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The Murders in the Rue Morgue” is a short story written by Edgar Allan Poe in 1841. Poe referred to it as a “tale of ratiocination” featuring the brilliant deductions of C. Auguste Dupin; it is today regarded as one of the first detective stories and is almost certainly the first locked room mystery.

This great work is a key scripture of the Vedanta sub-schools, and an influential Śruti to diverse schools of Hinduism. It is also the 40th chapter of Yajurveda. The name of the text means roughly enveloped by the Lord”, or “hidden in the Lord (Self)”. The text discusses the Atman (Soul or Self) and is referenced by both Dvaita (dualism) and Advaita (non-dualism) sub-schools of Vedanta. Mahatma Gandhi thought so highly of this scripture he remarked, “If all the Upanishads and all the other Vedas happened all of a sudden to be reduced to ashes, and if only the first verse in the Sri Isopanisad were left in the memory Varn Ashram Dharma would live forever.”

Alceste, the misanthrope, hates everyone including himself. But unlike in many pure farces with their cliche stock characters, the characters here are much more well-rounded, and who knows – Alceste might actually grow and change throughout the play. “Those who admired noble thoughts, select language, accurate delineations of character, and a perfect and entertaining style, placed this comedy from the very beginning where it is generally put, with the common consent of all students of sound literature, in the foremost rank of the good comedies of Moliere.

Sherlock Holmes, a fictional character of the late 19th and early 20th century created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is a brilliant London-based “consulting detective” famous for his intellectual prowess and renowned for his enormous scope of observation, his astute logical reasoning and forensic science skills in solving difficult crimes. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes is a collection of Sherlock Holmes mysteries, including The Final Problem in which Holmes confronts his arch-nemesis Professor Moriarty, originally published in 1894, which are preceded by The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and followed by The Hound of the Baskervilles.