Amazing Stories from the Web
THE LOCKED ROOM MYSTERY
Pre-Reading: Discussion Questions
1. Which kind of transport is the safest? Why?
2. What kind of crime is the most difficult to solve?
 Jacques Futrelle |
“It was only a fleeting glimpse of her I caught as she sped along the brilliantly lighted hallway, past the half-open door of my room. A young woman she was, with the splendid grace of youth in her carriage, lithe as a leopard, supple of limb…” Thus begins “The Mystery of Room 666”, a story by Jacques Futrelle first published in 1910. The style is characteristic of the epoch: the narrator hears “the swish” of a lady’s clothes; women cover their faces with veils; and when running away from danger, they are “hampered by skirts”. Everybody and anybody faints at the sight of a dead body. The atmosphere of a place where a crime occurred is always sinister. Even the room number, the magical triple six, is associated with evil. Quite often, the last phrase of a story is designed to leave the reader breathless.
 Mrs. Lily Futrelle (nee Peel) |
Futrelle wrote a great number of mysteries. Many of them feature The Thinking Machine, which is the nickname of his private detective, Professor S.F.X. Van Dusen, who is the central character in many stories, including “The Problem of Cell 13”, a classical Locked Room Mystery. Professor Van Dusen is clearly a distant literary relative of Mycroft Holmes, Sherlock Holmes’s brother who solves mysteries while sitting in his arm-chair. A crime which occurs in a room locked from the inside, preferably with the key in the lock, with all the windows closed, has been used by various writers many times afterwards.
Jacques Futrelle (1875–1912) was an American journalist, mystery writer, novelist, born in Pike County, Georgia. Like most of his contemporaries, he started work early, as a junior reporter for a newspaper. Before the age of twenty, Futrelle had met his great love and fellow writer, L. May Peel. He was working for a newspaper in Atlanta, then he moved to Boston, and a bit later he was offered a job in New York. He missed Peel too much however, and before taking a job with the New York Herald, Jacques and May married in Georgia in July 1895. For a time, the couple enjoyed the New York literary life, meeting with such notable figures as Edith Wharton and O. Henry. Futrelle then moved with his wife to work for the Boston American newspaper.
In addition to his work as a journalist, Jacques Futrelle, now a family man, began to write stories which were serialized in newspapers and magazines. Soon, the first Thinking Machine book, The Chase of the Golden Plate, was published. Several other Thinking Machine novels followed, including The Simple Case of Susan (1908), Elusive Isabel (1909), and The High Hand (1911). Futrelle’s stories were hugely successful in the United States, and the couple had traveled to Europe in 1912 to arrange for the publication of his books there. Jacques Futrelle was greeted by the publishers and the reading public as “the American Conan Doyle”, and his Thinking Machine was often compared to Sherlock Holmes, the most celebrated fictional detective of the era. Jacques and his wife May were a very charming, still young couple, who had two teenage children at home. After numerous meetings with celebrities, literary dinners, and various events in Europe, Jacques Futrelle signed several contracts worth about $17,000, a huge sum for that time. Then the Futrelles decided to return home to the United States, to celebrate their European success, and to spend time with their children. Jacques was eager to start writing new stories. Happy, excited, successful beyond their wildest dreams, they booked passage on the maiden voyage of the ship which was supposed to be the latest and greatest in luxury ocean liners.
On April 10, 1912, Jacques Futrelle and his wife May boarded The Titanic – and sailed into eternity.
The Titanic hit an iceberg on the night of April 14, 1912. As the ship began to sink, Jacques Futrelle encouraged his wife to get on one of the lifeboats. She was reluctant to leave him, but he insisted. He told her, “It’s your last chance, go,” according to an article in the New York Times. After May was forced on to a lifeboat, Jacques reportedly stood on deck with Colonel John Jacob Astor. Futrelle, Astor, and approximately 1,500 others perished when the Titanic sank into the North Atlantic early on April 15.
Modern American writer Max Allan Collins, who specializes in novelizations of famous films, like In the Line of Fire, Air Force One, Saving Private Ryan and others, wrote several mysteries. The action takes place during a real-life disaster. In his novel The Titanic Murders (1999) Jacques Futrelle and his wife are the main heroes.
If you are interested in this story, you may find more data about Jacques Futrelle and his family, as well as about The Titanic. Just use any search engine or <wikipedia.org>. Jacques Futrelle’s stories are included into many anthologies. You may also read his stories and novels online.