Fuji: "Why would anyone want to make a locked-room anyway?"
Tenkaichi: "That is true. There's no riskier trick than that. Look. [motions to wall covered in pictures, pointing to each in turn] [The murderer hides] behind the door, and when the discoverer [of the body] comes in, and runs away when they are distracted. The murderer who opens the lock and enters first, commits the murder in a split second. The victim locks the door in order to protect the murderer. After the murder, build the wall with the door locked."
Fuji: "They all seem very risky."
Tenkaichi: "Right! Moreover, lately they've run out of ideas, so they just keep on reusing the old tricks. You know, I'm just getting fed up of all these old tricks. Nonetheless, locked-room murders keep on popping up. Why do you think that is?"
Fuji: "Who knows?"
Tenkaichi: "That's because "locked-room murder" is the king of all tricks."
"Lord, it's a miracle! Man vanished like a fart in the wind.
Nothing left but some damn rocks on a windowsill.
And that cupcake on the wall."
Nothing left but some damn rocks on a windowsill.
And that cupcake on the wall."
— Warden Norton, The Shawshank Redemption, on not finding Andy Dufresne in his cell
"[A] smart crook would know better than to pull a ‘Locked Room’ mystery.”
“Why?”
“Because, it’s STUPID! Nothing that gets under a cop’s skin like a locked room mystery! Why do you think you only hear about locked room mysteries in books? Because in real life, the people who are smart enough to think up a locked room angle are also smart enough to know that when the cop finally figures it out, they are screwed!
“Second, and this factors into the ‘Locked Room’ thing too, Locked Room puzzles always revolve around a gimmick.”
“A gimmick?” Harley asked, trying to get She-Beast’s point. “You mean some new high-tech gadget?”
“Yes, but not really. I mean more a gimmick in the Show Biz sense of the word. Maybe a gadget, or a power, or an optical or situational illusion. It basically comes down to that the person pulling this off is foisting at least one false assumption down your throat."
— She-Beast (Jadis Diabolik) discussing a case with Reach (Harley Sawyer) in "The Big Idea", Whateley Universe
"When you break down this kind of murder mystery, there are four basic types. The first type is when the locked room is created after the actual crime is committed. This simply means that the killer commits his crime, then through some special method seals the room. This mainly involves some sort of trick involving the "locking" of the room. Basic approaches include using a string, or a simple mechanism. There are a number of variations.
The second type is when the locked room already exists before the crime is committed. Basically, the killer uses a special contraption or tool from outside to target the victim inside. You push a switch and it fires a handgun, you shoot an arrow through a gap in the door, something like that.
The third type is when the killer stays in the room until it's opened up. They stay hidden, and when the door is opened, they use the confusion to blend in with the group. They pretend they showed up along with everyone else, and that's that.
And the fourth and final type is when it wasn't actually a locked room at all. By that I mean, there actually is an alternate escape route somewhere within the room. You see this a lot in novels and things, but in reality it's generally not possible."
The second type is when the locked room already exists before the crime is committed. Basically, the killer uses a special contraption or tool from outside to target the victim inside. You push a switch and it fires a handgun, you shoot an arrow through a gap in the door, something like that.
The third type is when the killer stays in the room until it's opened up. They stay hidden, and when the door is opened, they use the confusion to blend in with the group. They pretend they showed up along with everyone else, and that's that.
And the fourth and final type is when it wasn't actually a locked room at all. By that I mean, there actually is an alternate escape route somewhere within the room. You see this a lot in novels and things, but in reality it's generally not possible."
— Kyoko Kirigiri, Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc
