Just before Helen Stoner's twin sister Julia was about to get married she was murdered during the night in her own chambers which she habitually locked from inside before going to bed. Now Helen was recently engaged and she, too, fears that she may be about to be killed. Ms. Stoner is living with her stepfather Dr. Roylotts of Stoke Moran in the old half-abandoned ancestral country house. Watson and Holmes investigate ...
Arthur Conan Doyle considered this his best story. It is a classic locked room mystery with a clever method. It has been adapted for television, film, theatre, radio, and video games.
1st edition 1892, The Strand; PDF 26 pages.
word count: 9929 which is equivalent to 39 standard pages of text