Many years ago, I attempted to write an Accidental Alchemist short story. It didn’t come together, so I set it aside for a long time. But earlier this year, I was asked to contribute to the Crippen & Landru anthology School of Hard Knox: Stories That Break Father Ronald Knox's Ten Commandments for Crime Fiction, edited by Donna Andrews, Greg Herren, and Art Taylor. I couldn’t resist trying once more.
I’m pleased that the second time was the charm! School of Hard Knox: Stories That Break Father Ronald Knox's Ten Commandments for Crime Fiction features my short story “The Rose City Vampire,” and it’s an Accidental Alchemist short story with Dorian as the sleuth. The anthology is out now in print, and will be available as an ebook in November.
December 2023 ebook update: The ebook is now available! The publisher has made it exclusively worldwide on Amazon, both to purchase and read as part of a KU membership.
I’ll also release my short story individually in 2024, but the collection is terrific, so I recommend you check out the book.
I love writing short stories, but they’re also challenging, because I can only sit down and write them once I have a satisfying impossible crime in mind (yes, all of my stories are locked-room mysteries!). But this collection had such an interesting theme that I had to try! The theme? Each story must BREAK one of the Ronald Knox’s Ten Commandments of Detective Fiction.
What are those “rules”? Knox was a Golden Age mystery novelist and a member of the UK’s Detection Club, an organization founded in 1930 by British mystery writers including Agatha Christie. Detection Club members took the fair play rules of detective fiction very seriously. Their oath was,“Do you promise that your detectives shall well and truly detect the crimes presented to them using those wits which it may please you to bestow upon them and not placing reliance on nor making use of Divine Revelation, Feminine Intuition, Mumbo Jumbo, Jiggery-Pokery, Coincidence, or Act of God?” Ronald Knox was a founding member of the Detection Club, and also a priest—which is why he’s often called Father Knox—and he wrote 10 rules I’ll summarize here:
Summary of Ronald Knox’s Ten Commandments of Detective Fiction (I’m paraphrasing below, except where noted)
The criminal has to be mentioned early in the story, and their thoughts can’t be revealed.
Supernatural elements are not allowed.
Only one secret room or passage is allowed.
No undiscovered poisons can be used, and the solution cannot require long scientific explanation.
“No Chinaman must figure in the story.” This one is a direct quote, and an outdated one. But I also tend to think it was also saying not to use the stereotype so often seen at the time.
No accident can help the detective, and “intuition” can’t be used to solve the case.
The detective can’t be the one to have committed the crime.
Clues shown to the detective must be presented to the reader.
Another exact quote: “The stupid friend of the detective, the Watson, must not conceal any thoughts which pass through his mind.”
Twins can’t be used, unless set up in the story.
Can you guess which rule I broke in the story I contributed? (Hint: Dorian is the sleuth.)
Here’s a teaser for The Rose City Vampire: Portland's residents are grappling with a frightening and confounding mystery: attacks by a vampire within their securely locked homes. The vengeful vampire is boasting that its deeds are targeting the city's sinners. Can gargoyle sleuth Dorian Robert-Houdin unravel the perplexing conundrum before the vampire’s chilling embrace claims a life?
“The Rose City Vampire: An Accidental Alchemist Short Story” is included in School of Hard Knox: Stories That Break Father Ronald Knox's Ten Commandments for Crime Fiction, edited by Donna Andrews, Greg Herren, and Art Taylor.
The anthology also features contributions from Peter Lovesey, Jeffrey Marks, Donna Andrews, Frankie Y Bailey, Nikki Dolson, Martin Edwards, Greg Herren, Naomi Hirahara, Toni LP Kelner, Richie Narvaez, SJ Rozan, Daniel Stashower, Marcia Talley, and Art Taylor.
“The Rose City Vampire” by Gigi Pandian