Twisted Thrillers

"The Man with the Twisted Lip", one of the 56 short Sherlock Holmes stories written by British author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is the sixth of the 12 stories in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. The story was first published in the Strand Magazine in December 1891. Doyle ranked "The Man with the Twisted Lip" 16th in a list of his 19 favorite Sherlock Holmes stories.

Neville St. Clair, a respectable businessman, has disappeared, and his wife claims she saw him at the upper window of an opium den. When she entered the room, she found only a beggar. St. Clair's clothes are later found in the room, and his coat, laden with coins, in the River Thames outside the window. The beggar is arrested for murder, but a few days later St. Clair's wife receives a letter from her husband.

Holmes discovers Dr. Watson in the black shadows of a smoke-filled opium den in the basement of the very house where Holmes is investigating his latest murder case! But of course the good doctor is only there to hunt down the drug-addicted husband of his wife's dear, but distraught, friend. Sound confusing? For all but The Great Detective, it probably is. And we haven't even talked about the murder yet!