The Mystery of the Yellow Room
Encyclopedia
The Mystery of the Yellow Room: Extraordinary Adventures of Joseph Rouletabille, Reporter (in French Le mystère de la chambre jaune) by Gaston Leroux
, is one of the first locked room mystery
crime fiction novels. It was first published in France
in the periodical L'Illustration
from September 1907 to November 1907, then in its own right in 1908
.
It is the first novel starring fictional detective
Joseph Rouletabille
, and concerns a complex and seemingly impossible crime in which the criminal appears to disappear from a locked room. Leroux provides the reader with detailed, precise diagrams and floorplans illustrating the scene of the crime. The emphasis of the story is firmly on the intellectual challenge to the reader, who will almost certainly be hard pressed to unravel every detail of the situation.
John Dickson Carr
, the master of locked-room mystery, has his detective Dr Gideon Fell declare this as the 'best detective tale ever written' in his 1935 novel The Hollow Man
. In a poll of 17 mystery writers and reviewers, this novel was voted as the third best locked room mystery
of all time, behind The Hollow Man
and Hake Talbot's Rim of the Pit
.
The novel finds its continuation in The Perfume of the Lady in Black where a number of the characters familiar from this story reappear.
and Montlhéry
. The daughter of a famous scientist is found the victim of attempted murder. The strange thing is the room is locked from the inside and there are no other ways in. A police detective is involved but the young journalist Joseph Rouletabille is more concerned with unraveling the mystery by use of reasoning and logic.
There are in fact no fewer than THREE apparently impossible vanishings by the assailant, each with a different, quite ingenious, explanation. The first, the only one which occurs in the classic locked room, turns out not to be a true disappearance at all, because, as Rouletabille deduces in a dazzling display of inexorable logic, the assailant was never in the room when it was actually locked, no matter how certain it seemed that he was. In a complicated sequence of events, the attack actually occurred many hours earlier than supposed, around 6 PM-- but the audible gunshot and the cry of "Help, murder!!!", which happened after midnight in the locked room, were merely the acting out of a nightmare by Miss Stangerson, as she relived the earlier attack. Her severe injuries were inflicted not by the attacker but by Miss Stangerson herself, stumbling over furniture still overturned from the attack and violently striking her head.
The revelation to the reader of the identity of the assailant (and now murderer, since a minor character is killed by him near the end) is highly dramatic and universally unexpected. One must presume that even that ingenious writer of mysteries John Dickson Carr was surprised, or else he would not have pronounced it the greatest detective tale ever written. It was one of the very early, and very skillful, instances of "the detective did it". Yes, the brilliant sleuth, the when-all-else-fails recourse of the Sûreté
, the man commanding the relentless pursuit of the assailant of Miss Stangerson, Frederic Larsan, was in fact her assailant. (Still in love with her, he was determined to prevent her marriage by any means necessary.) And, the reader is dumbfounded to learn, Larsan is not merely her assailant but a notorious criminal of legendary exploits as well. In a final twist, Rouletabille arranges for Larsan to escape justice, in order to protect Miss Stangerson's secret from the inevitable disclosure a murder trial of Larsan would bring.
The plot, intriguing as it undeniably is, depends on the reader's acceptance of the plausibility of Miss Stangerson's not recognizing Larsan as her husband/assailant (or, alternatively, the plausibility that the victim and the chief detective would never have been in close enough proximity, over months, for her to have had an opportunity to recognize Larsan as her husband/assailant) and the likelihood that none of the world's police would realize that the master criminal Ballmeyer and the master detective Larsan were a single person, despite Ballmeyer's having been arrested and, presumably, photographed.
Gaston Leroux
Gaston Louis Alfred Leroux was a French journalist and author of detective fiction.In the English-speaking world, he is best known for writing the novel The Phantom of the Opera , which has been made into several film and stage productions of the same name, notably the 1925 film starring Lon...
, is one of the first locked room mystery
Locked room mystery
The locked room mystery is a sub-genre of detective fiction in which a crime—almost always murder—is committed under apparently impossible circumstances. The crime in question typically involves a crime scene that no intruder could have entered or left, e.g., a locked room...
crime fiction novels. It was first published in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
in the periodical L'Illustration
L'Illustration
L'Illustration was a weekly French newspaper published in Paris. It was founded by Edouard Charton; the first issue was published on March 4, 1843....
from September 1907 to November 1907, then in its own right in 1908
1908 in literature
The year 1908 in literature involved some significant new books.-New books:*Afawarq Gabra Iyasus - Libb Wolled Tārīk , the first novel in Amharic*Leonid Andreyev - The Seven Who Were Hanged...
.
It is the first novel starring fictional detective
Detective
A detective is an investigator, either a member of a police agency or a private person. The latter may be known as private investigators or "private eyes"...
Joseph Rouletabille
Joseph Rouletabille
Joseph Rouletabille is a fictional character created by Gaston Leroux, a French writer and journalist.-Overview:In the first novel, The Mystery of the Yellow Room, Rouletabille solves an attempted murder in a locked room mystery...
, and concerns a complex and seemingly impossible crime in which the criminal appears to disappear from a locked room. Leroux provides the reader with detailed, precise diagrams and floorplans illustrating the scene of the crime. The emphasis of the story is firmly on the intellectual challenge to the reader, who will almost certainly be hard pressed to unravel every detail of the situation.
John Dickson Carr
John Dickson Carr
John Dickson Carr was an American author of detective stories, who also published under the pen names Carter Dickson, Carr Dickson and Roger Fairbairn....
, the master of locked-room mystery, has his detective Dr Gideon Fell declare this as the 'best detective tale ever written' in his 1935 novel The Hollow Man
The Hollow Man (1935 novel)
The Hollow Man is a famous locked room mystery novel by the American writer John Dickson Carr , published in 1935. It was published in the US under the title The Three Coffins, and in 1981 was selected as the best locked room mystery of all time by a panel of 17 mystery authors and reviewers.-Plot...
. In a poll of 17 mystery writers and reviewers, this novel was voted as the third best locked room mystery
Locked room mystery
The locked room mystery is a sub-genre of detective fiction in which a crime—almost always murder—is committed under apparently impossible circumstances. The crime in question typically involves a crime scene that no intruder could have entered or left, e.g., a locked room...
of all time, behind The Hollow Man
The Hollow Man (1935 novel)
The Hollow Man is a famous locked room mystery novel by the American writer John Dickson Carr , published in 1935. It was published in the US under the title The Three Coffins, and in 1981 was selected as the best locked room mystery of all time by a panel of 17 mystery authors and reviewers.-Plot...
and Hake Talbot's Rim of the Pit
Rim of the Pit
Rim of the Pit is a locked-room mystery novel written by Hake Talbot, a pen name of Henning Nelms. Nelms published one other mystery novel as well as two short stories. After 1945, when it became very difficult to publish mystery fiction, Nelms could not get his third novel published. He then...
.
The novel finds its continuation in The Perfume of the Lady in Black where a number of the characters familiar from this story reappear.
Plot introduction
The crime takes place at the Chateau du Glandier, located in the forest, near the road leading to Sainte-Geneviève-des-BoisSainte-Geneviève-des-Bois, Essonne
Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois is a commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris.Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois lies just north of junction 42 on the orbital Francilienne autoroute....
and Montlhéry
Montlhéry
Montlhéry is a commune in the Essonne department in Île-de-France in northern France. It is located from Paris.Inhabitants of Montlhéry are known as Montlhériens.-History:...
. The daughter of a famous scientist is found the victim of attempted murder. The strange thing is the room is locked from the inside and there are no other ways in. A police detective is involved but the young journalist Joseph Rouletabille is more concerned with unraveling the mystery by use of reasoning and logic.
Plot summary
Miss Stangerson is found alone and severely injured, moments after being violently attacked in a locked room at the Chateau, a room with absolutely no possible means of escape for the would-be murderer. Or so it appears. Joseph Rouletabille, journalist/detective, is immediately thrust into the investigation of the insoluble crime that would soon electrify all of France. Rouletabille, a mere eighteen years old, is very much in the tradition of Poe's Dupin, believing rational analysis, rather than crawling on all fours around the crime scene, is the key to unraveling those cases that are genuine puzzles, as this one is. (Not that Rouletabille disdains mundane forensics when called for. And when he chooses to crawl about, he does so with a most discerning eye!)There are in fact no fewer than THREE apparently impossible vanishings by the assailant, each with a different, quite ingenious, explanation. The first, the only one which occurs in the classic locked room, turns out not to be a true disappearance at all, because, as Rouletabille deduces in a dazzling display of inexorable logic, the assailant was never in the room when it was actually locked, no matter how certain it seemed that he was. In a complicated sequence of events, the attack actually occurred many hours earlier than supposed, around 6 PM-- but the audible gunshot and the cry of "Help, murder!!!", which happened after midnight in the locked room, were merely the acting out of a nightmare by Miss Stangerson, as she relived the earlier attack. Her severe injuries were inflicted not by the attacker but by Miss Stangerson herself, stumbling over furniture still overturned from the attack and violently striking her head.
Remarks on the plot
All the labyrinthine plot twists that follow, that so engage and tantalize the reader, are engendered, directly or indirectly, by a motive that certainly might appear quaint from the modern perspective. The case unfolds in the complicated way it does principally because Miss Stangerson withholds key information and at times actively thwarts the investigation (as does her fiance)--all in her zeal to conceal her connection with her assailant-- a youthful marriage to this man whose true, very sordid, identity and proclivities she didn't yet know. To a late 19th century "properly brought-up young lady" this marriage is grounds for profound scandal that would disgrace her beloved father, hence her determination to conceal it even at the risk of her life.The revelation to the reader of the identity of the assailant (and now murderer, since a minor character is killed by him near the end) is highly dramatic and universally unexpected. One must presume that even that ingenious writer of mysteries John Dickson Carr was surprised, or else he would not have pronounced it the greatest detective tale ever written. It was one of the very early, and very skillful, instances of "the detective did it". Yes, the brilliant sleuth, the when-all-else-fails recourse of the Sûreté
Sûreté
Sûreté is a term used in French speaking countries or regions in the organizational title of a civil police force, especially the detective branch thereof.-France:...
, the man commanding the relentless pursuit of the assailant of Miss Stangerson, Frederic Larsan, was in fact her assailant. (Still in love with her, he was determined to prevent her marriage by any means necessary.) And, the reader is dumbfounded to learn, Larsan is not merely her assailant but a notorious criminal of legendary exploits as well. In a final twist, Rouletabille arranges for Larsan to escape justice, in order to protect Miss Stangerson's secret from the inevitable disclosure a murder trial of Larsan would bring.
The plot, intriguing as it undeniably is, depends on the reader's acceptance of the plausibility of Miss Stangerson's not recognizing Larsan as her husband/assailant (or, alternatively, the plausibility that the victim and the chief detective would never have been in close enough proximity, over months, for her to have had an opportunity to recognize Larsan as her husband/assailant) and the likelihood that none of the world's police would realize that the master criminal Ballmeyer and the master detective Larsan were a single person, despite Ballmeyer's having been arrested and, presumably, photographed.
Characters in "The Mystery of the Yellow Room"
- Joseph Rouletabille – the young journalist and amateur detective, protagonist
- Frederic Larsan – the police detective
- Professor Stangerson – the scientist, owner of "Chateau du Glandier"
- Mlle. Mathilde Stangerson – daughter of a famous scientist, the victim
- "Daddy" Jacques – an old servant in the Stangerson family
Release details
- 1907, France, L'illustration, Pub date ? September 1907—? November 1907, magazine serial
- 1908, France, Editions Jacques Lafitte (ISBN NA), Pub date ? ? 1908, hardback (First edition)
- 1934, UK, Oxford University Press (ISBN 0-19-832345-X), Pub date ? December 1934, paperback
- 1977, UK, Dover Publications (ISBN 0-486-23460-6), Pub date ? April 1977, paperback
- 1978, UK, RemployRemployRemploy Ltd is a government-owned company in the United Kingdom which provides employment and employment placement services for disabled people. It was established in 1945 under the terms of the 1944 Disabled Persons Act, and opened its first factory in Bridgend, Wales, in 1946...
(ISBN 0-7066-0759-7), Pub date 25 August 1978, hardback - 1996, USA, Books on Tape (ISBN 5-557-12771-2), Pub date ? January 1996, audio book (Cassette)
- 1996, USA, Buccaneer Books (ISBN 0-89966-141-6), Pub date ? June 1996, hardback (Library binding)
- 1997, UK, Dedalus Ltd (ISBN 1-873982-38-0), Pub date 10 August 1997, paperback
- 2002, USA, Indypublish.com (ISBN 1-4043-2003-2), Pub date 1 August 2002, paperback
- 2002, USA, Indypublish.com (ISBN 1-4043-2002-4), Pub date 1 August 2002, hardback
- 2004, UK, Thorndike Press (ISBN 0-7862-6991-X), Pub date 2 Nov 2004, hardback
- 2005, USA, Kessinger Publishing (ISBN 0-7661-9366-7), Pub date 1 April 2005, paperback
- 2006, UK, Blackstone Audiobooks (ISBN 0-7861-7523-0), Pub date ? April 2006, audio book (MP3 CD)
- 2006, UK, Dover Publications (ISBN 0-486-44928-9), Pub date 7 April 2006, paperback
- 2009, USA, Black Coat Press (ISBN 1-934543-60-8), Pub date October 2009, trade paperback
External links
L'univers de Joseph Rouletabille, rouletabille.perso.cegetel.net The Mystery of the Yellow Room, audio version, litteratureaudio.com