quote · Legacy record
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. These strange details, far from making the case more difficult, have really had the effect of making it less so.
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. These strange details, far from making the case more difficult, have really had the effect of making it less so.
Approximate author period: c. 1894 AD · industrial
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- Author or tradition
- Arthur Conan Doyle
Attribution: attributed - Country attributed
- Not established
A country attribution does not establish the earliest origin. - Historical period
- Approximate author period: c. 1894 AD · industrial
Approximate author-period anchor from life dates 1859 to 1930; Wikidata Q35610, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q35610 (accessed 2026-10-08). Not a quotation composition date.
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Supplied reference C; CSV row 219422; supplied attribution, independently unverified
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