« The Problem of the Wire Cage » John Dickson Carr

A dead man is found strangled in the middle of a clay tennis court, just after a storm. In the damp dirt, there is one set of footsteps — his own — leading back to the grass; the court is otherwise untouched. There are no trees above from which the body may have fallen and no other visible means by which it may have been transported to its final resting place.

Before determining the perpetrator of the strangulation, the local authorities are first confronted by the utter implausibility of the location — two interlocking questions puzzling enough to stump even the most seasoned inspector.

The bafflement is reaching a harried volley by the time amateur sleuth Dr. Gideon Fell gets involved, but he soon shows that the knotted plot is no match for his deductive powers. Before he can serve up a dazzling explanation of whodunnit, though, Fell will have to sort through a confounding set of clues in search of a diabolical killer and a bizarre murder method.