“ It is a mistake to confound strangeness with mystery. The most commonplace crime is often the most mysterious because it presents no new or special features from which deductions may be drawn. ”
Arthur Conan Doyle, A Study in Scarlet (1887). copy citation
| Author | Arthur Conan Doyle |
|---|---|
| Source | A Study in Scarlet |
| Topic | crime mystery strangeness |
| Date | 1887 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | |
| Weblink | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/244/244-h/244-h.htm |
Context
“I had the good fortune to seize upon that, and everything which has occurred since then has served to confirm my original supposition, and, indeed, was the logical sequence of it. Hence things which have perplexed you and made the case more obscure, have served to enlighten me and to strengthen my conclusions. It is a mistake to confound strangeness with mystery. The most commonplace crime is often the most mysterious because it presents no new or special features from which deductions may be drawn. This murder would have been infinitely more difficult to unravel had the body of the victim been simply found lying in the roadway without any of those outré and sensational accompaniments which have rendered it remarkable.”
source
Meaning and analysis
