The Big Bow Mystery by
Israel Zangwill is a fine little mystery, one of the earliest locked room detective stories where an impossible crime has apparently taken place. The joy of these kinds of stories (which were very popular in the Interwar Period) is the journey as we follow the detective who investigates the scenario thoroughly, applying logical reasoning to make the impossible actually possible.
Once you get to the conclusion in this story (which can be hard work at times, the story does drag a bit) it is undoubtably interesting though maybe (spoiler alert) a bit of a cheat. (The detective did it, the victim was still alive when he broke the door open). The use of psychology is clever however.
An interesting bit of late Victorian social comment and satire, though can be a bit slow.
