The Problem of the Covered Bridge (1974) is a mystery short story by Edward D. Hoch which was first published in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (Dec 1974 issue). It is part of a sub-type of the locked room mystery known as an impossible crime story. It introduces the characters of Dr. Sam Hawthorn, Sheriff Lens, and the town of Northmont. It is included in Hoch's book Diagnosis: Impossible: The Problems of Dr. Sam Hawthorne (Crippen & Landru, 1996). It is also there as the last item in All But Impossible the famous anthology edited by Hoch.
Mr Hoch got the idea of this story while looking at a calendar's watercolor landscape page which showed a covered bridge and wondered what would happen if a carriage (seemingly) goes in but fails to come out. He says it took him two days to work out the idea and think up a story. He thought up a New England doctor who practiced in 1930s and named him Dr Sam (ironically after a famous killer of those days). The editors of Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine liked the idea but added a surname to distinguish him from Lillian de la Torre's famous Dr Sam: Johnson series. It was also at the editor's suggestion that Hoch had to agree to make Dr Sam speak in a country dialect.
This was probably the most talked about story of the series. Hoch wrote one more The Second Problem of the Covered Bridge which was published in EQMM Dec 1998. Only three more stories of this series came after this.
Read more about The Problem Of The Covered Bridge: Plot Summary
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