The Crooked Man

The Crooked Man, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

A grumpy military man argues with his wife, and then winds up dead. The wife is in shock. Did she kill him.

Sherlock Holmes, seeing that the key with which they had locked themselves into their room, is gone, deduces that a third party was in the room. He discovers that the third party was the wife's long-lost love. He had been betrayed by her husband in battle. But he didn't kill the husband, either, he died of apoplexy--probably a heart attack or stroke in today's medical lingo.

Once again, I liked the retelling of the argument and the long lost love the best.

Verdict: I think that because Holmes' clues are so concrete, and mysteries so memorable, they're great for kids. Not that he needs anybody's endorsement. No, sir!