In Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes story “The Adventure of the Crooked Man,” Nancy Barclay’s husband is Colonel James Barclay.
Colonel Barclay is found dead in a locked room after an argument with Nancy. Because Nancy is discovered nearby in a distressed condition, suspicion initially falls upon her. Holmes examines the room and considers the couple’s military background and personal history.
The explanation reaches back to Barclay’s service in India. Before his military career, he was connected to Henry Wood, a soldier who suffered terrible injuries and physical deformity after being betrayed during wartime. Nancy had known Wood before marrying Barclay.
The title refers both to Wood’s appearance and to the moral consequences of Barclay’s earlier actions. The case is not a conventional murder mystery with a straightforward killer; it is a story of guilt, revenge, shock, and an accidental death.