferries of all types for over 150 years. John Reed established a sailboat ferry service in 1826. Although the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge and the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge led to the decline in the importance of most ferries, some are still in use today for both commuters and tourists." (Wikipedia HERE.)

- "a draymen's picnic":

  "The word 'drayman' is used in U.S. ports as the over the road highway truck drivers who deliver containers to and from the port." (Wikipedia HERE.)

- "several miles away at San Quentin":

  "The methods for execution at San Quentin have changed over time. Prior to 1893, the counties executed convicts. Between 1893 and 1937, 215 people were executed at San Quentin by hanging, after which 196 prisoners died in the gas chamber. In 1995, the use of gas for execution was ruled 'cruel and unusual punishment', which led to executions inside the gas chamber by lethal injection. Between 1996 and 2006, eleven people were executed at San Quentin by lethal injection." (Wikipedia HERE; also HERE.)

- Our author has only two credits on FictionMags:

   (1) "For the Man Who Has Everything" (article), Bluebook, December 1953

   (2) "Locked Door" (short story), Bluebook for Men, October 1960 (above).

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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The Thinking Machine Makes a Comeback

WE found this in the July 1912 Ainslee's Magazine (HERE):

Some context:

Many of you already know that the author of The Thinking Machine series, Jacques Futrelle (1873-1912), went down on a passenger liner in April 1912 at the age of 37, possibly taking with him even more stories featuring his series character, Professor S.F.X. Van Dusen:

  "Returning from Europe aboard the R.M.S. Titanic, Futrelle, a first-class passenger, refused to board a lifeboat, insisting Lily [his wife] do so instead, to the point of forcing her in. She remembered the last she saw of him: he was smoking a cigarette on deck with John Jacob Astor IV. He perished in the Atlantic and his body was never found." (Wikipedia HERE and HERE.)

Futrelle on the Titanic's boat deck the day after she set sail from Southhampton.

The ad above doesn't seem to be referring to the Thinking Machine story ("The Mystery of Prince Otto") published in Cassell's Magazine of Fiction in July 1912. Not long after, three others ("The Tragedy of the Life Raft," "The Case of the Scientific Murderer," and "The Jackdaw") did appear in The Popular Magazine in August and September 1912.

The Thinking Machine did have a literary afterlife of sorts:

  "Futrelle is used as the protagonist in Max Allan Collins' disaster series novel The Titanic Murders (1999), about two murders aboard the Titanic." (Wikipedia, op.cit.)

Resources:

- We first dealt with Futrelle's brainy sleuth at length (HERE), then (HERE), and finally (HERE).

- J. J. Connington confronted us with a different kind of thinking machine (HERE).

- Roy Glashan's Library has an impressive collection of Jacques Futrelle's works (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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UPDATE: Leroy Yerxa's "These Shoes Are Killing Me"

Link to Roy Glashan's Library added (HERE).

"It'll Take All Three of You To Convince a Jury That a Robot Is Guilty of Murder"

"Sentimental Monster."
By Lee Francis (Leroy Yerxa, 1915-46; ISFDb HERE).

Artist unknown.
First appearance: Amazing Stories, December 1946.

Short story (12 pages).
Online at Roy Glashan's Library (HERE).

Most of them would never admit it, but too many people get their exercise jumping to conclusions. Case in point: today's story. Someone dies violently, and everybody immediately thinks it's murder. Not only that, who the prime suspect is seems beyond a shadow of a doubt. It just goes to show you: conclusion-jumping isn't a healthy form of exercise after all . . .

Main characters:
~ Ben James:
  ". . . was sprawled forward, head on the desk, arms spread out on the desk top as though they were separate parts of a body that did not belong to the man. At the far end of the room, Knowit, the librarian-robot, stared down like a huge, somehow barbaric God, crouching in the semi-darkness."
~ Tod Williams:
  ". . . knew every inch of that metallic monstrosity. It has always given him the creeps to watch those long tentacles snap out to the farthest corners of the room, grasp a book with suction-cup fingers and deposit it on Ben James' desk. If those tentacles turned to murder? If they shot to a man's throat, instead of toward a book?"
~ Lela James:
  "He looked down at Lela, who had all the appearance of an expensive French doll, encased in fine silk. She was as lifeless as a doll at this moment."
~ Harry Fromm:
  ". . . knew no one but Ben James gave a damn if he was dead or alive. Ben hadn't needed a librarian. Knowit took care of all that work. Harry Fromm had stayed because of his long years of service before Knowit was completed."
~ Sheriff Joe Spence:
  ". . . reached out and touched the steel index finger. There were six fingers. There should have been six suction cups, one for each finger. One was missing. The seven-inch length of steel was pointed and rounded. It was covered with blood. 'The murderer, I guess,' Spence said in a tired voice."
~ Knowit:
  ". . . knew all about humans. Inside Knowit's brain, a great amount of knowledge was stored. Alone, he stared down with puzzled, blinking eyes at the deserted library."

References and resources:
- Stories like this one could result in "robophobia"; see (HERE) for one such example.

- Can someone commit "robicide"? The idea gets treated not entirely seriously (HERE).

- Because he was characteristically optimistic about technological advancements, Isaac Asimov saw the development of robots as a largely benign development and that his "laws," if wisely implemented, would basically curtail most of the unpredictable and potentially dangerous behaviors that self-guided agents might get up to. Nevertheless, Asimov, as many of you already know, spent years through his fiction demonstrating how things can go wrong with metal "men"—sometimes fatally wrong. Meanwhile the military-industrial-university complexes of several nations seem bent on producing such machines as soon as they can, "laws" or no "laws." It just so happens that our latest encounter with robots was Asimov's "Mirror Image" (HERE).
- You might also be interested in Leroy Yerxa's story about a beat cop and his canine involvement, "O'Sheen Goes to the Dogs" (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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UPDATE: George B. Anderson's "The Case of the Squealing Duck"

PulpGen link replaced with Luminist Archives (HERE).

"If She Dies, He Was Thinking, Those Parked Cars Around Here Ought To Be Tagged As Accessories"

"Terror in a Penthouse."

By Ellery Queen (1905-71 and 1905-82).

Illustrated by Perry Peterson (1908-58; book collection HERE).

Reprinted in Lilliput, November 1956 (along with "The Man They All Hated").

Short short short story (5 pages).

Online at Archive.org starting (HERE) and finishing (HERE).

   "Three men desperately wanted to marry the lovely actress. Now, which two suitors had she turned down—and which one had tried to kill her?"

Will Shakespeare, the Bard of Avon, once compared the quality of mercy to "the gentle rain from heaven" that "droppeth upon the place beneath." Ellery Queen, the Sage of West 87th Street, in searching for a would-be murderer on a dark and stormy night in Manhattan, would doubtless regard "gentle rain" a mercy in its own right . . .

Principal characters:

The victim:

~ Modesta Ryan:

  ". . . specialized in melodrama. Everything she touched went off like a rocket. She could not walk her dog without landing on the front page."

The likely suspects:

~ Jock Shanville:

  ". . . had a wife, an ex-show girl named Pearline, but she seemed to be no problem; his rapier tongue had been backing her toward the nearest divorce court long before he decided on Modesta Ryan as her successor."

~ Kid Catt:

  ". . . a black-browed fighting machine who dealt bloody unconsciousness from both fists with a cold smile that had become his TV trademark. The Kid’s body was his god, self-denial his creed; and women sat high on his proscribed list. So when he fell in love with Modesta, it was with the violent passion of a fallen monk."

~ Richard Van Olde II:

  ". . . was a soft-spoken tyrant of position and wealth. Modesta Ryan was the first woman he had wanted since the death of his wife a dozen years before, and he meant to have her."

The law:

~ Inspector Queen:

  "'Gentlemen, I have news for you,' said Inspector Queen softly. 'Thrown-away guns, coats and hats have a way of turning up. And you've got no alibis for the time of the shooting.'"

~ Ellery Queen:

  ". . . knelt down. The stuff staining her breast looked exactly like tomato ketchup. But it was not. And the silk was scorched around a very real hole."

~ Sergeant Velie:

  "'Now all you have to do,' said the Sergeant, not without bitterness, 'is tell us who you see in your crystal ball.'"

~ Detective Goldberg:

  ". . . came in, shaking himself like a dog. He had found Modesta Ryan’s maid asleep in her Harlem flat, he reported; the maid knew nothing except that on Miss Ryan’s arrival home she had made three phone calls, one to Kid Catt, one to Mr. Shanville, and the last to Mr. Van Olde. But the maid hadn't listened to the conversations, says she couldn't say which ones Miss Ryan had given the heave and which one she'd made the happy man."

Others:

~ Wladeczki:

  "Got my name spelled right, Sergeant?"

~ Pearline Shanville:

  ". . . she told us, she eavesdropped on Modesta's call . . ."

References and resources:

- Our story is not to be confused with this film:

- After you've read the story, you might want to consult Ellery Queen Reader's assessment (WARNING! SPOILERS! HERE).

- It wasn't long ago when we chanced upon EQ's exiguous "The Strangled Bride" (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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"Besides, Why Would I Want To Kill Him When I Was Hoping for a Part in the New Play He Was Producing?"

"Suspicion of Murder."

By Eric Hatch (1901-73).

Illustrated by George Hughes (1907-90; National Museum of American Illustration HERE).

First appearance: This Week Magazine, August 2, 1953.

No known reprintings.

Short short short story (2 pages).

Online at Archive.org (HERE).

   "The question should have been so easy to answer. But it was not. At least not in a way that this gently menacing policeman would understand

—and believe."

Being in the wrong place at the wrong time can have its downside—including becoming the prime suspect in a mysterious death . . . but can it save a marriage?

Main characters:

~ Thornley Pride, the victim:

  "'Maybe he turned you down,' said the Inspector. Thornley Pride had not turned her down. She had only just started to read for him when . . ."

~ Katherine Barnes:

  "She was an actress. She had played her part—the role of the perfect, yet glamorous and romantic young wife."

~ Inspector Moore of the NYPD:

  ". . . the man who sat at Thornley’s Pride’s desk—the big, gray-haired man who had just asked her so matter-of-factly, and so absurdly, if she had killed Thornley Pride. He was a police inspector and he was waiting patiently for her to answer."

~ Henry Barnes:

  "But Henry didn’t know any chorus girls and wasn’t in love with anybody. Katherine’s blue eyes filled with tears. This was the real trouble—and it had been breaking her heart. Henry wasn’t in love with anybody."

References and resources:

- "the Tombs":

  Ellery Queen (the detective) spent some time there:

    "The Tombs is the colloquial name for the Manhattan Detention Complex (formerly the Bernard B. Kerik Complex), a municipal jail at 125 White Street in Lower Manhattan, New York City. It is also the nickname for three previous city-run jails in the former Five Points neighborhood of lower Manhattan, in an area now known as the Civic Center. The original Tombs was officially known as the Halls of Justice, built in 1838 in an Egyptian Revival architectural style, similar in form to a mastaba. It may have been this style that caused it to be called 'the Tombs', although other theories exist." (Wikipedia HERE.)

- FictionMags indicates that, starting in 1925, Eric Stowe Hatch's short fiction appeared intermittently for the next four decades, culminating in 1965.

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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