AFTER WORKING as a commercial artist and architectural draftsman for much of his life, Stephen Barr (1904–1989) became a full-time writer in 1955, contributing numerous articles and short stories to such top-paying periodicals as Vogue, Playboy, Mademoiselle, Harper’s Bazaar, and The Atlantic Monthly. He was also a repeated contributor to numerous science fiction and mystery magazines, notably Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, where many of his frequently anthologized stories were first published.
Born in England to American parents, he was educated in England but spent most of his life in the United States. He had avocational interests in composing music and creating puzzles. The latter resulted in Barr publishing several successful volumes on the subject: Experiments in Topology (1964); A Miscellany of Puzzles, Mathematical and Otherwise (1965; reprinted as Intriguing Puzzles in Math and Logic, 1994); Second Miscellany of Puzzles, Mathematical and Otherwise (1969; reprinted as Mathematical Brain Benders: 2nd Miscellany of Puzzles, 1982); and Puzzlequiz: Wit Twisters, Brain Teasers, Riddles, Puzzles, and Tough Questions (1978).
“The Locked Room to End Locked Rooms” was first published in the August 1965 issue of Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine; it was reprinted as “The Locked House” in Best Detective Stories of the Year (New York, Dutton, 1966).