The December 2020 #WotNReadingChallenge Prompt Is…

We’ve reached the end. Hard as it may be to believe, 2020 is almost over. This is the last #WotNReadingChallenge prompt post. How do we feel about this?

Like all the others, this #WotNReadingChallenge prompt was finalized in December of last year, well before lockdown happened. The prompt is “A locked room mystery”, which really seems like the punchline to the joke “What happens if you’re quarantining with someone you absolutely can’t stand?” Anyway, here are 10 locked room mysteries to sit at home with.

10 Locked Room Mysteries for Your December 2020 #WotNReadingChallenge

The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie

The Queen of Crime contributed several works to this subgenre, but this was her first. Colonel Hastings arrives at Styles, where his old friends live. The matriarch of the family suddenly dies, but it is not at all clear who is at fault.

Before the Fall by Noah Hawley

One winter’s day, a plane suddenly crashes. There is only one survivor, a young boy. Considering how many notable people were on that plane, could its crash have been an accident? Focuses a lot on the aftereffects of the disaster.

They All Fall Down by Rachel Howzell Hall

Seven strangers arrive at an island. It suddenly becomes clear that they are there under false pretenses, and someone wants them all dead. Clearly inspired by Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, Howzell Hall adds stylings of modern life to expected plot twists.

Salvation of a Saint by Keigo Higashino

While a woman is away on a trip, her husband dies suddenly when he is alone in the house. Suspicion naturally falls on her, but is there any possible way she could have done it? What about anyone else?

The Last by Hanna Jameson

After the nuclear apocalypse, twenty people live together in a hotel. One day, a young girl is found murdered in a water tank. These survivors must figure out who is responsible for her death and continue to survive in this eviscerated world.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

Although this book does not center around a murder, there are multiple mentions of sexual assault.
When Mikael Blomkvist is fired from his job, he is quickly hired to solve a cold case. Obviously, he eventually teams up with the eponymous girl, master hacker Lisbeth Salander.

The Psychology of Time Travel by Kate Mascarenhas

Some years after time machines are invented, a body is found in a locked room. How does the corpse tie in to that history? How did this person die in a locked room?

Murder in the Crooked House by Soji Shimada

Eccentric millionaire Kozaburo Hamamoto has built an eccentric house. This means that when someone is murdered in his beloved house, it doesn’t seem like any one person could have done it.

The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton

Samuel Pipps, the greatest detective in the world, has been arrested for reasons his companion, Arent Hayes, cannot comprehend. Now, the pair are remanded on a ship, where a few mysterious deaths start occurring. However, Pipps can’t go detect, being a prisoner and all. Therefore, Hayes must discover whether the deaths are supernatural, or the creations of a crafty killer.

The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware

This locked room mystery is a little more abstract. While on a cruise, Lo Blacklock could have sworn that she saw a woman thrown overboard. However, it doesn’t seem like anyone is missing. Has Lo lost her mind or is someone up to something nefarious?