| "The Adventure of the Musgrave Ritual" | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Short story by Arthur Conan Doyle | |||
 Reginald Musgrave, 1893 illustration by Sidney Paget in The Strand Magazine. | |||
| Country | United Kingdom | ||
| Language | English | ||
| Genre(s) | Detective fiction short stories | ||
| Publication | |||
| Published in | Strand Magazine | ||
| Publication date | May 1893 | ||
| Chronology | |||
| Series | The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes | ||
| |||
"The Adventure of the Musgrave Ritual" is a short story by Arthur Conan Doyle, featuring his fictional detective Sherlock Holmes. The story was originally published in The Strand Magazine in the United Kingdom in May 1893, and in Harper's Weekly in the United States on 13 May 1893.[1] It was collected in The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes.
Unlike the majority of Holmes stories, the main narrator is not Doctor Watson, but Sherlock Holmes himself. With Watson providing an introduction, the story within a story is a classic example of a frame tale. It is one of the earliest recorded cases investigated by Holmes, and establishes his problem solving skills.
"The Adventure of the Musgrave Ritual" shares elements with two Edgar Allan Poe tales: "The Gold-Bug" and "The Cask of Amontillado".
In 1927, Conan Doyle ranked the story at 11th place on his top 12 Holmes stories list.[2] The story did better in a 1999 chart produced by The Baker Street Journal, ranking 6th out of 10.[3]
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Smith 86was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Temple, Emily (22 May 2018). "The 12 Best Sherlock Holmes Stories, According to Arthur Conan Doyle". Literary Hub. Retrieved 6 January 2019.
- ^ Madsen, Diane Gilbert (20 September 2016). "What's Your Favorite Sherlock Holmes Story? - Strand Magazine". Strand Mag. Retrieved 25 September 2023.