"What on Earth Had Prompted the Man to Rush Crazily into the Room and Commit Murder?"

"Four and Twenty Witnesses."
By Richard E. Glendinning (1917-88).
First appearance: Detective Fiction, May 1951.
Short story (11 pages).
Online at Archive.org (HERE).

     "Psychology suddenly took on a new significance."

Murphy's Law tells us that, if anything can go wrong, it will; but when Professor Baxter's carefully planned surprise results in an unscripted murder, he knows he won't be able to 
blame this one on Murphy—in fact, the law just might pin it on him . . .

Characters:
~ Professor Martin Baxter:
  "Who truly knows the channels of the human mind?"
~ Irene Daniels Keller:
  "It was murder and Irene was a witness."
~ Frank Hastings:
  "It was supposed to be a knife. That scoundrel, Hastings! Intentionally mixing things up. If this is his idea of a joke—"
~ Police Lieutenant Bill Kynder:
  "Word-association! There's nothing to it."
~ Ruth Glover:
  "Men are not allowed above the first floor, but the girls are permitted to entertain dates in a small and, I must say, quite dimly lighted parlor off the lobby. Miss Daniels had a man in there last night."
~ Dean Wicksley:
  "The ramp was high and George's head was crushed."
~ Calvert Wallace:
  ". . . who used to teach dramatics here until a few months ago."
~ Robbie Keller:
  "I'm an insurance salesman."
~ Mr. Andersen:
  "[His] strong right hand was holding aloft a soggy sponge, bent upon destroying the words forever."

Comments: Have you ever watched a TV show in which a crime occurs in a classroom full of unsuspecting students, a "crime" that's been preplanned as a demonstration and is sup-posed to harm no one, but somehow it goes wrong? We can't be sure, but our story might be one of the first, if not the first, to do so. The word association test, usually badly handled in detective fiction, is used in a fairly intelligent way here. However, the Lieutenant could be right: "The D.A. will have my scalp."

Resources:
- Just about every one of Richard Edwin Glendenning, Jr.'s FictionMags Index list stories is hardboiled tecfic, making today's story different from his usual output: "Author, editor. Born in Elizabeth, New Jersey." You may recall that he was also responsible for "The Light Finger-ed Santa" (HERE).
- One of the characters says, "I never liked the story of John Alden, either"; see (HERE) for what he meant.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You Fail to Recognize the Genius of Your Own Creation"

"Mobile Hack."
By Zack Lux.
Illustration by JACEY.
First appearance: Nature/Futures, 11 October 2018.
Short short short story (1 page).
Online at Nature.com (HERE; PDF).

     "I should advise you that in field tests my central processor regularly exceeds 22 petaFLOPS on the LINPACK benchmark. I’m guessing you 
don’t know what that means."

We live in an analog world, but even now there are forces in motion that wouldn't mind seeing it totally digitized . . . totally . . . d-i-g-i-t-i-1011010-1000101-1000100 . . .

Resource:
- "Mobile Hack" is evidently Zack Lux's initial publication (HERE).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I Love to Follow a Detective When He Uses His Brains"

THE BASIC PREMISE of having two detectives, one a professional and the other an amateur, competing with each other to solve crimes opens wide vistas for plotting to a clever writer, as it clearly did to today's author, a man whose name you aren't likely to forget soon. Here, two years after they first met in a novel, are their initial adventures in the short story form:

~ ~ ~

   "I wish you to discover who I am."

(1) "The Nameless Man."
By Rodrigues Ottolengui (1861-1937).
Illustrations by Stanley L. Wood (1867-1928; HERE).

First appearance: The Idler, January 1895.
Collected in Final Proof; or, The Value of Evidence (1898) (reviewed HERE; online HERE).
Short story (14 pages).
Online at Project Gutenberg (HERE; no illos; several clicks may be necessary) and Archive.org (HERE; 6 illos).

     "As I am evidently a full-grown man, I can certainly claim that I have a past history, but to me that past is entirely blank. I awoke this morning in this condition, yet apparently in possession of all my faculties, so much so, that I at once saw the advisability of consulting a first-class detective, and, upon inquiry, I was directed to you."

Detective Barnes's detectival skills are tested when a man claiming to be an amnesiac comes to him for help. Little things, as always, contribute to the solution: a briefly-glimpsed watch and badge, small indentations on the sole of a shoe, initials on a handkerchief, and a registration number for a bicycle.

~ ~ ~

   "Criminals who disdain aliases have brains, and use them."

(2) "The Montezuma Emerald."
By Rodrigues Ottolengui (1861-1937).
Illustrations by Stanley L. Wood (1867-1928; HERE).

First appearance: The Idler, February 1895.

Collected in Final Proof; or, The Value of Evidence (1898) (reviewed HERE; online HERE).

Reprinted in Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine, January 1974.

Short story (16 pages).
Online at Project Gutenberg (HERE; no illos; several clicks may be necessary) and Hathi Trust (HERE; 7 illos).

     "ROBERT LEROY MITCHEL DROWNED! His Body Found Floating in the East River. A DAGGER IN HIS BACK. Indicates Murder."

Much like it was with Mark Twain, the report of the amateur sleuth's demise isn't just exaggerated but also a trifle premature, as Detective Barnes will soon learn . . .

Resources:
- Despite the impression his name might give you, Benjamin A. Rodrigues Ottolengui was from South Carolina, a dentist by profession, and a thriller writer by avocation. Like Conan Doyle, he probably dabbled in fiction while waiting for patients; see Wikipedia (HERE), the GAD (HERE), and Douglas Greene's brief background article (farther down this page) for more biographical information. The SFE (HERE) and the ISFDb (HERE) have data on his few SFFnal works.
- Amateur sleuth Mitchel and professional detective Barnes first meet on a train in the novel, An Artist in Crime (1892; online HERE), just after a robbery has occurred and a search is on for the thief:

"At the name Mitchel, Mr. Barnes was a trifle startled. It was the same as that which had been given by the woman who had been robbed. At this point, Mr. Mitchel, a man of forty-five, with a classic face, spoke:

"'Thanks, Arthur, I can take care of myself.'

"The conductor hesitated a moment, and then addressed Mr. Mitchel:  

"'I regret very much the necessity which compels me to ask you to allow your-  self to be searched, but it is my duty."

  "'My dear sir, I understand perfectly that it is your duty and have no personal 

feelings against you. Nevertheless, I distinctly refuse.'

"'You refuse?' The words came from the other three men together. It is difficult to tell which

was the most surprised. 

 "Randolph turned pale and leaned against the partition for support. Mr. Barnes became

slightly excited and said:

"'That amounts to a tacit acknowledgment of guilt, since every other man has been searched.'

"Mr. Mitchel's reply to this was even more of a surprise than what he had said before.

"'That alters the case. If every one else has submitted, so will I.' Without more ado he divested himself of his clothing. Nothing was found. The satchels of both men were brought, but the search was fruitless. The conductor glanced at the detective [Barnes] helplessly, but that gentleman was looking out of the window. One who knew Mr. Barnes could have told that he was fearfully angry, for he was biting the end of his moustache."

- Carolyn Wells immortalized our author in her poem, "A Ballade of Detection" (HERE), one stanza of which reads as follows:

   To my mind nothing can exceed
       The tales of Edgar Allan Poe;
   Of Anna Katharine Green I’ve need,
       Du Boisgobey, Gaboriau;
       I’ve Conan Doyle’s works all a-row
   And Ottolengui and the rest;
       How other books seem tame and slow!
   I like Detective Stories best.

- In her The Technique of the Mystery Story (1913; online HERE), Carolyn Wells offers an oblique rebuke to Ottolengui for employing what was an already overused mystery trope 
a century ago:

   A trite and greatly worn device is the watch that stopped presumably when the crime was committed. Here is a typical use of this incident quoted from R. Ottolengui's "The Crime of the Century":

     "I found Mr. Mora's watch under the bed, where it must have been knocked from the dressing-table. The fall had caused it to stop, and the hands indicated seven minutes of two, agreeing with the time during which the watchman testifies that young Mora was at home."
     "Yes," said Mr. Mitchel, "but do not go too fast. The watch may have run down. It is uncommon for a good watch to stop merely because it falls to the floor."
     "Both of your points are good, in theory," replied the detective. "But neither applies in this instance. If a watch runs down, it cannot be started again without winding. By merely shaking this one I set it going, and to make assurance doubly sure, I let it run for an hour, when it was still keeping time. Next, though it be true that most watches would not be so easily stopped, this one, for some reason, is very sensitive to a blow. I tried the experiment of pushing it from the table to the floor, and at every attempt I found that it would cease its movement."

   This idea of a stopped watch is so obvious that it led authors at once to the idea of purposely stopping a watch with the intent of leading the detective and the reader astray. In fact, this was done as long ago as in Gaboriau's "Crime of Orcival," where Lecoq, finding a clock which has been overturned in the struggle between the victim and his assassin, purposely turns the hands some four hours backward. This device has been used so often that the astute reader now disregards the evidence of the stopped watch in fiction.

Of course, Wells's remarks didn't discourage Agatha Christie from using the stopped watch as either a clue or, more often, a red herring (e.g., "At the Crossroads"; Murder on the Orient Express; The Clocks). And TV writers have used it ad nauseum:

    "He was killed at 11:15."
   "So specific. I'm impressed."
   "His watch broke when he fell."
   "Ah, you shouldn't have told me. Less impressed."
     — Castle

- Here is FictionMags's listing for the first batch of Robert Leroy Mitchel/John Barnes short stories:

  (1) "The Nameless Man," The Idler, January 1895 (above)
  (2) "The Montezuma Emerald," The Idler, February 1895 (above)
  (3) "The Azteck Opal," The Idler, April 1895 (online HERE)
  (4) "A Frosty Morning," The Black Cat, August 1898 (online HERE)
  (5) "Mr. Mitchel’s First Problem," Ainslee’s Magazine, April 1901; a.k.a. “The Problem of the Suicide’s Letter” (online HERE)
  (6) "Mr. Alias, Burglar," Ainslee’s Magazine, May 1901; a.k.a. “The Randolph Robbery Farce” (online HERE)
  (7) "A Problem in Smuggling," Ainslee’s Magazine, June 1901; a.k.a. “The Elsemere Pendant Case” (online HERE)
  (8) "A Suggestion of Murder," Ainslee’s Magazine, July 1901; a.k.a. “The Trap of Green” (online HERE)
  (9) "The Art of Forgery," Ainslee’s Magazine, August 1901 (online HERE)
  (10) "The Whirlpool of Society," Ainslee’s Magazine, September 1901; a.k.a. “What Happened at a Race-Course” (online HERE)
  (11) "Before the Fact," Detective Story Magazine, March 5, 1918.

- The Battered Silicon Dispatch Box has collected the final six Mitchel/Barnes stories in Before the Fact (2011; HERE). In his introduction Douglas Greene discusses Ottolengui's unorthodox approach to mystery fiction:

   "In 1893, Ottolengui added to has manifold activities the writing of a detective novel, An Artist in Crime, featuring two—sometimes cooperating, sometimes competing—sleuths, Jack Barnes (a professional private detective) and Robert Leroy Mitchel (a wealthy amateur). Why Ottolengui turned toward fiction is not known . . ."
   "[In his first novels] Ottolengui combined Holmesian-style deductions with drugs, hypnosis, glandular experiments and a lost Aztec temple under New York City."
   "In 1895, Ottolengui began writing a series of short stories about Barnes and Mitchel. At least four of them were published in Jerome K. Jerome’s London magazine, The Idler, and another appeared in the US magazine The Black Cat. They were collected in the 1898 volume Final Proof — and that book seemed to conclude the cases of Mitchel and Barnes . . . A recent discovery, however, has shown that Ottolengui did not desert the detection field in 1898. In 1901, Ainslee’s Magazine published six additional stories under the series title 'Before the Fact,' based on Mitchel’s claim that he could detect crimes before they took place. (Ottolengui, nevertheless, did not consistently use this conceit throughout the six stories.)"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Officers in Armoured Suits Burst in, Guns in Hand — and These Guns Weren’t Loaded with Dough"

"The 133rd Live Podcast of the Gourmando Resistance."
By Beth Cato (born 1980).
Illustration by JACEY.
First appearance: Nature/Futures, 20 September 2018.
Short short short story (1 page).
Online at Nature.com (HERE; PDF).

     "She’d read so many theories about what happened from here: hidden tribunals, imprisonment, prosecution."

Can it be that things are heading in this direction? You decide . . .

Comment: A reductio ad absurdum that makes a disturbing point; Swift would be proud.

Resource:
- Beth Cato has been publishing poetry, novels, and short fiction since 2009 (ISFDb; HERE).

"Shid Ald Akwentans Bee Firgot, an Nivir Brocht ti Mynd?"

IN CASE you're a newcomer to this weblog (since January 2018), you might've missed some of the New Year's Eve detective/mystery stories that we've featured in the past. Here's a list of them with links:

   (1) "The Adventure of Auld Lang Syne" (HERE)

   (2) "New Year's Eve Test" (HERE)

   (3) "New Year's Duty"(HERE)

   (4) "Death Ends the Year" (HERE)

   (5) "New Year's Pitfall" (HERE).

~ ~ ~

The bottom line:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"A Flawless Engine of Justice and Innovation"

"The Congress."
By Dave Kavanaugh.
Illustration by JACEY.
First appearance: Nature/Futures, 13 September 2018.
Short short short story (1 page).
Online at Nature.com (HERE; PDF).

     "As for what lay beneath the city’s surface, that was a mystery to all except elected members of the Interplanetary Congress."

There are some things that only people can do . . .

Resource:
- Like one of our previous authors, this is Dave Kavanaugh's only story so far (ISFDb; HERE).

"And Yet the Matter Is Quite Simple Even with These Few Facts Before Us, Which Are Only a Selection from the Body of Evidence in Our Possession"

TODAY'S TALE happens to be the first published Dr. Thorndyke story, beating "The Anthropologist at Large" into print by three months (see "Resource" below for a link 
to that story).

"The Blue Sequin."
By R. Austin Freeman (1862-1943).
Illustrations by Henry Raleigh (1880-1944).

First appearance: Pearson's Magazine, December 1908 (as "The Blue Spangle").

Reprinted in McClure's Magazine, June 1910; Amazing Detective Tales, June 1930 (as "The Blue Spangle"); Short Story Magazine (Australia) #36 (1947); and Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine (AHMM), October 2008 [FictionMags HERE].
Collected in Dr. Thorndyke Investigates (1930; HTML online HERE; EPUB is HERE).
Short story (11 pages, 5 illos).
Online at Archive.org (HERE) and Roy Glashan's Library (HTMLs HERE: 1 different illo; and HERE: no illos).
(Note: Some text is slightly distorted and faded, but legible at Archive.org.)

     "And now, observe the accumulation of circumstantial evidence against him. He was the last person seen in company with the murdered woman—for no one seems to have seen her after they left Munsden; he appeared to be quarrelling with her when she was last seen alive; he had a reason for possibly wishing for her death; he was provided with an implement—a spiked staff —capable of inflicting the injury which caused her death; and, when he was searched, there was found in his possession the locket and broken chain, apparently removed from her person with violence."

. . . but, of course, he isn't guilty; it merely remains for Dr. John Thorndyke, medico-legalist extraordinaire, to prove it, assisted by his friend Jervis and, among other seemingly incon-sequential things, the little discs from a lady's hat, dyed hair follicles fourteen sixty-fourths 
of an inch long, two pyramidal nerve corpuscles and some portions of fibres, and a highly sensitive cow.

Major characters:

~ Miss Edith Grant:
  ". . . stepping over to the table, he drew back the sheet reverently and even tenderly from the dead woman's face, and looked down at it with grave pity. It was a comely face, white as marble, serene and peaceful in expression, with half-closed eyes, and framed with a mass of brassy, yellow hair; but its beauty was marred by a long linear wound, half cut, half bruise, running down the right cheek from the eye to the chin."
~ Harold Stopford, A.R.A., an artist:
  ". . . he is the gentlest and most amiable of men . . ."
~ Edward Stopford, of the firm of Stopford and Myers, solicitors, and the brother of Harold:
  "My brother's position fills me with dismay—but let me give you the facts in order, and you shall judge for yourself. This poor creature who has been murdered so brutally was a Miss Edith Grant. She was formerly an artist's model, and as such was a good deal employed by my brother, who is a painter . . ."
~ The station-master:
  "There was only one first-class coach, and the deceased was the only person in it."
~ Felton, the butcher:
  "Lord bless you, sir, they haven't got no feeling in their horns, else what good 'ud their horns be to 'em?"
~ Jervis:
  ". . . here I broke off, remembering my friend's dislike of any discussion of his methods before strangers."
~ Dr. Thorndyke:
  ". . . we can now prove when and where and how Miss Grant met her death. Come and sit down here, and I will explain."

Comment: This one might remind you of a case solved by Sherlock Holmes.

Typo: "peroxid" [arguably correct; most texts render it "peroxide"].

Thorndykeisms:
   "It is a great disadvantage to come plump into an inquiry without preparation — to be confronted with the details before one has a chance of considering the case in general terms."
   "So, you see, I had six possible theories of the cause of death worked out before I reached Halbury, and it only remained to select the one that fitted the facts."

Resource:
- Our previous encounter with Dr. Thorndyke was two months ago (HERE).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~