The Adventure of the Golden Pince-Nez by Arthur Conan Doyle. Short summary

5 seconds

A secretary is murdered. Holmes discovers that he was accidentally killed by the owner’s ex-wife, once a member of a nihilist organization. Her husband betrayed her and ran away. She tracks down the traitor to retrieve important papers.

1 minute

Holmes is approached by Detective Hopkins to help investigate the murder of the professor’s secretary. In the hands of the murdered man, Hopkins discovers a pince-nez in a gold frame. The detective determines that it is female.

Holmes arrives at the professor’s house. He discovers that the woman who killed the secretary is hiding in the professor’s room.

The lady comes out of the closet. She tells him that the professor is her husband. He is Russian and, like her, a nihilist who has betrayed his wife and comrades. In addition, he falsely accused the woman’s innocent friend.

After serving her sentence, the woman sought out her husband. She broke into his house to steal papers proving her friend’s innocence. She was caught by the secretary, and the woman accidentally killed him. She admits that she drank the poison. Dying, the woman asks Holmes to deliver the stolen papers to the Russian embassy.