Skip to main navigation Skip to search Skip to main content

The Laws of the Locked Room Mystery

Activity: Talk or presentationOral presentation

Description

In a locked room mystery, an impossible crime is committed. By examining key texts in detective fiction studies, particularly Tzvetan Todorov's "The Typology of Detective Fiction," in conjunction with Jacques Derrida’s “The Law of Genre,” it is possible to derive the three laws that engender the mystery of the locked room: the first, the law of enclosure, is that the room must be locked; the second, the law of unclosing, is that the room cannot be locked; and the third, the law of transgression without transgression, is that no one can ever enter or escape the room.
Period4 Mar 2026
Held atSchool of English Irish & Communication
Degree of RecognitionLocal

Keywords

  • Jacques Derrida
  • Detective Fiction
  • Locked Room Mysteries
  • Genre