The full list of impossible mystery short stories

This will be a fairly boring post, because it'll mainly consist of the list of all those short stories that I identified as good and/or important enough to belong to the ultimate selection of impossible mystery stories. But I guess it's good to have them all in one place so it's easy to refer to the list whenever necessary.

First one other thing though. One of the stories I selected is "Dnr 94.028.72- Mord" by Jan Ekström, mainly because of its great setup. Just the other day I managed to find out that this story has actually been translated into English, so if anyone wants to check it out it's possible to do so. It was published in the anthology "Locked Rooms and Open Spaces", published by Battered Silicon Dispatch Box, which seems to be a collection of Swedish locked room mysteries. I've not read it myself, but Ekström's story is good enough that you might want to seek it out. As a bonus you'll get around 10 other stories that might be worth the price of admission...

Anyway, back to this big list. In the end, I selected a whopping 212 stories. And that's not all, because then there's all the Dr. Hawthorne stories by Ed Hoch, where I have a hard time selecting which should be discarded... Even if I manage to cull them down to a more manageable number, I'm sure there'll be another 20-30 stories to add to the list.

The list is ordered chronologically after publication year. That's a bit misleading, because some stories weren't published until long after they were written - and some of the other stories are written as pastiches of earlier times, so reading them in this order would not necessarily mean that you go from old-fashioned stuff to more modern writings, though the general trend is obviously in that direction. I was happily surprised to see that there's so many stories from recent years. For all my griping about modern mysteries, it's apparent that the subgenre is alive and well.

In coming posts, I will try to divide these stories in different groups according to various criteria that I think are useful. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. Enjoy this list instead. And please alert me if you spot any mistakes.

Edgar Allan Poe	The Murders on the Rue Morgue	1841
Edgar Allan Poe	The Purloined Letter	1844
Arthur Conan Doyle	The Speckled Band	1892
Arthur Conan Doyle	The Lost Special	1898
Samuel Hopkins Adams	The Flying Death	1903
Victor L. Whitechurch	Sir Gilbert Murrell's Picture	1905
Jacques Futrelle	The Problem of Cell 13	1907
Jacques Futrelle	The Missing Necklace	1908
Freeman Wills Crofts	The Mystery of the Sleeping-Car Express	1909
R. Austin Freeman	Aluminium Dagger	1909
G. K. Chesterton	The Invisible Man	1911
G. K. Chesterton	The Secret Garden	1911
Melville Davisson Post	The Doomdorf Mystery	1914
Ernest Bramah	The Tragedy at Brookbend Cottage	1914
Edgar Wallace	Missing Romney	1919
Arthur Conan Doyle	Thor Bridge	1922
Jacques Futrelle	Absence of Air	1922
Agatha Christie	The $1,000,000 Bond Robbery	1923
Agatha Christie	The Sign in the Sky	1925
Agatha Christie	At the Bells and Motley	1925
Edgar Jepson & Robert Eustace	The Tea Leaf	1925
G. K. Chesterton	The Oracle of the Dog	1926
G. K. Chesterton	The Vanishing of Vaudrey	1927
Agatha Christie	Temple of Astarte	1928
G. D. H. Cole & Margaret Cole	In a Telephone Cabinet	1928
Grenville Robbins	Broadcast Murder	1928
John Dickson Carr	The Murder in Number Four	1928
Nicholas Olde	Invisible Weapon	1928
MacKinlay Kantor	The Strange Case of Steinkelwintz	1929
Agatha Christie	A Christmas Tragedy	1930
Ronald Knox	Solved by Inspection	1931
Lord Dunsany	The Two Bottles of Relish	1932
Dorothy L. Sayers	The Poisoned Dow '08	1933
Vincent Cornier	Duel of Shadows	1934
Agatha Christie	Problem at Sea	1935
Agatha Christie	Miss Marple Tells a Story	1935
C. Daly King	Codex' Curse	1935
C. Daly King	Nail and Requiem	1935
C. Daly King	Vanishing Harp	1935
Ellery Queen	House of Darkness	1935
Ellery Queen	Lamp of God	1935
Agatha Christie	Poirot and the Regatta Mystery	1936
Agatha Christie	Murder in the Mews	1936
John Dickson Carr	The Wrong Problem	1936
Agatha Christie	The Dream	1937
Agatha Christie	Dead Man's Mirror	1937
John Dickson Carr	Blind Man's Hood	1937
John Dickson Carr	The Third Bullet	1937
Margery Allingham	The Border-Line Case	1937
Cornell Woolrich	The Room with Something Wrong	1938
John Dickson Carr	Persons and Things Unknown	1938
John Dickson Carr	Crime in Nobody's Room	1938
John Dickson Carr	King Arthur's Chair	1938
E. C. Bentley	The Flying Shot	1939
John Dickson Carr	Silver Curtain	1939
John Dickson Carr	Emtpy Flat	1939
John Dickson Carr	The Diamond Pentacle	1939
John Dickson Carr	Strictly Diplomatic	1939
John Dickson Carr	The Proverbial Murder	1940
Stuart Towne	Ghost of the Undead	1940
Stuart Towne	Death out of Thin Air	1940
Stuart Towne	Claws of Satan	1940
Stuart Towne	The Enchanted Dagger	1940
Craig Rice	His Heart Could Break	1943
James Yaffe	Department of Impossible Crimes	1943
C. Daly King	Little Girl Who Wasn't There	1944
James Yaffe	The Problem of the Emperor's Mushrooms	1945
Leonard Thompson	Close Shave	1946
Ngaio Marsh	I Can Find My Way Out	1946
John Dickson Carr	The House in Goblin Wood	1947
Joseph Commings	Fingerprint Ghost	1947
Joseph Commings	Murder Under Glass	1947
Joseph Commings	Spectre on the Lake	1947
Manly Wade Wellman	A Knife Between Brothers	1947
Clayton Rawson	From Another World	1948
Ellery Queen	The Dauphin's Doll	1948
Fredric Brown	The Laughing Butcher	1948
Helen McCloy	Through a Glass, Darkly	1948
Joseph Commings	Black Friar Murders	1948
Joseph Commings	Death by Black Magic	1948
Clayton Rawson	Off the Face of the Earth	1949
Edmund Crispin	Beware of the Trains	1949
Joseph Commings	Ghost in the Gallery	1949
Judson Philips	Room Number 23	1949
Thomas Flanagan	The Fine Italian Hand	1949
Edmund Crispin	Name on the Window	1950
Ellery Queen	Double Your Money	1951
Peter Godfrey	Newtonian Egg	1951
Vincent Cornier	O Time, In Your Flight	1951
Afonso Carreiro	Lying Dead and Turning Cold	1952
Ellery Queen	Snowball in July	1952
Anthony Boucher	The Anomaly of the Empty Man	1953
Adrian Conan Doyle & John Dickson Carr	The Adventure of the Sealed Room	1954
John Basye Price	Death and the Rope Trick	1954
Edmund Crispin	A Country to Sell	1955
Edward D. Hoch	The Man from Nowhere	1956
Edward D. Hoch	The Hoofs of Satan	1956
John Dickson Carr	Ministry of Miracles	1956
Agatha Christie	Greenshaw’s Folly	1957
Joseph Commings	Serenade to a Killer	1957
Christianna Brand	Cyanide in the Sun	1958
Clayton Rawson	Nothing Is Impossible	1958
Clayton Rawson	Miracles - All in the Day's Work	1958
Hugh Pentecost	The Day the Children Vanished	1958
Poul Anderson	The Martian Crown Jewels	1958
Samuel W. Taylor	Deadfall	1958
Edward D. Hoch	Sword for a Sinner	1959
Theodore Mathieson	Leonardo da Vinci, Detective	1959
Anthony Boucher	Gandolphus	1960
Arthur Porges	Horse-Collar Homicide	1960
Arthur Porges	No Killer Has Wings	1960
Edmund Crispin	Too Clever for Scotland Yard	1960
Joseph Commings	Murderer's Progress	1960
Arthur Porges	A Puzzle in the Sand	1961
Julian Symons	As If By Magic	1961
Joseph Commings	Castanets, Canaries and Murder	1962
Joseph Commings	The X Street Murders	1962
Joseph Commings	Hangman's House	1962
Arthur Porges	Birds of One Feather	1963
Joseph Commings	The Giant's Sword	1963
Arthur Porges	Coffee Break	1964
John F. Suter	The Impossible Theft	1964
Michael Collins	No Way Out	1964
Edward D. Hoch	The Long Way Down	1965
Stephen Barr	The Locked House	1965
William Krohn	Dr Satanus	1965
Arthur Porges	The Scientist and the Vanished Weapon	1966
Joseph Commings	The Glass Gravestone	1966
Michael Harrison	The Facts in the Case of the Missing Diplomat	1966
Arthur Porges	The Scientist and the Multiple Murder	1967
Arthur Porges	The Scientist and the Invisible Safe	1967
Arthur Porges	Murder of a Priest	1967
Harry Kemelman	The Man on the Ladder	1967
John Lutz	The Crooked Picture	1967
Stanley Ellin	The Twelfth Statue	1967
Anthony Boucher	The Smoke-Filled Locked Room	1968
Christianna Brand	The Gemminy Crickets Case	1968
Edward D. Hoch	The Magic Bullet	1968
Edward D. Hoch	The 'Impossible' Impossible Murder	1968
William Brittain	Mr. Strang Takes a Field Trip	1968
Edward D. Hoch	The Vanishing of Velma	1969
Edward D. Hoch	The Leopold Locked Room	1971
Jeffrey Wallmann	Now You See Her	1971
Edward D. Hoch	A Melee of Diamonds	1972
Bill Pronzini	Proof of Guilt	1973
Jan Ekström	Reg. No. 94.028/72 Murder	1973
Arthur Porges	The Scientist and the Exterminator	1974
Edward D. Hoch	Captain Leopold and the Ghost Killer	1974
William Brittain	The Impossible Footprint	1974
Arthur Porges	The Scientist and the Missing Pistol	1975
Edward D. Hoch	The Theft of the Bermuda Penny	1975
Edward D. Hoch	The Theft of the Venetian Window	1975
Bill Pronzini	The Arrowmont Prison Riddle	1976
Edward D. Hoch	Impossible Murder	1976
William Brittain	Mr. Strang Accepts a Challenge	1976
Jack Ritchie	Box in a Box	1977
Bill Pronzini	Pulp Connection	1978
Bill Pronzini	Thin Air	1979
Joseph Commings & Edward D. Hoch	Stairway to Nowhere	1979
Peter Godfrey	Flung-Back Lid	1979
Bill Pronzini	Where Have You Gone, Sam Spade?	1980
J. F. Peirce	The Magician's Wife	1981
Edward D. Hoch	The Witch of Park Avenue	1982
Edward D. Hoch	The Theft of the White Queen's Menu	1983
Edward D. Hoch	The Vanished Steamboat	1984
Joseph Commings	The Vampire in the Iron Mask	1984
H. Edward Hunsberger	Eternally Yours	1985
Edward D. Hoch	The Return of the Speckled Band	1987
Stephen King	The Doctor's Case	1987
William F. Smith	Almost Perfect Crime	1987
Paul Halter	The Dead Dance at Night	1988
Hake Talbot	The Other Side	1990
Paul Halter	The Night of the Wolf	1990
Paul Halter	The Tunnel of Death	1993
Bill Pronzini	Cloud Cracker	1994
Bill Pronzini	Desert Limited	1995
Bill Pronzini	Horseshoe Nail	1997
Edward D. Hoch	Shower of Daggers	1997
Lynne Wood Block & Lawrence Block	Burglar Who Smelled Smoke	1997
Bill Pronzini	Medium Rare	1998
Paul Halter	The Call of the Lorelei	1998
Paul Halter	The Flower Girl	1998
Paul Halter	Murder in Cognac	1999
Amy Myers	Murder Strips Off	2000
Edward Marston	Blind Eyes	2000
Kate Ellis	Odour of Sanctity	2000
Margaret Frazer	Traveller's Tale	2000
Michael Kurland	Stolen Saint Simon	2000
Paul Halter	The Cleaver	2000
Peter Lovesey	Amorous Corpse	2000
Peter Tremayne	Murder in the Air	2000
Susanna Gregory	Ice Elation	2000
Paul Halter	The Abominable Snowman	2002
Paul Halter	The Robber's Grave	2002
J. A. Konrath	On the Rocks	2004
Joseph Commings	The Whispering Gallery	2004
Edward D. Hoch	The Gravesend Trumpet	2005
J. A. Konrath	With a Twist	2005
Bill Pronzini	Devil's Brew	2006
Bill Pronzini	The Carville Ghost	2007
Edward D. Hoch	Gypsy Gold	2007
Maria Hudgins	Murder on the London Eye	2007
Hal White	Murder at an Island Mansion	2008
Hal White	Murder in a Sealed Loft	2008
Paul Halter	Nausicaa's Ball	2008
Arthur Porges	The Scientist and the Poisoner	2009
Arthur Porges	The Scientist and the Heavenly Alibi	2009
Soji Shimada	The Locked House of Pythagoras	2013
Paul Halter	Jacob's Ladder	2014
Rintarō Norizuki	The Lure of the Green Door	2014
Szu-Yen Lin	The Miracle on Christmas Eve	2016
Jochen Füseler	The Witch Doctor's Revenge	2017
Pietro de Palma	The Barese Mystery	2017
Edward D. Hoch	The Hawthorne mysteries	1974-2008