Fifteen short stories set during WWII:
The Problem of Annabelle's Ark: Plot: Telling stories and memories of his time in the small New England town of Northmont Dr. Sam begins with the time he looked into the killing of a pet cat at a veterinarian's clinic that appears to be a locked room death. Review: a little more character development was needed and the solution is fairly preposterous, like many of these tales. But fun nonetheless. ***
The Problem of the Potting Shed: Plot: Dr. Sam is called on to look into a locked-room death that at first is ruled a suicide. Review: appropriately logical solution to what is actually not a suicide. ***
The Problem of the Yellow Wallpaper: Plot: Sam looks into helping a woman who is suffering from a mental crisis, who then disappears from a room. Review: Somewhat preposterous back-story that I couldn't believe the husband and missing wife were involved in. *
The Problem of the Haunted Hospital: Plot: When a woman claims she sees a ghost in her room she is moved to another room. Her replacement is found dead the next morning. Review: we get some more of Sam's personal life unfolding, but the crime and the killer's motive is so preposterous that it left a bad feeling about the story. *
The Problem of the Travelers Tale: Plot: Sam and the sheriff look into a hiker's claim that he came across a wanted man living nearby. Review: Lackadaisical tale with a locked-room and a villain who acts in the most stupid way possible. *
The Problem of Bailey's Buzzard: Plot: Sam and new wife Annabel postpone their honeymoon after Pearl Harbor is attacked and spend time with a friend who owns a horse farm. Review: An uptick in the stories. Sam's personal life continues to be revealed and it's like chapters in a longer book in which a crime happens in each one. This was a nice tale although it was a let-down when one of the more pleasant characters is killed since it'd have been good to follow the victim's friendship with Sam and Annabelle. There is also a sub-plot about a civil war general's re-internment that gives Sam another puzzle to solve. ***
The Problem of the Interrupted Séance: Plot: Sam attends a séance at a patient's request as she tries to contact her son, killed at Pearl Harbor. Another death occurs at the event. Review: getting to be more interesting about Sam's life at the start of WWII than the mysteries. This one was ok, but the motive and actions of the culprit were so preposterous that it made this a failed attempt. **
Problem of the Candidate's Cabin: Plot: a week before the election for sheriff, the current one â and friend of Sam â is implicated in a locked room murder. Review: one of the characters keeps a pet monkey in a cage, and that colored the distasteful feeling I had about the whole story. OK solution to the locked room problem (no, they prove the monkey didn't do it.) **
The Problem of the Black Cloister: Plot: A former town resident, now a Hollywood actor, returns for a bond-drive rally and meets an unexpected end. Review: A good entry, with Sam uncovering what was behind two deaths, that occurred over twenty years apart. ****
The Problem of the Secret Passage: Plot: Sam plays âUnlockâ Holmes to stir up interest in war-time scrap metal drives. A day after discovering a trove of old radiators at a local man's barn, the man is found dead in a locked room. Review: Satisfyingly told tale, although at the end you'll wonder why the solution wasn't obvious (unless you had figured it out already.) ****
The Problem of Devil's Orchard: Plot: It's 1943 and the apparent disappearance of a young draftee days before leaving for the Army is looked into by Sam and the police. Review: Again, it's more interesting to get a glimpse of the town's people during the war then the pretty silly premise and solution to the mystery. *
The Problem of The Shepherd's Ring: Plot: a man threatens to get away with killing his neighbor by becoming invisible. Then the neighbor dies but no one saw the man who threatened him enter or leave the home. Review: enjoyable entry with logical solution. ***
The Problem of the Suicide Cabin: Plot: As time for delivery of their child approaches, Sam and Annabelle spend time at a lake-side cabin where two deaths occurred in previous years. When another death occurs in the locked-tight cabin, Sam discovers how it was done. Review: As both WWII and these stories come to an end, this is a satisfying entry in the list. ****
The Problem of the Summer Snowman: Plot: As the war enters its final year, Sam looks into the locked-room death of a young man who might have been stabbed by what a witness describes as a snowman entering his house. Review: OK story where justice is served by the war itself and not the US Justice system. ***
The Problem of the Secret Patient: Plot: Sam meets with an FBI agent and told of a patient coming to the hospital for a brief time who needs medical care before being moved to a secure location. But he dies under impossible conditions before he is moved. Review: Kind of silly premise and the motive behind the death makes very little sense, although the method is clever. **
The First Edition hardback contains a pamphlet with an addition story by Hoch and the writer of the book's introduction, Josh Pachter, called The Spy and the Suicide Club. Plot: when a man in charge of secret agent lists dies, the government reaches out to a former agent to uncover the dead man's contacts, made through a suicide society. Review: nothing to do with Dr. Sam, so more interesting. Clever denouement. *****
The Problem of Annabelle's Ark: Plot: Telling stories and memories of his time in the small New England town of Northmont Dr. Sam begins with the time he looked into the killing of a pet cat at a veterinarian's clinic that appears to be a locked room death. Review: a little more character development was needed and the solution is fairly preposterous, like many of these tales. But fun nonetheless. ***
The Problem of the Potting Shed: Plot: Dr. Sam is called on to look into a locked-room death that at first is ruled a suicide. Review: appropriately logical solution to what is actually not a suicide. ***
The Problem of the Yellow Wallpaper: Plot: Sam looks into helping a woman who is suffering from a mental crisis, who then disappears from a room. Review: Somewhat preposterous back-story that I couldn't believe the husband and missing wife were involved in. *
The Problem of the Haunted Hospital: Plot: When a woman claims she sees a ghost in her room she is moved to another room. Her replacement is found dead the next morning. Review: we get some more of Sam's personal life unfolding, but the crime and the killer's motive is so preposterous that it left a bad feeling about the story. *
The Problem of the Travelers Tale: Plot: Sam and the sheriff look into a hiker's claim that he came across a wanted man living nearby. Review: Lackadaisical tale with a locked-room and a villain who acts in the most stupid way possible. *
The Problem of Bailey's Buzzard: Plot: Sam and new wife Annabel postpone their honeymoon after Pearl Harbor is attacked and spend time with a friend who owns a horse farm. Review: An uptick in the stories. Sam's personal life continues to be revealed and it's like chapters in a longer book in which a crime happens in each one. This was a nice tale although it was a let-down when one of the more pleasant characters is killed since it'd have been good to follow the victim's friendship with Sam and Annabelle. There is also a sub-plot about a civil war general's re-internment that gives Sam another puzzle to solve. ***
The Problem of the Interrupted Séance: Plot: Sam attends a séance at a patient's request as she tries to contact her son, killed at Pearl Harbor. Another death occurs at the event. Review: getting to be more interesting about Sam's life at the start of WWII than the mysteries. This one was ok, but the motive and actions of the culprit were so preposterous that it made this a failed attempt. **
Problem of the Candidate's Cabin: Plot: a week before the election for sheriff, the current one â and friend of Sam â is implicated in a locked room murder. Review: one of the characters keeps a pet monkey in a cage, and that colored the distasteful feeling I had about the whole story. OK solution to the locked room problem (no, they prove the monkey didn't do it.) **
The Problem of the Black Cloister: Plot: A former town resident, now a Hollywood actor, returns for a bond-drive rally and meets an unexpected end. Review: A good entry, with Sam uncovering what was behind two deaths, that occurred over twenty years apart. ****
The Problem of the Secret Passage: Plot: Sam plays âUnlockâ Holmes to stir up interest in war-time scrap metal drives. A day after discovering a trove of old radiators at a local man's barn, the man is found dead in a locked room. Review: Satisfyingly told tale, although at the end you'll wonder why the solution wasn't obvious (unless you had figured it out already.) ****
The Problem of Devil's Orchard: Plot: It's 1943 and the apparent disappearance of a young draftee days before leaving for the Army is looked into by Sam and the police. Review: Again, it's more interesting to get a glimpse of the town's people during the war then the pretty silly premise and solution to the mystery. *
The Problem of The Shepherd's Ring: Plot: a man threatens to get away with killing his neighbor by becoming invisible. Then the neighbor dies but no one saw the man who threatened him enter or leave the home. Review: enjoyable entry with logical solution. ***
The Problem of the Suicide Cabin: Plot: As time for delivery of their child approaches, Sam and Annabelle spend time at a lake-side cabin where two deaths occurred in previous years. When another death occurs in the locked-tight cabin, Sam discovers how it was done. Review: As both WWII and these stories come to an end, this is a satisfying entry in the list. ****
The Problem of the Summer Snowman: Plot: As the war enters its final year, Sam looks into the locked-room death of a young man who might have been stabbed by what a witness describes as a snowman entering his house. Review: OK story where justice is served by the war itself and not the US Justice system. ***
The Problem of the Secret Patient: Plot: Sam meets with an FBI agent and told of a patient coming to the hospital for a brief time who needs medical care before being moved to a secure location. But he dies under impossible conditions before he is moved. Review: Kind of silly premise and the motive behind the death makes very little sense, although the method is clever. **
The First Edition hardback contains a pamphlet with an addition story by Hoch and the writer of the book's introduction, Josh Pachter, called The Spy and the Suicide Club. Plot: when a man in charge of secret agent lists dies, the government reaches out to a former agent to uncover the dead man's contacts, made through a suicide society. Review: nothing to do with Dr. Sam, so more interesting. Clever denouement. *****
