“Something to Do With Figures” (1945)

Some interesting problems with this story by Miriam Allen deFord—not so much with the story itself, which is competent as mystery stories go, but more with its provenance and related issues. I think the Internet Speculative Fiction Database (ISFDB) has, for the first time, failed me. ISFDB has a page for deFord, who was born in 1888 and wrote science fiction as well as mysteries (even appearing in Harlan Ellison’s Dangerous Visions!), but has nothing on this story or any of the anthologies under the Ellery Queen brand in which she published. Technically, this story would have to be classified as “non-genre” (meaning at ISFDB no speculative elements), but it’s not in the non-genre part of the deFord page either. I’ll give credit for this one as a find to Mary Danby, editor of 65 Great Murder Mysteries. Danby edited Fontana anthologies alongside Robert Aickman, Christine Bernard, and R. Chetwynd-Hayes from the ‘60s into the ‘80s and then went on to put together big fat anthologies of 65 stories each, which haunted Half-Price Books outlets for years. Like any reasonably good anthologist of horror and related, Danby turned often to tried-and-true classics—inevitable in the business of selling these things. But she was also notably good at ferreting out lesser-known pieces that are often surprisingly good. She had good taste, in short, and read widely. There’s nothing fancy or perhaps even that special about “Something to Do With Figures” but it’s a classic detective/mystery story in a certain line descended from Poe. It has a big reveal at the end that verges on gimmickry but plays by all the rules. It hinges on a point of forensics that slightly strained credulity or at least it was new to me and I’ve seen a lot of Forensic Files episodes. The idea is that a body bleeding out dies in different positions depending on whether an artery or a vein was severed. I mean, maybe, I’ve just never heard of it. The premise is that an unpleasant woman has been murdered and her brother is accused of doing it. He was found standing over the body with a knife in his hand that had blood on it, but let’s not jump to conclusions. The setting is a hotel floor with three connected rooms. The detective is certain it’s the strange neighbor in the third room. As mystery stories go, this one is neat and tidy—perfect for Ellery Queen—with some very good misdirection. Nice little find.

65 Great Murder Mysteries, ed. Mary Danby (out of print)
Story not available online.