Alias Simon Hawkes

Sherlock Holmes, living in New York City under the alias of Simon Hawkes while fleeing retribution from the surviving remnants of the criminal organization of Professor Moriarty, participated in the solving of many crimes that otherwise flummoxed the New York City police. One such case is "The Adventure of the Glass Room". An historical crime of sorts as it is the first recorded "locked room within a locked room" mystery. A "glass room" is erected in a man's parlor prior to a séance, so as to forbid the psychic at the séance any opportunity to introduce trickery into the event. The man, Pritchett and the psychic enter this glass room and then are locked inside. Then all leave the parlor in which the glass room stands and the parlor doors are locked. Five minutes later, Pritchett and the psychic are dead, an apparent murder/suicide. What else? For both bodies are found inside the still-bolted-shut glass room inside the still locked parlor. But, despite the apparent impossibility that this could be a case of a double murder, that's what it is. The two deceased people are the victims of an ingenious crime that requires all the cleverness of Holmes to solve it. The following is an excerpt:

"Ah, I see you getting that gleam in your eyes, Mr. Hawkes. Let me tell you flat out there is no mystery here except as to why he did what he did. It'll be clear when you know as much as we do. All right, here are the facts." Cullen pulled out his notebook and referred to it. "This... contraption of glass... was the brainchild of Pritchett. We have your statement and others confirming that. Charlotte Davreux arrived here at the Pritchett house around eleven this morning. She and Pritchett had a small lunch together—quite cordial, or so says the servant who gave them their food—and then afterwards they came into this room to begin the séance...

..."Here's what happened. Besides Pritchett and the medium, four others were in the room prior to the door being locked. They were: Parish, the butler, Mary the maid, and Pritchett's stepfather and his mother. All four watched while the medium and Pritchett entered the glass contraption here through that door. Once inside, Pritchett himself closed the door shut and bolted it. The candle was then lit and the other lights—this house is one that still has gas lights—here in the room were extinguished. At that point everyone left and Parish rolled the hideaway double doors together and locked them, assuring no one else could enter the parlor."

"So, if I understand correctly," broke in Hawkes, "Pritchett and Charlotte Davreux are then both left alone, sitting within a sealed room of glass that is itself standing within a locked room."

"Right," said Cullen. "What's more, after locking the door, while the butler and maid and the stepfather went off, Mrs. Burgess, Pritchett's mother, went directly across the hall into another room to read a novel. From her chair she had a view of the entrance to the parlor the entire time and she is prepared to swear that no one entered the room the entire time, from the moment the door was locked by Parish until the time the shots were heard from inside... "

..."If all that is true, then it must follow that no one entered the room after the doors were locked shut."

"Exactly. Five minutes or so after Parish locks up, two shots ring out. Mrs. Burgess is so startled by the sound she drops the book she's reading. She stands and runs straight to the doors, bangs on them, calling to her son. That's all she can do since she doesn't have a key. Parish arrives a minute or so later, the maid is right behind him. He produces the key and opens the doors.

"The three all enter the room together. That's important. The room is dark for the drapes are pulled across the window. The only light comes from the candle on the table burning behind the glass. Through the glass they see the gruesome sight of the... the murder/suicide. The candlelight is strong enough for all to be immediately clear. Parish said it was an eerie sight, 'ghostly', is what he said. What with the candlelight and the glimmering glass, it looked like something spectral, 'a ghostly scene in the dark of the room' is what he said.

...The three, Parish, the maid and the mother, then stand horrified for a few ticks of the clock, then Pritchett's mother screams and she rushes to go to her son. As though her scream was a shouted order to move, Parish and the maid go forward to the glass as well. The mother tries to push the door open, but cannot, for it remains bolted from the inside." Cullen's voice emphasized the fact by stressing the last seven words. "It's Parish who ends up breaking the glass of the door. He who then reaches inside and removes the bolt. They all, Parish, the maid and the mother agree on these facts—" Cullen's voice here became deliberate again, once more emphasizing the words. "—that the door was bolted from the inside when they entered the parlor and that the glass had to be broken in order to get to Pritchett and the medium."

In addition Alias Simon Hawkes offers us "The Adventure of the Magic Alibi" in which a killer's alibi is dependent upon a group of people all willing to swear that the man was with them at the time of the murder, even though none of them saw him at the time. Impossible? No, rather another ingenious crime.

Also, we are given "The Adventure of the Captive Forger" and "The Adventure of the Talking Ghost". In total, four engrossing adventures that may be among the cleverest mysteries ever written.