P. G. Wodehouse, most well-known for his characters Jeeves and Wooster, was also a prolific mystery writer. In Death at the Excelsior, P.G. Wodehouse writes a tidy locked room mystery in the vein of Sherlock Holmes’s The Adventure of the Speckled Band.

The Mystery

Death at the Excelsior opens with a sailor; Captain Gunnar is found alone, dead in a locked room from a venomous snake. His roommate, Captain Muller, was not at home with him and had no visitors to poison him. Another baffling aspect of the case is that the snake is missing. His landlady, Mrs. Pickett, finds the death suspicious and hires Paul Snyder’s Detective Agency to look into the matter before it ruins the nicely cultivated atmosphere of her boarding house. Mr. Paul Snyder listens to Mrs. Pickett’s suspicions about the crime and assigns the young, impertinent Mr. Oakes to the case. Mr. Snyder reasons that the mystery is sufficiently challenging to stump the inexperienced investigator and will humble him.

Mr. Oakes assumes the identity of a trader of ship’s goods and lodges at the Excelsior to investigate the crime. Several unfruitful days pass, and Mr. Oakes cannot find a motive for Captain Gunnar’s death. He finds Mrs. Pickett dull and unhelpful as he examines Captain Gunnar’s room to be impenetrable through windows or doors, so he contemplates for a couple of days until he lands on a theory. Writing Mr. Snyder that he has solved the crime, he is summoned back to the agency to give his account of the crime.

Mr. Oakes Theory

Mr. Oakes assumes the identity of a trader of ship’s goods and lodges at the Excelsior to investigate the crime. Several unfruitful days pass, and Mr. Oakes cannot find a motive for Captain Gunnar’s death. He finds Mrs. Pickett dull and unhelpful as he examines Captain Gunnar’s room to be impenetrable through windows or doors, so he contemplates for a couple of days until he lands on a theory. Writing Mr. Snyder that he has solved the crime, he is summoned back to the agency to give his account of the crime. 

Mr. Oakes laments how none of Captain Gunnar’s fellow boarders or Mrs. Pickett had any helpful information and how the room was sealed, so he had no choice but to follow a logical sequence of events. Since there was no motive for the murder, it could have been suicide, but Mr. Oakes finds no support for this theory, so he abandons it. Since Captain Gunnar’s death cannot be attributed to murder or suicide, he reasons that it must have been an accident. Captain Gunnar died of a cobra bite, and the species of the cobra was small and from Java, Indonesia, where Captain Gunnar had many friends and often received gifts, especially fruit. Mr. Oakes tells Mr. Snyder that a small cobra found its way into a package of bananas received by Captain Gunnar, who then was accidentally bitten. The cobra climbed the wall and slithered away through the barred window. When Mr. Snyder pushes back that Mr. Oakes said that the window was too high for the snake to reach, Mr. Oakes cooly replies that it is the only solution that fits, so it must be the truth. Mr. Oakes says that he has proof that the cobra escaped the room because a cobra bite killed a stray dog in the house’s backyard. Grudgingly, Mr. Snyder congratulates Mr. Oakes on his well-reasoned theory and accepts his result. When Mr. Snyder asks Mr. Oakes if the client, Mrs. Pickett, is happy with the solution, Mr. Oakes remarks that she is not convinced and leaves Mr. Snyder to meditate on the events at the Excelsior.

Enter Mrs. Pickett

Displeased with Mr. Oakes’s hasty investigation, Mrs. Pickett visits Mr. Snyder at his offices and explains that while Mr. Oakes’s explanation fits the facts, it is hardly the common sense explanation of the crime. Defensive of Mr. Oakes, Mr. Snyder scoffs at Mrs. Pickett and taunts her to solve the crime. She cooly retorts that she has solved the crime and invites Mr. Snyder and Mr. Oakes to the Excelsior tomorrow for dinner to unmask the criminal. Her only request is that he brings a warrant to dinner.

A Criminal Unmasked

Baffled by Mrs. Pickett’s instructions, Nevertheless, Mr. Snyder and Mr. Oakes arrive at the Excelsior for dinner. Mrs. Pickett is lively and hospitable and serves a delicious dinner. Captain Muller, Captain Gunnar’s roommate who had been drinking heavily, is unnerved by the discovery that Mr. Snyder is a detective. At each plate is a party souvenir that they each open in turn. When Captain Muller opens his gift- a harmonica once owned by his deceased friend- he panics. Thus Mrs. Pickett reveals that Captain Muller hated his friend, and when a cobra accidentally arrived in his crate of bananas, he killed it and extracted its venom. He knew Captain Gunnar loved to play the harmonica, and Mr. Muller’s cat hated the sound of it. Mr. Muller painted the cat’s claws with the venom and waited, knowing that one day, Captain Gunnar would soon play his harmonica, annoying the cat, and the cat would scratch him, and he would die. Mrs. Pickett calls the cat, and Captain Muller confesses as it comes into the dining room.

The Verdict

This is a fun story, but not a good mystery; There is no way for the reader to solve the crime because the cat, which is the vital clue, is only mentioned in the story once Mrs. Pickett says it during her speech at the end. No one remarks on the cat or their cat paraphernalia in the shared room. The cat is not mentioned to be in the yard with the dog, which the reader is supposed to imagine scratched the dog because cats and dogs do not get along in Mrs. Pickett’s scenario. The story would have been strengthened if the cat had been lurking in these two scenarios or if Captain Muller had been seen trying to avoid the cat. Also, why wouldn’t Captain Muller kill the cat and pretend it had run away after committing the crime? 

No explanation is given as to why the two roommates hate each other. Without a clear motive, it’s hard to understand the crime, but even so- painting a cat’s claws is ridiculous to me. I don’t know how Captain Muller could have painted the claws without getting scratched. I also have yet to learn how long cobra venom would stay active- although a quick google search says 35 years if stored properly, so it is plausible that the poison would be poisonous for a long time. This assumes that the cat wouldn’t lick its claws and die or scratch multiple people before or after Captain Gunnar’s death. Also, why not just put the venom on the harmonica? If I think about this much longer, I’ll find about 383949374 more plotholes so it could be a better thought-out method.

Is it a “common sense solution,” as charged by Mrs. Pickett, is frankly ridiculous since neither Mr. Oakes nor the reader knew that the cat existed or lived in the room with Captain Gunnar. Would Mr. Oakes have arrived at the correct solution if he had known about the cat? Probably not so that the story could conclude in the same fashion, but if the reader knew about the cat, astute readers could have made the connection and satisfactorily solved the case if the reader knew about the cat. This story is a classic example of a clueless mystery that breaks the rules of “fair play” outlined by S.S. Van Dine and is used in traditional mystery writing so that readers can solve the puzzle before the reveal or summation of the case.Death at the Excelsior is one of P. G. Wodehouse’s earliest mystery stories, so I am interested in reading some of his other cases to see if he improves. The story still has strong characters, pacing, and dialogue. If you’re a fan of P.G. Wodehouse and want to read some of his mysteries, check out Death at the Excelsior, but I don’t recommend it to general audiences.

Recommendations

If you’re looking for a good mystery involving a deadly snake, an affair, an unhappy husband, and much needed inheritance then I recommend Antidote to Venom by Freeman Wills Crofts. You can read my review of Antidote to Venom here.