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This podcast is intended for mature audiences. Listener discretion is advised. If you're a fan of classic murder mysteries and thrilling detective stories, you may be familiar with a particular plot device intended to set the scene for a suspenseful narrative. From the books of Agatha Christie to Stephen King, literary murders

that occur under seemingly impossible circumstances are known as locked room mysteries.

Taking the facts at face value, the crime not only initially appears to be a case of the perfect murder,

it's also one which appears impossible to unravel, let alone actually identify the culprit.

The scenario is usually one where there are no immediate clues how the perpetrator could have entered the crime scene,

or how they were able to make their escape.

The only thing left behind is the unfortunate victim.

Doors found to be locked from the inside are a tried and true setup, albeit somewhat dramatic.

But as the mystery nears its climactic peak, the pieces start to fall into place. The protagonist surprises

the killer with the big reveal by confronting them with a calm, logical breakdown of how they may

have pulled it off, and evaded detection. The usually shocking revelation of the offender's identity

ends with a trip to the police station to await trial.

Of course, it's all in a day's work for the hero, who we know is secretly always one step

ahead of everyone else, thanks to their intuition and heightened sense of perception.

You might think the adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Poirot, and Nancy Drew are sometimes so fantastical

they could have only come from the writer's imagination. But every now and then, the truth

really is stranger than fiction, and life really does imitate art. Almost a hundred years ago, the locked room scenario is precisely what New York City police detectives found themselves facing.

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