The Hollow Man

Possibly the Best Locked-Room Mystery Ever

In 1981 The Hollow Man by John Dickson Carr was selected by a panel of 17 mystery authors and reviewers as the best locked-room mystery of all time.

A fiendishly clever puzzle for fans of the Golden Age.

Synopsis

One snowy evening a man visited Professor Grimaud’s top-floor study. The professor invited him in, even though he had threatened the professor’s life. Half an hour later, there was the sound of a gunshot, though nobody left the study. When the police forced the locked door open, they found Grimaud lying in a pool of blood. Of the visitor, there was no trace, not even a footprint in the snow on the roof.

Ten minutes later, in a nearby street, witnesses heard a second shot and saw a man crumple to the ground with a gun beside him. This was no suicide. Somebody had shot the man in the back. Again, there weren’t any footprints in the snow.

Who was the assailant, the hollow man who leaves no trace? Dr Gideon Fell and Superintendent Hadley of the CID set about finding out.

Review

John Dickson Carr’s The Hollow Man is crammed with clues, red herrings and twists to keep you on your toes. It even has diagrams of the scene of the crime. The solution to the puzzle is eminently possible if somewhat implausible. All the clues are there for the reader to see long before Dickson Carr reveals the secret. You may think you are clever enough to work it out beforehand — good luck with that. The denouement is two chapters long.

Critics regard Dickson Carr as one of the masters of the locked-room, a genre that has fallen out of fashion. He crafted intricate puzzles; this novel is like a magician’s trick. It is beautifully presented, entertaining, unexpected and abounds with misdirection. But unlike a magic trick, the “how” and “who” is revealed at the end. Dickson Carr manages to do this, leaving the reader feeling impressed, not cheated.

Whilst the plot is beyond compare, the protagonists are paper-thin, and the sets move in the wind. This book will impress you, but you are unlikely to fall in love with Dickson Carr’s characters.

Excerpt

Now, it takes BRAINS, I’m telling you, to work out one of those simple tricks. And, to be a good escape-artist, a man’s got to be cool, strong, experienced, and quick as greased lightning. But they never think of the cleverness it takes just to fool ’em under their noses. I think they’d like the secret of an escape to be some unholy business like real magic; something that nobody on God’s earth could ever do. Now, no man who ever lived can make himself as thin as a postcard and slide out through a crack. No man ever crawled out through a key-hole, or pushed himself through a piece of wood. Want me to give you an example?’

‘Go on,’ said Hadley, who was looking at him curiously.

‘All right. Take the second sort first! Take the roped and sealed sack trick: one way of doing it.’ O’Rourke was enjoying himself. ‘Out comes the performer – in the middle of a group of people, if you want him to – with a light sack made out of black muslin or sateen, and big enough for him to stand up in. He gets inside. His assistant draws it up, holds the sack about six inches below the mouth, and ties it round tightly with a long handkerchief. Then the people watching can add more knots if they want to, and seal his knots and theirs with wax, and stamp ’em with signets . . . anything at all. Bang! Up goes a screen round the performer. Thirty seconds later out he walks, with the knots still tied and sealed and stamped, and the sack over his arm. Heigh-ho!’

‘Well?’

O’Rourke grinned, made the usual play with his moustache (he could not seem to leave off twisting it), and rolled on the divan.

‘Now, gents, here’s where you take a poke at me…’

The Hollow Man by John Dickson Carr