The Crooked Man
Complete textHolmes visits Watson late at night to discuss the death of a military officer after an argument with his wife. The room's puzzling evidence and the couple's apparently settled marriage point toward a history that cannot be understood from the immediate scene alone.
Continue readingAbout The Crooked Man
The investigation moves between domestic appearances and memories carried back from military service abroad. Watson records the gradual separation of a visible quarrel from its underlying cause. Seemingly incongruous physical traces help open the past, while the story questions how securely public reputation reflects what happened before a respectable life began.
Reading focus
Unravel a military household's mystery through unexpected physical traces and a past that unsettles established reputations.
This reading edition contains 7,121 words in 1 original section. Read the text online with adjustable type and three colour themes, or keep a printable PDF.
Author: Arthur Conan Doyle. Language: English. Reading edition: 28 October 2026.
Opening excerpt
One summer night, a few months after my marriage, I was seated by my own hearth smoking a last pipe and nodding over a novel, for my day’s work had been an exhausting one. My wife had already gone upstairs, and the sound of the locking of the hall door some time before told me that the servants had also retired. I had risen from my seat and was knocking out the ashes of my pipe when I suddenly heard the clang of the bell.
Contents
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This edition contains the complete English literary text, with 1 section and 7,121 words. This reading edition preserves the checked English text and its section order. No study notes have been added.
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