For Connoisseurs Of the Mystery Genre: The Locked Room Tale

Locked room mysteries are perhaps the most perfect type of tale to read during a quarantine. Photo by Cynthia Hochswender
For the avid detective fiction fan, there is no puzzle more alluring than a locked room mystery. In its simplest form, it is a crime (usually a murder) that has been committed in a room sealed from the inside with no way out (and in theory, no way in).
How did the perpetrator enter and escape? Solving the mystery now becomes not only a whodunnit but a howdunnit.
“Locked room” is a term that is often used not just for crimes committed in a literal locked room but also for any crime done under seemingly impossible circumstances, where it appears the criminal had no way of leaving the scene (or entering it).
For example: A dead body is found outside in the snow. There is no weapon near the body and no footsteps can be seen anywhere around it.
This could be considered a “locked room” murder, even though it does not take place in a room at all, because there appears to be no way for the crime to have been committed without the criminal vanishing into thin air afterward.
Like the armchair sleuth, the murder (or theft)-at-a-manor-party, or the inheritance-hungry family, the locked room mystery is one of the many tropes that furnishes detective fiction. They have a long and resplendent history within the genre — with “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” by Edgar Allan Poe often credited as the first murder mystery novel, as well as a locked room tale.
It’s a plot device that has been used by writers around the world, by Japanese crime writers (“The Tattoo Murder Case” by Akimitsu Takagi and “Murder in the Crooked House” by Soji Shimada), Scandinavian writers (“The Locked Room” by Maj Sjöwall) as well as by Agatha Christie in England (“The Murder of Roger Ackroyd” ) and Ellery Queen in America (look for “The King Is Dead”), with the acknowledged master of the sub-genre being John Dickson Carr, who is famous for his tricky “howdunnits” (look for “The Hollow Man” if you’d like to try one).
Mystery fans love them because it’s always more satisfying to solve a puzzle that looks impossible — but isn’t.
An important aspect of the locked room mystery is that it has to be solvable with a rational solution. Mystery fans will give thumbs down to any tale that ends with the perpetrator having the ability to walk through walls using magic or something like that.
The most ingenious mystery authors have found lots of different ways that these seemingly impossible crimes could be achieved — mechanical traps, hidden entrances, delayed deaths, suicides made to look like murders.
And the greatest of them will provide you with all the clues you need — and then still deliver an ending you never saw coming.
Many of the greatest locked room mysteries were written in the Golden Age of Crime Fiction, which roughly includes the 1920s and 1930s. Picking up a vintage paperback mystery can provide not only the fun of solving a crime in the safety of one’s home; it can also transport you to another era.
Another way to enjoy good old-fashioned crime fiction in the safety of your favorite armchair: Radio theater from The Two Of Us Productions in Copake, N.Y., which presents thrillers by golden age writers in an old-time radio format. The theater will sometimes dramatize John Dickson Carr tales. So far the schedule for this autumn includes The Shadow in “The Case of The River of Eternal Woe,” and “My Dear Niece,” both on Sept. 5; “Acting Like A Forger,” a Dragnet police story, is on Oct. 3. Additional tales are expected to be added to the schedule.
For information on the tales, and to find out how to tune in, go to www.thetwoofusproductions.org.
Emergency responders block Amenia Union Road in Sharon Saturday, Oct. 11, while responding to the vehicle crash.
Updated Oct. 13, 9:25 a.m.:
SHARON — Shea Cassidy-Teti, 17, of Salisbury, died Saturday, Oct. 11, in a tragic car crash on Amenia Union Road in Sharon.
Connecticut State Police reported Charles Teti, 62, was driving his Jeep Grand Cherokee northbound on Amenia Union Road when, for an unknown reason, the vehicle crossed the southbound lane and exited the roadway where it struck a tree and home. Airbags deployed.
Teti and front seat passenger Aidan Cassidy, 63, sustained serious injuries. Teti was airlifted to Hartford Hospital and Cassidy was transported by ambulance to Sharon Hospital for treatment.
Shea Cassidy-Teti was in the back seat and sustained fatal injuries. He was pronounced dead on scene.
Cassidy-Teti was a senior at Kent School. He played on the football and tennis teams.
The residence that was struck is located at 35 Amenia Union Road.
The case remains under open investigation. Witnesses are asked to contact Trooper Lukas Gryniuk at Troop B 860-626-1821.
LAKEVILLE — Rhys V. Bowen, 65, of Foxboro, Massachusetts, died unexpectedly in his sleep on Sept. 15, 2025. Rhys was born in Sharon, Connecticut, on April 9, 1960 to Anne H. Bowen and the late John G. Bowen. His brother, David, died in 1979.
Rhys grew up at The Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, where his father taught English. Attending Hotchkiss, Rhys excelled in academics and played soccer, basketball, and baseball. During these years, he also learned the challenges and joys of running, and continued to run at least 50 miles a week, until the day he died.
In 1982 after graduating summa cum laude from Harvard College, Rhys returned to Hotchkiss to teach biology, where he met his wife of 35 years, Rebecca (Becky) Snow. After two years of teaching, he worked at a research field site in Borneo, then went on to the University of California, Davis where he earned a PhD in Animal Behavior in 1995.
Rather than follow an academic tenure track, Rhys preferred the solitary focus of field ornithology, and he spent several decades researching the ecology of bird species in California and on Cape Cod and the Islands. Rhys believed passionately in supporting biodiversity through habitat preservation. His proudest achievements, therefore, came through his work for the Lakes Region Conservation Trust, in New Hampshire, where he served on committees and the Board of Trustees for twenty years, including three years as Chair.
Deeply intellectual and curious, Rhys learned Homeric Greek so he could read The Odyssey and The Iliad in their original language. An amateur Melville scholar, he would wax poetic about reading Moby-Dick for the umpteenth time.Rhys’s spirit was filled by the performing arts. Concerts by the Handel and Haydn Society and Boston Early Music Festival often brought tears to his eyes, while Boston Bluegrass Union shows delivered toe-tapping fidgetiness.
Rhys will be missed by his wife, Becky Snow, his mother, Anne Bowen, extended family, friends, and anyone who had the pleasure of knowing him.
A service will be held at The Hotchkiss School chapel on Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025 at 1 p.m..
In honor of Rhys’s memory, donations can be made to the Lakes Region Conservation Trust.
LAKEVILLE — Kelsey K. Horton, 43, a lifelong area resident, died peacefully on Saturday, Sept. 27, 2025, at Norwalk Hospital in Norwalk, Connecticut, following a courageous battle with cancer. Kelsey worked as a certified nursing assistant and administrative assistant at Noble Horizons in Salisbury, from 1999 until 2024, where she was a very respected and loved member of their nursing and administrative staff.
Born Oct. 4, 1981, in Sharon, she was the daughter of W. Craig Kellogg of Southern Pines, North Carolina, and JoAnne (Lukens) Tuncy and her husband Donald of Millerton, New York. Kelsey graduated with the class of 1999 from Webutuck High School in Amenia and from BOCES in 1999 with a certificate from the CNA program as well. She was a longtime member of the Lakeville United Methodist Church in Lakeville. On Oct. 11, 2003, in Poughkeepsie, New York, she married James Horton. Jimmy survives at home in Lakeville. Kelsey loved camping every summer at Waubeeka Family Campground in Copake, and she volunteered as a cheer coach for A.R.C. Cheerleading for many years. Kelsey also enjoyed hiking and gardening in her spare time and spending time with her loving family and many dear friends.
In addition to her husband and parents, Kelsey is survived by her two beloved children, Hunter Horton and Aryanna Horton, both of Lakeville; a step-brother, Jason Tuncy of East Hartford, Connecticut; her mother-in-law, Frances “Fran” Horton and her brother-in-law, Benjamin D. Horton III and his wife Penny of Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, and their son, Alec, and several aunts, uncles, cousins and many dear friends. She was predeceased by her father-in-law, Benjamin D. Horton, Jr. in 2017.
There are no calling hours. A Celebration of Life will take place on Saturday, Oct. 25, 2025, from 11 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at the Millerton American Legion Post # 178, Route 44, Millerton, NY 12546. A time to celebrate Kelsey and share stories and memories. Memorial contributions may be made to The Jane Lloyd Fund. Please make checks payable to Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation (please note in memo line, The Jane Lloyd Fund) and mail to: Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation, 800 N. Main Street, Sheffield, MA 01257.
To send an online condolence to the family, flowers to the service or to plant a tree in Kelsey’s memory, please visit www.conklinfuneralhome.com
Arrangements have been entrusted to the Scott D. Conklin Funeral Home, 37 Park Avenue, Millerton, NY 12546.
SHARON — On Sept. 27, Eliot Warren Brown was shot and killed at age 47 at his home in New Orleans, Louisiana, in a random act of violence by a young man in need of mental health services. Eliot was born and raised in Sharon, Connecticut, and attended Indian Mountain School and Concord Academy in Massachusetts. He graduated from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He and his wife Brooke moved to New Orleans to answer the call for help in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and fell in love with the city.
In addition to his wife Brooke, Eliot leaves behind his parents Malcolm and Louise Brown, his sisters Lucia (Thaddeus) and Carla (Ruairi), three nephews, and extended family and friends spread far and wide.
Normally at this point one might list some interests, but in Eliot’s case, it’s easier to list what he wasn’t interested in: watching sports.
Eliot made a living as a fine craftsman and carpenter, but at heart he was an artist. He was well versed in music, painting, literature, biking, travel, Mardi Gras costumes, poker, pranks, street performance and on and on and on.Having previously hiked the entire Camino de Santiago in Spain and Portugal, he recently achieved another dream of summiting the highest stratovolcano in North America.
Eliot’s creative ability was astounding. His creations were designed to bring joy to others. He didn’t seek recognition or praise, and a large part of his work was anonymous. Pieces of art would appear in the community, encouraging people to think, connect and enjoy.
From the precociously funny and determinedly defiant boy that grew up in the Northwest corner of Connecticut, Eliot grew into a brilliant, gentle souled, boundlessly creative, ever mischievous, perpetually scraggly, and astoundingly wise and caring man who made an indelible impact on those who were lucky to have him in their lives.
In honor of Eliot, please consider making donations to organizations that work to end gun violence, support the arts, or provide mental health services. A service will be held at the Congregational Church in Salisbury on Sunday Oct. 26 at 2 p.m.