Written by Nardeen Al Saffar
If there is anything that we have learned over the past few months of a global pandemic, it’s that being stuck somewhere is no fun. Being stuck somewhere with other people, even your own family, is complicated, to say the least. Now imagine a group of people, each with their own personality, history, and motivations, then take away all avenues of escape, and add an unsolvable crime. What you would have is a “locked room mystery”, where it appears that the perpetrator has vanished into thin air, leaving little obvious evidence. Imagine a mystery taking place in a socially-distanced bubble.
The locked room mystery has been around for a long time, with a popular example being Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, where ten strangers are lured to an island, and start dying off one by one. The appeal is that the physical limitations of the story means that the person “whodunnit” has to be in the initial group of people. There is an indirect challenge to the reader to solve the crime before the final, satisfying reveal. It makes for a gripping, hair-raising read, requiring little effort other than sitting back and letting events reveal all the clues.
Here are a few modern “locked room” mysteries that will have you reading from cover-to-cover in a single-sitting. These are highly recommended for getting out of a reading rut, and escaping our very own global “locked room”.
The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware
Rowan Caine is a live-in nanny whose sole responsibility is the care of two little girls, who live in a “smart” home on the Scottish highlands, while their parents are away for work. Rowan has to contend with the emotional isolation of caring for young children, and the fact that her only adult contact with the outside world is the janitor, Jack. Add the eeriness of physical isolation, compounded by the malfunctioning technology of the house, and you have an eerie tale, told in Rachel’s desperate letters from prison to her lawyer. Something went seriously wrong, and there are only a handful of people who could have been responsible.
The Escape Room by Megan Goldin
Who doesn’t want to be stuck in a small, confined space with their work colleagues? And apparently as small as a Zoom meeting room might be, the confines of an elevator in an isolated construction site with three other people is much more stifling. Told from the alternating perspective of Sara, and one of her colleagues stuck in the elevator, things escalate quickly from what seems to be a team-building exercise, to an all-out struggle for survival. A team shares both it successes and its failures, and also the consequences of its behaviour.
They All Fall Down by Rachel Howzell Hall
Seven strangers receive an invitation to a private island under the pretense of a reality TV show competition. Told from the first-person perspective of Miriam, things quickly escalate, and they realise that they have each been brought to the island for a secret they’ve been harbouring, and it’s time for a reckoning. This one is directly inspired by, and is a modern retelling of Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None.
Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty
Liane Moriarty is best known for Big Little Lies and her empathy and insight into people’s motivations, which is reflected in Nine Perfect Strangers. Nine people arrive at a remote wellness resort to work on varying personal goals for ten days that are meant to change their lives. Their lives do change, but not as advertised in the brochures. There’s something not quite right about Tranquilium House, and ultimately the guests have to decide what their true values and priorities are.
An Unwanted Guest by Shari Lapena
A weekend at a hotel in the snowy mountains sounds like the perfect cozy getaway, even if it means a storm has cut off the hotel staff and eight guests from civilisation. That’s until one guest dies mysteriously, and then another. As the body count rises, paranoia sets in and the accusations fly. By the time the police arrive, the guests and staff have been through a harrowing experience.
The Darkest Secret by Alex Marwood
Three year old Coco Jackson goes missing at her family’s vacation home after her father’s 50th birthday party, and is never seen again. The mystery goes unsolved until the death of the father, Sean Jackson, many years later. Sean’s family and their friends finally meet for his funeral and attempt to bury the past, only to dig it up and have to face it first. There is no way anyone could see this conclusion coming!
We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
Set on a private island, the Sinclair cousins meet when their families visit in the summer. The relationships between their parents and their grandparents have an inevitable, lasting effect on their summers and the rest of their lives. It’s a beautiful, quiet, yet suspenseful read, that has you gasping at the conclusion, which again, you will never see coming!
The Last by Hanna Jameson
Set in a world that quickly unraveled after an apocalyptic nuclear event, twenty guests deal with their abrupt disconnection from life as they knew it. They also contend with each other as resources deplete and a body is discovered in the hotel’s water tank. Events are narrated through the eyes of Jon, a historian by occupation who is away from his wife and two kids, and describes how we cope when we are forced to deal with the unthinkable.
The Guest List by Lisa Foley
Set on a remote island off the coast of Ireland, The Guest List is the tale of events that take place at a wedding. It’s told from the first-person perspectives of the wedding planner Aoife, Jules the bride, Hannah the “plus-one”, Johnno the best man, and Olivia the bridesmaid. The varying points of view make for a dizzying read, that digs into each of the characters personalities and motives. It’s a slow burn that will have you wondering who the victim was, who murdered them, and why.
