The Stranger Room

The Stranger Room

by Frederick Ramsay

I love books that incorporate local history in the plot. Frederick Ramsay uses the phenomenon known as the "stranger room" in this mystery. In the early centuries wealthy stagecoach passengers did not like to stay in crowded public inns and often rented rooms in nearby private homes. These homes had rooms built specifically for travelers. The rooms had only exterior entrances that allowed the travelers to come and go without disturbing the household. The rooms came to be known as "stranger rooms" because the boarders were strangers to the homeowners. History repeats itself in the latest entry in the Ike Schwartz series. In1864 a boarder, Franklin Brian, was found shot to death in the "stranger room" of Jonathan Lydell?s home. The door was locked from the inside. Lydell had to break down the door to get in. The room had no access to the rest of the house. How had the killer escaped? The murder was never solved. Fast forward to 2008. Jonathan Lydell IV has restored his ancestral home to its former glory, complete with a "stranger room" that he rents to lodgers. One summer morning he knocks on the door of the "stranger room" to wake the lodger. He gets no response and the door is locked. Lydell tries to unlock the door with his key but finds that the door is locked from the inside and that the key is still in the lock. Jonathan Lydell breaks down the door and finds his lodger, Anton Grotz, lying dead on the floor. Grotz had been shot just like Franklin Brian one hundred forty-four years before him. How had the murderer escaped? Ike and his deputies have to solve this locked room puzzle. -- recommended by Donna G. - Eiseley and Walt Branch Libraries

[ official Stranger Room page on the official Frederick Ramsay web site ]

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