This short story, considered the first modern detective story, features detective C. Auguste Dupin. The story begins with an introduction in which the narrator, roommate of Dupin, discusses the process of Analysis; drawing comparisons between the differences in playing draughts (checkers) and chess. Then they read a newspaper account of a baffling murder.
In the account, residents of a street in Paris were alarmed to hear a commotion and screams from an apartment building. The residents - and the police - forced their way in. Two women - mother and daughter - were found murdered in their room, which is locked from the inside. The daughter was found strangled and stuffed up the chimney - feet first - and the mother found thrown out the window with her head almost severed from the body. No one else was present. An amount of gold coins remained, eliminating robbery as a motive.
All the witnesses - and there are a few - reported hearing two other voices during the melée. One voice was unanimously described as a Frenchman shouting. No one agreed on the second voice, other than it was of a foreigner and in a language and speech pattern no one could recognize.
Dupin goes to the scene and first uses his techiques of analysis to determine how the two attackers entered and exited the rooms. Once determined, he is able to track down how the murders were done and find those responsible.
This story is a quick read, and was an inspiration for many detective stories to follow.
For more, see this Wikipedia article.
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