impossible crime
Seemingly unsolvable felony
An impossible crime is a mystery subgenre where a crime—usually murder—occurs under circumstances that seem to defy explanation: a body found in a locked room with no exit, a victim stabbed in untouched snow with no footprints.
The detective's task is revealing the ingenious method behind the apparent impossibility.
Also called a locked-room mystery.
- locked roomEnclosed space, secured shut
- locked room mysteryPuzzle with no evident escape
- alibiDefense of location
- detectiveProfessional crime investigator
- armchair detectiveOne solving mysteries remotely
mystery · fair play · vanishing · sleuth · clue · baffling · unsolvable · phantom · sealed · secret passage · disappearance · ingenious · deduction · puzzle · trick · illusion · witness · motive
- mysteryclue, detective, suspect, clues, sleuth
- mystery fictionwhodunit, whodunnit, sleuth, murder mystery, detective novel
- whodunitswhodunit, murder mystery, detective, sleuth, clue
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