The Leopold Locked Room by Edward D. Hoch. Leopold

Categories: Short Story

The Leopold Locked Room is a short mystery story composed by Edward D. Hoch. Leopold, a police captain is discovered in a closed locked space with his murdered ex-wife. Outcomes show that Leopold's weapon fired the fatal shot, however Leopold and readers understand he's not the killer. Every bit of the story is skillfully though out. If you take pleasure in reading short secret stories this is a fantastic story to check out. Captain Leopold and Monica were when married. When Monica wished to go pursuit her career and her dreams in California as a starlet, Leopold refused to go with her since he just began on the cops force and his future looked intense.

Monica left him. Shortly after showing up in California and having no luck with the acting profession she had an anxious break down. A year later Leopold had actually gotten his divorce papers. For the past 15 years Monica had actually desired vengeance on Leopold considering that she thought it was his fault for all her past errors.

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The wedding had actually become the perfect chance to get her revenge. Monica's niece Vicki Nelson was getting married to Ted Moore. Ted Moore is an attorney, which later on would try to help Captain Leopold. Captain Leopold was welcomed to the wedding but he didn't wish to go long since he understood Monica would be there.

He didn't wish to see Monica at the wedding event, so he told his coworker Lieutenant Fletcher about the story of him and his ex-wife Monica.

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At the end of their conversation Captain Leopold asks Fletcher to wait outside in the cop vehicle. So he has an excuses and didn't have to stay long at the wedding. At Sundown Farms where the wedding event was held, Captain Leopold faces a few of Monica's family members. One being Monica's action sibling Immy Fontaine. They talk for a bit then Leopold is presented to Dr. Felix Thursby, Monica's new sweetheart.

Later in the story you discover that Dr. Felic Thursby genuine name is Max Thompson. Throughout the wedding party, Monica desired to talk with Leopold. So they entered a substantial unfurnished square room where they could talk independently. Monica locked the doors behind them. The visitor heard a shot. When Lieutenant Fletcher got in the space he seen Monica on the flooring and that she had actually been shot and that Captain Leopold had his gun in his hand. Given That Captain Leopold was the only other individual in the room with Monica, Fletcher accused him of shooting his ex-wife.

He sniffed the gun and found that someone had recently fired it. He was shocked. Captain Leopold claimed that he did not fire the gun and did not kill Monica. Lieutenant Fletcher was puzzled because it was only Captain Leopold and Monica in the room. Lieutenant Fletcher took Captain Leopold to the police station and Monica went in an ambulance. She later died on the way to the hospital. The detectives continued their investigation to find out what happened and who did it, if Captain Leopold did not shoot his ex-wife Monica then who did and why.

Although, the events in this story would not happen in real life because of the technology we have. Monica would have definitely got caught way before the ending of the story. Everything from the characters, plot, setting and the style of the story worked well together. The characters worked well because everyone tides together. The characters were well thought out and believable because at a wedding your bound to see someone you don’t want to see especially if it's your ex-wife’s family.

The plot is extremely good and cleverly thought out and maybe even could have happen if everyone believed that a doctor was on sight. Maybe the ambulance wouldn’t stay in the back of the car because it's to small. However, it is really suspenseful and interesting. In the plot Captain Leopold and Monica had a heated discussion about the past. Monica told Captain Leopold, “Your going to know what I knew. Bars and cells and disgrace. Your going to know the despair I felt all those years ago. ” She said just before she was shot.

Moments later the doors were unlocked from the outside and Dr. Thursby rushed to Monica’s side, being the only doctor in the room everybody believed him when he said she was nearly dead. He later went in the ambulance with her on the way to the hospital. He rode in the back of the ambulance with her alone because everybody thought he was a licensed doctor. The climax was very interesting. The settings is very important to the story because the crime is committed in a locked, huge unfurnished square room.

Which makes the reader keep guessing who could of done the crime, when it was only Monica and Captain Leopold in the locked room. The setting is in my opinion the best part. However, the locked room is not the only setting in the story,there were many others but it was the most interesting one. The style of the story is easy to read because it's told by a third point of view and kinda threw the eyes of Captain Leopold although the narrator does not appear to know more then Captain Leopold does about whats going on. It's very interesting and memorable.

In conclusion, I personally really enjoyed reading this short mystery story because everything was cleverly thought out and it all pulled together perfectly. Every detail was written perfectly and brought the story together. I found this story interesting because of the locked room setting. I wanted to keep reading to find out who committed the crime. I thought that the Leopold locked room was exciting and suspenseful. Also it works well as a story and I would definitely recommend it. If you enjoy reading short mystery stories, this is a great story to read.

Updated: Nov 01, 2022
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The Leopold Locked Room by Edward D. Hoch. Leopold. (2017, Feb 09). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/the-leopold-locked-room-by-edward-d-hoch-leopold-essay

The Leopold Locked Room by Edward D. Hoch. Leopold essay
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