[1] One wretched November night, Inspector Stanley Hopkins visits Holmes at 221B Baker Street to discuss the violent death of Willoughby Smith, secretary to aged invalid Professor Coram.

The murder happened at Yoxley Old Place near Chatham, Kent, the fatal weapon being a sealing-wax knife belonging to the professor.

The maid further told Hopkins that before the murder, she heard Smith leave his room and walk down to the study; she had been hanging curtains and did not see him, only recognising his brisk step.

A minute later, a hoarse scream issued from the study, and the maid, hesitating briefly, entered and found the murder.

A lone piece of evidence was found in Willoughby Smith's hand: a pair of golden pince-nez spectacles.

Holmes meets the housekeeper in the garden and has a seemingly unimportant conversation about the professor's eating habits; apparently, he has eaten heavily today.

In the afternoon, the three men return to the professor in his room, and Holmes deliberately knocks the cigarettes over as an excuse to get a closer look at the floor.

The mystery's explanation is revealed as: the woman came in secret to the professor's house to obtain some documents, using a duplicate key she gained from one of the former secretaries.

She lost her pince-nez in the scramble to escape; unable to see clearly, she turned along the wrong corridor and wound up in the professor's room.

[2] It was included in the short story collection The Return of Sherlock Holmes,[2] which was published in the US in February 1905 and in the UK in March 1905.

[3] A short silent film adapted from the story was released in 1922 as part of the Stoll film series starring Eille Norwood as Sherlock Holmes and Hubert Willis as Watson, with Teddy Arundell as Inspector Hopkins, Norma Whalley as Anna Coram, and Cecil Morton York as Professor Coram.

A heavily bearded member of the Russian Brotherhood lurks in the garden, and administers final justice to the villainous Professor.

[10] "The Golden Pince-Nez" was dramatised for BBC Radio 4 in 1993 by Peter Ling as part of the 1989–1998 radio series starring Clive Merrison as Holmes and Michael Williams as Watson, featuring Maurice Denham as Professor Coram and Maureen O'Brien as the Lady.