The Adventure of the Crooked Man

The Adventure of the Crooked Man is a short detective story by Arthur Conan Doyle, first published in 1893. It is one of the Sherlock Holmes stories and appears in The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes. The story sits firmly in Holmes's world, so readers can expect a focused investigation, carefully placed clues, and the clear procedural feel that Doyle uses throughout the series, without needing to know any larger plot in advance.

It suits readers who like short, tightly built mystery fiction with one central case and a restrained sense of suspense. If you want a quick entry into the Sherlock Holmes canon, this is a compact example of Doyle's style and of the classic detective story form. It connects naturally to the other Holmes stories and to classic crime fiction more broadly, especially work built on observation, deduction, and methodical questioning.