“Wake Up Dead Man,” the new New Knives Out Movie, is a Love Letter to John Dickson Carr and the Golden Age of Mystery Fiction

Wake Up Dead Man, the new Knives Out movie from Rian Johnson, is an exceptional mystery on many levels. Lots has been written about the film elsewhere, so I’ll focus this post on my favorite element of the movie: It’s a locked-room mystery that pays homage to John Dickson Carr, one of my favorite authors of all time.

Novelist John Dickson Carr (1906-1977) was the master of the locked-room mystery, the type of mystery where it appears truly impossible for the crime to have been committed.

One of the reasons Carr’s impossible crime novels are still powerful today is because he did much more than create clever puzzles. He brought stories vividly to life by creating gothic backdrops that suggested supernatural entities were pulling the strings—before revealing a rational solution.

And that’s exactly what happens in Wake Up Dead Man. The stage is set with an eerie atmosphere that looks supernatural, but the film ends with an incredibly satisfying logical explanation.

The hero of the movie is Father Jud (played by Josh O’Connor), a good man trying to do the right thing, which causes him to clash with his parish’s demagogue, Monsignor Wicks (Josh Brolin). When Wicks is murdered under seemingly impossible circumstances, and then appears to rise from the grave, Father Jud is at the center of both events. But Knives Out series detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) doesn’t believe all is as it appears, and is determined to clear Father Jud from suspicion.

Rian Johnson has widely talked about his love of Golden Age mysteries, and of John Dickson Carr specifically. He even wrote the introduction to a new edition of Carr’s The Problem of the Wire Cage, reissued in 2024 (you can read an excerpt of that introduction here, courtesy of Crimereads).

Wake Up Dead Man is a mystery with two impossible crimes. First, an impossible murder in a small room of a church while a closed circle of characters are nearby, but none of them close enough to commit the crime. Second, the dead man walks out of the crypt in which he was entombed. Both crimes are ingeniously set up, and screenwriter and director Rian Johnson sets out to solve the crimes much as John Dickson Carr would have done.

Carr’s most famous novel, The Three Coffins (published in the UK as The Hollow Man), features a “Locked Room Lecture.” Character Dr. Fell describes eight methods that can be used to commit a locked room murder. Within those eight general types are endless variations, which is why the puzzles continue to baffle modern readers and be so much fun.

Benoit Blanc and the town’s police chief Geraldine Scott (Mila Kunis) turn to Carr’s “Locked Room Lecture” to solve the crimes.

Blanc gives his own mini lecture on locked-room methods (just like my character Ivy Youngblood does in my locked-room mystery Under Lock & Skeleton Key), and proves that even if you understand the possibilities, it’s still a challenge to see what’s right in front of you.

Interestingly, the film uses the book’s UK title, The Hollow Man, a nod to the main murder victim of the film. Blanc also refers to the crime as a “locked door” murder, perhaps because it’s easier to understand for a broader audience.

I hope Wake Up Dead Man brings a new generation of readers to John Dickson Carr!

With my beaten-up copy of John Dickson Carr’s The Three Coffins (published as The Hollow Man in the UK).

I’ll end with my favorite part of the movie. When sheriff Geraldine brings up why I continue to be drawn to atmospheric locked-room mysteries: The best locked-room mysteries are Scooby-Doo for adults. As Carr and other authors who write a gothic backdrop into their impossible crime tales do so well, they make us think we’re getting a ghost story—until they unmask the ghost at the end.

After the dead man has risen from his coffin, Sheriff Geraldine says, “There’s some Scooby‑Doo [stuff] going on here,” to which Blanc replies, pitch perfect, “Scooby-dooby-doo!”

When my locked-room mystery Under Lock & Skeleton Key was published in 2022, Publishers Weekly interviewed me on a range of topics including my love of locked-room mysteries. When the feature was published, the title was “Scooby-Doo for Grown-Ups” — a great honor!

The story of how locked-room mystery THE LIBRARY GAME came to be

The Library Game, my new Secret Staircase Mystery, is my love letter to libraries and classic mysteries.

In this locked-room mystery, Tempest Raj and the Secret Staircase Construction crew must figure out who is making beloved classic mystery plots come to life in a deadly game.

Want to hear the story of how my new locked-room mystery The Library Game came to be?

I've adored locked-room mysteries since I was a kid. Books by authors like John Dickson Carr, Clayton Rawson, and Agatha Christie. Those truly baffling "impossible crime" puzzles are such fun—BUT when I became a writer, I also learned how challenging those puzzles were to write!

I began writing locked-room mystery short stories, to learn the craft. My stories went on to win Agatha and Derringer Awards, and I was having so much fun, but I also had a locked-room puzzle idea that needed a full novel to properly tell the story. The problem? I wasn’t yet ready to pull it off.

Back in 2015, I wrote a short story featuring stage illusionist Tempest Raj for a Sisters in Crime Los Angeles Chapter anthology, LAdies Night. Tempest had been mentioned in passing in my Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt Mysteries, as a friend of Sanjay’s, so the short story was just a bit of fun. But instead of getting her out of my system, Tempest had such a strong personality that she insisted I do more with her! By the spring of 2020, when I unexpectedly had free time on my hands after a book research trip was canceled, I’d written more than a dozen impossible crime short stories. This was it. I was ready to tell Tempest’s story.

I started writing Under Lock & Skeleton Key, the first book in my Secret Staircase mystery series, thinking it would be a stand-alone locked-room mystery novel. But my character Tempest Raj and her friends and family had so many more stories they wanted to tell! I knew, then, that it had to be a series.

Each of the novels stands alone with its own mystery, though there’s one big background mystery that’s solved at the end of Book 3, A Midnight Puzzle, so I had total freedom for what I wanted to do with The Library Game. The answer presented itself easily. I’ve gotten so much value from my local library in recent years, and classic mysteries inspired the whole series, so this book would be my love letter to both of them.

At the start of The Library Game, it’s a fresh start for Tempest Raj as she figures out what comes next for her in her life now that she’s solved the mystery of the Raj family curse. She jumps into solving her most baffling mystery yet—one that's not only an impossible crime, but one that's a closed circle of suspects of people she knows.

Tempest and Secret Staircase Construction are renovating a classic detective fiction library that just got its first real-life mystery. When the library’s new owner hosts a murder mystery dinner, the rehearsal ends with a locked room murder and a vanishing body. Fueled by her grandfather’s Scottish and Indian meals, Tempest and the crew must figure out who is making beloved classic mystery plots come to life in a deadly game.

The hardcover, ebook, and audiobook are now available everywhere books are sold.

The Library Game is published by Minotaur Books and Macmillan Audio, with the amazing Soneela Nankani narrating the audiobooks. I’m so grateful for my terrific publishing team at St. Martin’s / Minotaur Books and agent Jill Marsal for making Tempest’s story a reality.

The Secret Staircase Mysteries are all locked-room mysteries brimming with food, family, and friendship.

At Secret Staircase Construction, stage illusionist Tempest Raj weaves magic into homes through ingenious architectural misdirection from sliding bookcases to hidden libraries.

I hope you have fun with the new book!

There’s a body in the library—and everyone is a suspect.

Interview with Soneela Nankani, narrator of the Secret Staircase Mysteries audiobooks

I’m so pleased that not only are all of my books available as audiobooks, but I have fantastic narrators!

My Secret Staircase Mysteries are produced by Macmillan Audio and narrated by Soneela Nankani. Soneela captures not only Tempest’s voice wonderfully, but also the nuances of the whole cast. Not only that, but she captures the whimsical and mysterious spirit of the books.

I hope you’ll enjoy the interview with Soneela below!

Audiobook narrator Soneela Nankani (photo by Jody Christopherson)

What's your favorite thing about being an audiobook narrator?

I’m a huge book nerd. I love to lose myself in stories, learn new things, walk in characters’ shoes. As a kid, I was always toting at least 5 books around. And when I was in 8th grade, I discovered the theater (fun fact: I was cast as Audrey in Little Shop of Horrors) and it ignited my love of performance. I’m still a book nerd and I went on to get my MFA in Acting. So I guess I would say, my favorite part of being a narrator is the fact that everyday I get to do two of my absolute favorite things - read and perform. 

I also really enjoy discovering new writers through my work. And soaking up new information through each and every book - I am the self-professed queen of random facts. 

What's the most surprising thing you've learned about narrating? 

It’s demanding and requires a lot of discipline! After the very first recording session I ever had, I went home and slept for 3 hours. Now I know a lot more about how to prepare.  I have to do quite a bit of research to prepare for each book. I have to get a good amount of sleep the night before a session. I have to warm up my voice and body before stepping into the studio. I have to take lots of breaks to move and drink water during each session. There’s a lot more that goes into it than you might think!

Who's your favorite character from Gigi's books that you've narrated? 
It’s so hard to choose!  I love quirky characters and Gigi’s got loads. Obviously Tempest. I love her audacity and totally relate to her journey to find herself after the death of her mother and the sabotaging of her career. Also Ash, Ivy and Nicodemus. I adore all of them in their own right, but also because of their complicatedly caring relationships with Tempest. And Moriarty, in the last book especially, has become so fascinatingly complex. I can’t wait to see what happens with him. 

Anything else you'd like to add?

In my experience as a narrator, there’s something particularly special about getting to work on a series. Getting to spend time with the same characters book after book. Getting to go along for the ride as the characters grow and change. After a while, the main characters start to feel like good friends that I get excited about visiting each time. I definitely feel that for Tempest and her family and the Secret Staircase Construction crew. I can’t wait to see what Ash is cooking up the next time I see them.

Listen to a sample of the A Midnight Puzzle audiobook:

MacmillanAudio · A Midnight Puzzle by Gigi Pandian, audiobook excerpt

The Treehouse at Tempest Raj's family home

One of my favorite whimsical elements in the Secret Staircase Mysteries is the treehouse in the backyard of Tempest Raj’s family home.

Tempest’s grandparents, Ashok and Morag, live in the treehouse. It’s not technically a treehouse any longer, because it was once a true treehouse deck when Tempest was a kid, then as Secret Staircase Construction grew, they experimented with their own home. A child’s treehouse became a fully functional in-law unit built between two giant oak trees, with the old trees used as central points for two decks.

I was delighted to find a company that makes tiny treehouses for houseplants—and one of their treehouses looks so much like the one I imagined for Grandpa Ash and Grannie Mor!

The treehouse in my Secret Staircase Mysteries is has two decks, one of which is the heart of the home with a big family dining table. That deck and dining table are an extension of the kitchen, where Ash cooks family meals (many of his recipes are in the backs of the books).

This tiny treehouse has the dining table deck I imagined long before I found this! So of course I had to buy it for the houseplant that sits at my writing desk.

Weaving my favorite mysterious elements into A MIDNIGHT PUZZLE

Even though I’m a mystery writer, first and foremost I’m a mystery reader. I’ve loved the traditional mystery genre since I was a kid, and my favorites were the books with mysteries that were true fair-play puzzles (where the reader is given all the clues and could theoretically solve the crime before the detective) and had a big dollop of fun alongside the mystery.

That fun might be had by a humorous cast of characters I wanted to spend time with, a gothic atmosphere that drew me in like I was listening to an eerie ghost story, an ingenious puzzle with twists and turns that kept me turning pages, or whimsical elements that added unexpected moments of joy.

When I set out to write A Midnight Puzzle, my latest Secret Staircase Mystery with sleuth Tempest Raj, I had such fun crafting a locked-room mystery that uses so many mysterious elements I love:

🔍 A gothic backdrop.

🔍 A supposed haunting at a creepy old theater built to resemble a cathedral.

🔍 A mysteriously regenerating booby trap.

🔍 A devious impossible crime.

🔍 Lots of cozy fun with Tempest and her friends and family working together to solve multiple mysteries, both past and present.

🔍 The Secret Staircase Construction team renovating a house known as the Whispering House. 

🔍 Delicious recipes from Grandpa Ash. 

🔍 A treehouse.

🔍 Architectural misdirection.

My sleuth Tempest Raj faces her most baffling mystery yet: After she’s lured to the old theater where her mom vanished years ago, a deadly booby trap strikes and kills a man threatening the family business, Secret Staircase Construction. As one baffling crime leads to an impossible one, family secrets are at the heart of both a present-day murder and the truth of what really happened to Tempest’s mom when she vanished.

A Midnight Puzzle is now available from Minotaur Books.