A Study in Scarlet: A Sherlock Holmes Adventure

By Arthur Conan Doyle

HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics.

There's the scarlet thread of murder running through the colourless skein of life, and our duty is to unravel it

After a harrowing tour in Afghanistan, Dr. Watson returns to London to convalesce at 221B Baker Street, home to the enigmatic Sherlock Holmes. Their lives are irrevocably thrown together by news that a man has been found dead in a grimy ‘ill-omened’ house, with the word rache – German for revenge – written in blood on the wall. This grisly discovery is complicated further by the look of utter horror on the victim’s face, and the complete absence of any wounds on the body or sign of a struggle.

First published in 1887, A Study in Scarlet is the remarkable first-outing of one of literature’s most famous partnerships.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins UK
• Release date: Jan 30, 2014
• ISBN: 9780007558056

Arthur Conan Doyle

Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) was a Scottish author best known for his classic detective fiction, although he wrote in many other genres including dramatic work, plays, and poetry. He began writing stories while studying medicine and published his first story in 1887. His Sherlock Holmes character is one of the most popular inventions of English literature, and has inspired films, stage adaptions, and literary adaptations for over 100 years.

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CONTENTS

Cover

Title Page

History of Collins

Life & Times

Part I: Being a reprint from the reminiscences of John H. Watson, M.D., late of the Army Medical Department

Chapter 1: Mr. Sherlock Holmes

Chapter 2: The Science of Deduction

Chapter 3: The Lauriston Garden Mystery

Chapter 4: What John Rance Had to Tell

Chapter 5: Our Advertisement Brings a Visitor

Chapter 6: Tobias Gregson Shows What He Can Do

Chapter 7: Light In the Darkness

Part II: The Country of the Saints

Chapter 1: On the Great Alkali Plain

Chapter 2: The Flower of Utah

Chapter 3: John Ferrier Talks With the Prophet

Chapter 4: A Flight for Life

Chapter 5: The Avenging Angels

Chapter 6: A Continuation of the Reminiscences of John Watson, M.D.

Chapter 7: The Conclusion

Classic Literature: Words and Phrases adapted from the Collins English Dictionary

Footnotes

Copyright

About the Publisher

History of Collins

In 1819, millworker William Collins from Glasgow, Scotland, set up a company for printing and publishing pamphlets, sermons, hymn books, and prayer books. That company was Collins and was to mark the birth of HarperCollins Publishers as we know it today. The long tradition of Collins dictionary publishing can be traced back to the first dictionary William published in 1824, Greek and English Lexicon. Indeed, from 1840 onwards, he began to produce illustrated dictionaries and even obtained a licence to print and publish the Bible.

Soon after, William published the first Collins novel, Ready Reckoner; however, it was the time of the Long Depression, where harvests were poor, prices were high, potato crops had failed, and violence was erupting in Europe. As a result, many factories across the country were forced to close down and William chose to retire in 1846, partly due to the hardships he was facing.

Aged 30, William’s son, William II, took over the business. A keen humanitarian with a warm heart and a generous spirit, William II was truly Victorian in his outlook. He introduced new, up-to-date steam presses and published affordable editions of Shakespeare’s works and The Pilgrim’s Progress, making them available to the masses for the first time. A new demand for educational books meant that success came with the publication of travel books, scientific books, encyclopedias, and dictionaries. This demand to be educated led to the later publication of atlases, and Collins also held the monopoly on scripture writing at the time.

In the 1860s Collins began to expand and diversify and the idea of books for the millions was developed. Affordable editions of classical literature were published, and in 1903 Collins introduced 10 titles in their Collins Handy Illustrated Pocket Novels. These proved so popular that a few years later this had increased to an output of 50 volumes, selling nearly half a million in their year of publication. In the same year, The Everyman’s Library was also instituted, with the idea of publishing an affordable library of the most important classical works, biographies, religious and philosophical treatments, plays, poems, travel, and adventure. This series eclipsed all competition at the time, and the introduction of paperback books in the 1950s helped to open that market and marked a high point in the industry.

HarperCollins is and has always been a champion of the classics, and the current Collins Classics series follows in this tradition—publishing classical literature that is affordable and available to all. Beautifully packaged, highly collectible, and intended to be reread and enjoyed at every opportunity.

Life & Times

About the Author

Arthur Conan Doyle was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1859, the year Charles Darwin’s The Origin of Species was published. Conan Doyle was raised Catholic but declared himself agnostic by the time he began reading medicine at Edinburgh University, in 1876. He attained his doctorate in 1885, researching a condition caused by syphilis, known as tabes dorsalis, and characterised by the degeneration of sensory neurons causing the body to malfunctions.

Conan Doyle’s professional life began with a stint as ship’s doctor on a voyage around the coast of west Africa. In early 1882, before his doctorate was complete, he set up a surgery in Plymouth, England, with a university friend. Unfortunately, their professional relationship was short-lived and Conan Doyle moved to Southsea, England, by that summer. He then established his own medical practice, but found that business was slow, so he worked on his writing, which he had enjoyed from an early age. By 1887, he had published his first Sherlock Holmes novel and steered his career in a different direction.

Between 1887 and 1927, Conan Doyle published nine Sherlock Holmes books: four novels and five collections of short stories. He wrote many other books, but Sherlock Holmes became such an iconic character that his other works were rather overshadowed. In fact, Conan Doyle made the decision to kill off Sherlock Holmes in 1894, in a short story entitled The Final Problem. There was such public outcry at the death of Sherlock Holmes that Conan Doyle was moved to bring him back to life in The Return of Sherlock Holmes.

Despite his agnosticism, Conan Doyle developed an interest in spiritualism, becoming fascinated by beliefs in supernatural phenomena, including the Cottingley Fairy photographs, now understood to be hoaxes. His obsession also created a rift between himself and his friend, escapologist Harry Houdini. Conan Doyle couldn’t accept that Houdini’s escapades were elaborate tricks and Houdini grew vexed at Conan Doyle’s insistence that he possessed magical powers.

Conan Doyle suffered from considerable personal tragedy in the early years of the 20th century. A number of family members died, including his wife Louise, in 1906, and his son Kingsley, in 1918. There was also the horror of World War I to contend with, which affected the entire nation’s morale.

The Influence of Science

One of Conan Doyle’s better-known other works is the science-fiction novel The Lost World, published in 1912. The character Professor Challenger mounts an expedition to the Amazon Basin. He and his entourage encounter all manner of prehistoric animals along the way and witness warfare between an indigenous tribe and ape-men. In context, this novel can be seen as a document of scientific inquiry at the time. The French science-fiction author Jules Verne had died six years before, leaving an anthology of similar stories, including Journey to the Centre of the Earth, 1864. Similarly, Conan Doyle’s contemporary, the English writer H. G. Wells, had published The Time Machine in 1895. These books all enabled the characters to visit other places in time and to witness extinct creatures brought back to life. This general theme proved popular in an era when fossils and the processes of evolution were beginning to be understood by science. Conan Doyle used science to underpin his literature, although it is fair to say that he allowed pseudoscience to also appear towards the end of his life. Sherlock Holmes was Conan Doyle’s expression of his recognition that the application of empirical science and acute intellect were the things that members of the British Empire saw as the reason for their success.

Sherlock Holmes

Arthur Conan Doyle originally invented and wrote about the character of Sherlock Holmes to fill his time during his period as a general practitioner. In 1887 came the first published appearance of Holmes, along with his faithful companion Dr Watson, in a novel entitled A Study in Scarlet. Then three years after that, in 1890, came his second, The Sign of Four.

These books established Conan Doyle as a successful author. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes was published in 1892. Six of the twelve stories are described as ‘adventures’ in their title, because they were originally published singly in the Strand magazine and this provided a sense of continuity to the reader – a type of ‘product branding’. He had devised the detective mystery novel, considered a new genre at the time. Real-life crime cases were not usually very mysterious, but Conan Doyle recognised a need to elaborate for the sake of producing a good read. It is worth noting, however, that the case of the Whitehall Murders and Jack the Ripper had been prevalent in British newspapers in 1888, making the theme of mysterious crime-solving very topical. In fact, many of Conan Doyle’s fans wrote to him, suggesting that Sherlock Holmes attempt to solve the aforementioned crime. However, the author was wise enough to realise that there should be no crossover between fiction and fact, so Holmes was never called upon.

The private detective Sherlock Holmes was, in essence, a hybrid between the Victorian gentleman scientist and the police detective. The Victorian era marked an historical point where science came into its own as a distinct discipline based on empirical experimentation. Before then, science had been rather more ambiguous in its definition. Physicians, chemists and biologists had shown that the world always operates according to strict scientific rules and laws. It was this new phenomenon of scientific certainty that allowed Sherlock Holmes to confidently solve crimes in an age when police investigation was generally understood to be largely a matter of hit and miss, a mix of luck and judgement. Although a fictitious character, Holmes revolutionised the perception of what could be achieved by way of identifying and collecting evidence from crime scenes, theorising motives and courses of events and pinpointing suspects.

It suited the character development better for Holmes to be a private detective, as he evidently possessed a quality of intellectual genius which, so often, is accompanied by idiosyncrasies and eccentricities that make for a personality ill-suited to the routine and regulations of conventional employment.

To make Holmes believable as a character with an exceptional mind, he also needed to be flawed in certain ways, so the author made him something of a loner, with obsessive, fanatical and addictive traits. The result was a well-rounded character that the reader could understand, if not identify with, because he too had vulnerabilities and weaknesses common to us all. In fact, Conan Doyle openly admitted that the greatest part of Holmes was based on someone he knew: Professor Joseph Bell, a Scottish university lecturer and forensic pathologist. Conan Doyle had been impressed by the way Bell had implemented scientific analysis and detailed observation during post-mortem examinations in deducing the cause of death. Although commonplace now, a forensic approach was something quite new in 1877, when they first met.

Conan Doyle commented that Bell’s force of habit, or inculcation was one of observation, inference and deduction, so that the most likely cause of death was arrived at by a methodical process of elimination. It was a mindset of reason, logic and the application of acquired knowledge; perfect for a successful private investigator. The term Occam’s razor is sometimes applied to Holmes’ method, because it explains things by reducing, or razing, options so that assumptions and conclusions can be made with a reasonable level of accuracy and confidence.

At Sherlock Holmes’ side in all of his investigations is Dr John Watson, who acts as an enthusiastic deputy. He also narrates most of the Sherlock Holmes stories, so that the reader experiences events from a second-person perspective. Dr Watson is intelligent in his own right, but he admires Holmes for his ability to think about things on a higher plane. It is notable that Holmes has no letters before his name, because he is a free thinker and rejects the notion of establishment and official credentials.

Similarly, Holmes has a rather condescending view of those employed at Scotland Yard, the police headquarters in London. Inspector Lestrade is a Scotland Yard detective for whom Holmes has mixed feelings. On the one hand, he considers Lestrade the best detective on the force, but on the other hand, he seems to only tolerate him because Lestrade is useful and efficient at dealing with the more mundane duties of making arrests and providing manpower.

One notable characteristic of Sherlock Holmes is his penchant for dressing in disguise. Conan Doyle saw that it would be useful for Holmes to be a master of disguise, so that he could access situations without the requirement for assistants who might otherwise do the job for him. In effect, Holmes becomes another character while in disguise, thereby allowing him to glean vital information by stealth. In some ways, this was the forerunner to undercover police work, where detectives are expected to covertly gain the trust of criminals by pretending to be part of the gang or by observing from the sidelines. As a plot device, it was useful for Conan Doyle to have Holmes assume different disguises where necessary, to provide intelligence so that segue between elements of the investigation could be made.

A Study in Scarlet

A Study in Scarlet was the very story that introduced the world to Sherlock Holmes before the character became an institution, and also to Dr. Watson and Inspector Lestrade. The novel went virtually unnoticed upon publication in 1887, but the second novel, The Sign of Four, put both author and characters on the literary map in 1890.

In order to illustrate Holmes’ powers of observation and deduction, Conan Doyle concocted a rather unlikely and convoluted plot, which set the blueprint for the rest of the Holmes stories – and indeed many similar novels by other crime writers since. Conan Doyle manipulated the fact that many readers seek stories that are imaginative in their scope but realistic in their details, which could explain why the Sherlock Holmes adventures have been such a success and had such an influence.

Conan Doyle had invented a new literary genre by drawing on investigative and scientific developments in the world of policing in the Victorian era. The concept of collecting and interpreting evidence was coming into its own in late nineteenth-century England, and Conan Doyle saw that it offered rich potential for his story-telling. Fanciful storylines could be made convincing to the reader by the interweaving of facts, discoveries and inventions that only Holmes seemed to be privy to, thereby amazing his fellow characters and the reader alike. It was a clever device that caught the reader’s imagination and attention.

PART I

(Being a reprint from the reminiscences of John H. Watson, M.D., late of the Army Medical Department.)

CHAPTER 1

Mr. Sherlock Holmes

In the year 1878 I took my degree of Doctor of Medicine of the University of London, and proceeded to Netley to go through the course prescribed for surgeons in the army. Having completed my studies there, I was duly attached to the Fifth Northumberland Fusiliers as Assistant Surgeon. The regiment was stationed in India at the time, and before I could join it, the second Afghan war had broken out. On landing at Bombay, I learned that my corps had advanced through the passes, and was already deep in the enemy’s country. I followed, however, with many other officers who were in the same situation as myself, and succeeded in reaching Candahar in safety, where I found my regiment, and at once entered upon my new duties.

The campaign brought honours and promotion to many, but for me it had nothing but misfortune and disaster. I was removed from my brigade and attached to the Berkshires, with whom I served at the fatal battle of Maiwand. There I was struck on the shoulder by a Jezail bullet, which shattered the bone and grazed the subclavian artery. I should have fallen into the hands of the murderous Ghazis had it not been for the devotion and courage shown by Murray, my orderly, who threw me across a pack-horse, and succeeded in bringing me safely to the British lines.

Worn with pain, and weak from the prolonged hardships which I had undergone, I was removed, with a great train of wounded sufferers, to the base hospital at Peshawar. Here I rallied, and had already improved so far as to be able to walk about the wards, and even to bask a little upon the verandah, when I was struck down by enteric fever, that curse of our Indian possessions. For months my life was despaired of, and when at last I came to myself and became convalescent, I was so weak and emaciated that a medical board determined that not a day should be lost in sending me back to England. I was dispatched, accordingly, in the troopship Orontes, and landed a month later on Portsmouth jetty, with my health irretrievably ruined, but with permission from a paternal government to spend the next nine months in attempting to improve it.

I had neither kith nor kin in England, and was therefore as free as air—or as free as an income of eleven shillings and sixpence a day will permit a man to be. Under such circumstances, I naturally gravitated to London, that great cesspool into which all the loungers and idlers of the Empire are irresistibly drained. There I stayed for some time at a private hotel in the Strand, leading a comfortless, meaningless existence, and spending such money as I had, considerably more freely than I ought. So alarming did the state of my finances become, that I soon realized that I must either leave the metropolis and rusticate somewhere in the country, or that I must make a complete alteration in my style of living. Choosing the latter alternative, I began by making up my mind to leave the hotel, and to take up my quarters in some less pretentious and less expensive domicile.

On the very day that I had come to this conclusion, I was standing at the Criterion Bar, when some one tapped me on the shoulder, and turning round I recognized young Stamford, who had been a dresser under me at Barts. The sight of a friendly face in the great wilderness of London is a pleasant thing indeed to a lonely man. In old days Stamford had never been a particular crony of mine, but now I hailed him with enthusiasm, and he, in his turn, appeared to be delighted to see me. In the exuberance of my joy, I asked him to lunch with me at the Holborn, and we started off together in a hansom.

Whatever have you been doing with yourself, Watson? he asked in undisguised wonder, as we rattled through the crowded London streets. You are as thin as a lath and as brown as a nut.

I gave him a short

Reviews for A Study in Scarlet

[haloedrain · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I would have liked it better if most of part 2 didn't feel so completely separate from the rest (and maybe were more accurate and less bigoted), but the detectiving part was alright. Holmes is a bit insufferable, but interesting too.

[stbalbach_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A Study in Scarlet was the first Sherlock Holmes story published. Given its age (1886) it reads surprisingly well with crisp non-florid prose, almost like a novel written in 2017 by someone pretending to be from the 1800s. This is the first Sherlock Holmes I've read. It gives a sense that, while you may be confused, someone else understands the world and answers can be had. That is comforting, like a parent reassuring an anxious child. This is echoed in the name "Sure" as in assurance or confidence; "Lock" as in holding the key to the mystery; and "Holmes" which sounds like "Home", a reassuring feeling. The clues to the mystery are somewhat beside the point, contrived and making sense only after the explanation. Regardless, I really enjoyed it and look forward to dipping into more in a sequential fashion as they were published. Giving 5 stars as the origin story of Sherlock Holmes.For modern readers the Mormon sub-plot is weird and maybe a little offensive. However in the 1880s, they were indeed a novel, strange and exotic people who engaged in massacres and "harems". In the story they come to London, to the homes of the readers. It's a classic "invasion novel" popular at the time, similar to Dracula which saw Eastern Europeans as the invaders. The invasion of London by secretive sub-cultures is a common theme Holmes stories.

[asxz-2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

My first ever Holmes. Wonderfully there is much of the modern understanding of Sherlock Holmes clearly laid out on the page. He is perhaps even more self aware than TV and movie adaptations allow describing his mood swings and eccentricities to Dr. Watson even before they move in together.

There is a remarkable section in the middle where the narrative goes all Fenimore Cooper and we are transported from London to the snowy peaks of Utah. Quite unexpected. This was more fun even than I had expected. Fortunately I have already purchased further volumes.

[andrew1theqm · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is an enjoyable introduction to both Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, and it will be interesting to see how their characters develop across the series. I particularly enjoyed the large section that took place on the American Plains (not something you expect in a Sherlock Holmes book!) and how the story unravelled that led up to events being investigated in London. This was particularly well done. I look forward to continuing with the series.

[scorched_earth · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is the first book I have read by the famed creator of Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. A Study in Scarlet is Doyle's first book featuring the infamous Sherlock Holmes. Holmes' character has been portrayed in the movies so much that I feel like I already knew the character. Reading the original text by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is, not surprisingly, better than any other theatrical take I have seen. A Study in Scarlet is an easy read that could easily be completed in one day. The edition that I own contains illustrations by the famous caricaturist, Gris Grimly. I am not a fan of graphic novels or even illustrations in books because it distract my own imagination of how things should appear. On the other hand, the illustrations are very impressive so if you are into that kind of thing, I would recommend this edition. Holmes' first adventure in detection in A Study in Scarlet reveals to the world the detectives impeccable deductive powers. Holmes meets his sidekick Dr. Watson in Doyle's freshman detective novel, where the two rent an apartment on Baker Street. It is a widely known fact that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle single handedly revolutionized the science of Forensics and crime scene investigation. There is an in-depth documentary about how Sherlock Holmes' methods were used in Doyle's fiction novels before they were ever used in real life. Knowing this fact makes reading these books much more interesting and entertaining to read. I plan on chronologically reading all the books written by Doyle that feature Sherlock Holmes.

[therebelprince · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I've long felt bad about never having read any of the nine books that make up the Sherlock Holmes canon, so finally I've rectified that... and what an odd little work it is.

The first half of the book is what's important, historically, but it's the least interesting. Conan Doyle doesn't write natural dialogue, and a result the discussions between Watson and Holmes come across more like a treatise on how detective work - in the real world and in novels - is evolving and progressing. While this is all very very interesting, particularly to someone like myself who has read a lot of Christie and Poe etc, it feels like an essay that has been structured in story form, rather than the other way around.

On top of this, I concede that I have a bias against this "one really smart quirky man always outdoes everyone" formula. Holmes started it, but it's returned in the last ten years or so to television, and personally I think it just weakens the narrative when every other character functions only as a sounding board for our god of a leading man. Sherlock is cunningly described by Watson as a seemingly paradoxical man who in fact has rational reasons for all of his education and activities, although even the great detective can't seem to fix his (bipolar?) moods. As their friendship is still embryonic at this stage, Watson can give us no insight into Holmes' life, and Holmes offers none, so he remains a cipher. But I'm treating this as a pilot episode, so that's okay. More immediately fascinating are the elements of contemporary life: street beggars working for Holmes, the necessary advantages and disadvantages that came from being a police officer in the era - thrilling stuff.

The second half is a mixed bag also. Conan Doyle is an admirable prose writer, and his description of the events twenty years prior to the murders is captivating and gripping. On the other hand, it is filled with amazingly anti-Mormon sentiment. I'm no religious sympathiser myself, but I couldn't take it seriously when the narrator assured us that all Mormons kill or destroy anyone who attempts to leave their faith.

An odd little novel, and I've already started the second one, since I'm very eager to see if Conan Doyle can somehow retain his marvelous leading character, whilst furthering his skills in the other required areas.

(Two and a half stars)

[smiler69 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is the work which introduced the reading public to the phenomenon that is Sherlock Holmes and his trusty sidekick Dr Watson, who narrates the story as he describes his first encounter with the great Holmes, when both were still young men and looking to share living quarters to accommodate restricted budgets. Watson, who has plenty of time on his hands, gladly assists Holmes in this first adventure. Holmes is pompous and very full of himself, but as it turns out, he is also never wrong, even though he comes to immediate conclusions and makes seemingly preposterous statements about details of the crimes and criminals while seemingly going on very little evidence. I had no idea what to expect with this story, and so was nicely surprised that it is made up of two parts. In the first part, there is a mysterious murder of an American man thought to have been poisoned in London. Then the narrative switches to the USA and relates the tale of a man and a little girl dying of thirst and hunger who are the last survivors of a large party of travellers heading out west across the desert in Salt Lake Valley, who are rescued by a party of Mormons, on their way to found Salt Lake City. They rescue John Ferrier and little Lucy on the condition that the pair adopt the Mormon religion, which, according to Doyle's wild imagination took draconian measures to punish those who didn't toe the line. And from there evolves the drama which unfolds years later in London. A really great story, though Holmes himself doesn't really interest me much so far.

[saitchy_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The brilliant debut appearance of the Master of Induction!

[cheryl_in_cc_nv · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Doyle's work is surprisingly accessible for being so old. I'm glad that a bookcrossing.com member gave me a stack of Holmes. This novelette (?) was actually one of my least favorite, though, as it got complex and boring. Start with a short story collection. (Hound of the Baskervilles was also one that dragged for me.)

[clong_818048 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is only my second foray into Sherlock Holmes, the other having been The Hound of the Baskervilles (which I read a long, long time ago). Overall, I thought this was decidely so-so. While I am a big Poe fan, I have never been particularly enthusiastic about the Dupin stories. I read this in some ways as the natural evolution of Poe’s tales, and from that perspective it felt like a significant step forward. I’m not sure I find Holmes particularly believable (more on this below), but both he Holmes and Watson are interesting and multi-dimensional characters. They play off each other effectively, and the Lestrade vs Gregson vs Holmes dynamic would also seem to offer fertile ground. I thought the contrast of the urban London scenes with the great Western US outdoors scenes was interesting. And I thought the climactic scene in which the murderer is revealed was an effective piece of theatre.Having said that, plenty of this felt to me like a first attempt at a novel length work. The scene with young Samford in Chapter 1 felt very clumsy to me. I also thought it was strange that Watson at first seems to pay little attention to his surroundings, but then suddenly gives detailed observations when we get to the murder house. I think that one of my biggest problems with the book is basic rejection of the entire premise. Holmes is famous for having said (elsewhere) “when you have excluded the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth" and that is indeed his approach here. But in the real world what happens is that, when you have excluded the impossible you are usually left with a wide range of highly to not so highly probables. Even if you accept Holmes' assertion that he can recognize "a gentleman of a medical type, but with the air of a military man" who "has just come from the tropics" and "has undergone hardship and sickness" and whose "left arm has been injured," I don't see that Afghanistan is the only possible explanation for this confluence of facts. The most probable explanation, perhaps, but ridiculously far from the only one. (Plus, I don't particularly accept the assertion that there is a "medical type.")Also, "On the Great Alkali Plain" seems rife with inaccuracies to me. I have driven (recently) through Utah and Colorado, and while portions of it are indeed desolate and inhospitable, it's simply not true that, "from the Sierra Nevada to Nebraska, and from the Yellowstone River in the north to the Colorado upon the south, is a region of desolation and silence." Oh, and Brigham Young's band consisted fo 148 people, not 10,000. And there were a bunch of indian tribes living in the area, but you wouldn't have been likely to run across any Pawnee or Blackfoot. Does any of this really matter? It seems to me that, in a book where the hero's success depends on meticulous observation of the world around him, verisimilitude matters. And this also includes how you play the violin. My biggest problem with A Study in Scarlet was the laughably stereotypical depiction of the lecherous and avaricious Mormons, and how it is juxtoposed against Jefferson Hope as "a Christian, which is more than these folk here, in spite o' all their praying and preaching." I know that there were Mormons that did bad things (google "Mountain Meadows massacre"), but I have got to think that Doyle was either falling for or taking advantage of anti-Mormon propaganda. (In fairness, I suppose I should thank Doyle for making me curious enough about what actually happened to do a bit of research.)

[booksandwine · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

audio-ed; skipped mormon part... full review after work

[booksfordinner · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Funny... I guess I read this 30 years ago when I was a kid, and compared to the short stories, I didn't remember it too well... halfway through the book and all of a sudden there are four or five chapters in Utah with Bringham Young and the Mormons? Huh? What happened to the pocket watches and the gaslights and the coach-and-fours? Still great, of course.

[david7466 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This first of Doyle's Sherlock Holmes books introduces the character quite well with several references to his peculiararities. It's funny at times, graceful with explanations of character history and short enough to enjoy in a reading or two.

[eclecticdodo · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I've never read any Sherlock Holmes before, so I thought I ought to start at the beginning. Most of the story is told by Watson, recording events after the fact in the form of a rather formal diary. A section is more of a traditional story, recounting events that took place in America which provide the motive for the crime. I didn't enjoy this writing style nearly so much as the first. I found the facts a little thin on the ground, and Holmes supposed deductions far too obscure to form a really engaging mystery. Overall a good book, but not great.

[nwdavies-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The first of the Sherlock Holmes stories and an excellent opener. Fully intend to (finally) read all the others... a glaring gap in my literary history.

[robert.zimmermann · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I wanted to give this a full 5 stars, but I just couldn't. Still, for my first venture into Doyle's Sherlock Holmes books/stories, I was happy with what I found.

The thing that turned me off was that after the first part of the book is done and the second begins, I was very confused at what I was reading. There was no transition/introduction mentioning that the story was taking a major change in time, place, characters. It was no longer Sherlock Holmes in London; it was the Mormon migration to Utah.

But near the end of the book, it all came together and the point of the sudden change was explained. I still think it was too abrupt and could have been done in a different way to preserve the flow, but all-in-all it was a fun read. I'm sure Doyle improved on his writing after this first novel, especially judging by the fact that it's so popular even over a century later.

[librarycin · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

3.5 starsThis is the first Sherlock Holmes novel when Dr. Watson first meets Holmes. They become roommates and soon after, there is a murder. The mystery is actually solved in part one of the story, then part two gives more background information on how/why it all happened. It was off and on for me for holding my interest. I was just getting interested in Watson and Holmes getting to know each other, then the murder came about. I lost focus for a bit, then was getting interested again when part one ended, and there was a shift to different characters and a different setting, which caused me to lose interest a bit, once again. Once that got going, I got interested again. I do think I liked this better than the Holmes short stories I've read (although the way it was structured it almost felt like a couple of short stories until it came together in the end!). Overall, I liked it enough to rate it good.

[superant_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This first story in the Sherlock Holmes original storyline is great. It blew me away. I had no idea it was going to end relating to the Mormon practices of the time!

[dulac3_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

_A Study in Scarlet_ is an interesting book for several reasons. Here we have the first written adventure of Sherlock Holmes and get both the first introduction to the famous sleuth and his comrade Dr. Watson, as well as details of their first meeting. We are treated to a somewhat humorous précis of Watson’s first impressions of his strange room-mate (detailed in several other reviews) and even manage to see a fledgling Holmes occasionally wrong, or at least not 100% accurate, in some of his initial surmises at the mystery they become embroiled in. We also see the somewhat ambivalent and competitive relationship Holmes has with Scotland Yard and his disdain for the official investigators and their inferior methods of detection.

The mystery itself involves the double homicide of two Americans and an embarrassment of mysterious clues at the place of the first murder. Of course both Scotland Yard detectives assigned to the case manage to make the wrong assumptions and go off in different directions, though Holmes has to grudgingly admit that they “are coming along” and even wonders at one point if they have managed to beat him to the punch when one of his own assumptions seems to have gone awry.

The story is actually in two parts, the first of which covers the initial mystery and the very engrossing portrait of Holmes and his many quirks. Holmes ultimately proves able to solve the mystery by the end of this section in a fashion perhaps more mysterious than the murders themselves. From here we go to a flashback of events separated in both time and space by great distance in order to be given the background of the two murders in London and many readers seem to have a big problem with this. I actually found this section, while certainly a bit jarring at first, to be a well-written and entertaining story in itself. Its chief failings seem to be that a) it is not a story involving Sherlock Holmes, and b) the historicity of some of its facts can be considered somewhat questionable as it turns the early Mormons and their leaders into some kind of nefarious secret society rivalling even the Illuminati or Rosicrucians. I didn’t find either of these elements to be too great of an obstacle personally. I knew that we would return to Holmes & Watson in due course to be provided with our explanations and revelations and if I wasn’t being given a straight history lesson on the true founding of Salt Lake City, then I was certainly given an entertaining tale that was probably more interesting than the facts themselves would have been. The only part of this tale I really found questionable was that a man like Jefferson Hope would simply wait a month for Lucy to die of a broken heart after she’d been abducted and didn’t try to rescue her, even if it proved impossible and meant his death.

The culmination of both stories as they meet in the rooms of Holmes and Watson at 221B Baker Street in London was satisfying and I highly recommend this story. Another 4, or 4.5 star book from Doyle.

[klmesoftly · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I'd heard great things about this book, and had high expectations after so enjoying the BBC Sherlock take - I wasn't disappointed. It's easy to appreciate why Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson are such iconic, well-loved characters.

[lisamaria_c · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I've been a Sherlock Holmes fan--of the actual fiction by Conan Doyle--ever since the short story "The Speckled Band" was assigned to me in high school. I own an edition of the complete tales and novels. A Study in Scarlet is the first work with Holmes and tells when Watson, his roommate, companion in adventure and our chronicler, first met him. No other fictional character--not Nero Wolfe nor Hercule Poirot better embodies the "Great Detective" and watching Holmes, his deductions and their reasons is like watching a virtuoso on their chosen instrument. Mind you, Holmes--and Doyle--are very much of their time and place--Victorian England. Think Kipling. Jingoistic and definitely not politically correct--so be prepared to make allowances. In this particular novel, Doyle is not kind to Mormons (LDS)--they were a controversial group in their time and very much the villains in this story. I have to admit in a way I found that amusing, because by the time I first read this, my view of Mormons was formed by Donny Osmond and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, so having them as villains was surprising and piquant. This is a short novel, so all in all I think a solid introduction to the most famous of fictional detectives.

[bookappeal · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This introduction to the legendary Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson is fun to read, especially after all of the adaptations that have followed Arthur Conan Doyle's creation. The first case of murder with the word "Rache" written in blood on the wall provides an entertaining look at how Holmes works. The insertion of the second story is a bit jarring as it's connection to the first case is seemingly so far removed. The setting switches from London to the American West and the roots of Mormonism, depicted by Conan Doyle as a murderous, kidnapping, and enslaving community. The culmination of the stories is satisfactory and puts the focus of the narrative back on Holmes and his investigative skills.

[bookwallah · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

THE book that started our collective cultural obsession with murder mystery detectives. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s first novel, “A Study in Scarlet”, has all the elements we have come to love: Analytical Holmes, affable Watson, the dreary London streets, clueless Lestrade from Scotland Yard, the rooms at 221B Baker Street, the impossible murder without any “clews” -- and the mind numbing feats of analysis we all love to hate. Perhaps Holmes himself says it best when he tutors Watson on the difference between reasoning forward and reasoning backward analytically, “There are few people, however, who, if you told them a result, would be able to evolve from their own inner consciousness what the steps were which lead them to that result.” Few indeed, few indeed. Thank you Sir Arthur for creating Holmes which inevitably led to my obsession. Highly recommended for all readers.

[les121 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Before this book, I’d only read The Hound of the Baskervilles, so I’d never actually gotten to see the beginning of Holmes' and Watson’s adventures. Having read A Study in Scarlet, I now realize that I should have started with this story instead. It introduces the characters to the reader - and to each other - providing the perfect foundation for the rest of the mysteries.Watching Sherlock Holmes go about solving the case is highly entertaining. When the story suddenly shifts gears to delve into the killer’s motivations, I was a little annoyed at first. But it wasn’t long before I found myself gripped by this mini story-within-a-story. The descriptions of the American West and the Mormons are hilariously inaccurate at times (espcially with the distinctly British dialogue), but it serves to show what the attitudes and beliefs were in England at the time. I found myself just as captivated watching this drama play out as I was by the mystery itself.In short, if you’re looking for a good place to start with Sherlock Holmes, look no further than A Study in Scarlet. As much as I love the various TV and movie iterations, there’s no character quite like Doyle's Sherlock Holmes.

[ajbraithwaite_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I think this is the first time I've read a Sherlock Holmes story. They're so familiar from film and TV adaptations that it's good to get back to the original. I was startled by the change of pace in part two, where we're thrown out of 1880s London and into the Mormons' journey to Utah and the story of John and Lucy Ferrier. I'm guessing Conan Doyle doesn't have too many Mormon fans...

[jmoncton_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I've read many of the Sherlock Holmes stories, but somehow I missed this first novella that starts the Sherlock Holmes legend. This is the first story where Holmes meets Watson and the world is introduced to Holmes' bizarre behavior and his science of deductive reasoning. SPOILER ALERT - The mystery in this book was strong, but what I really enjoyed was the background story about the two murdered victims and the murderer. The victims are two men who used to be Elders in the Mormon Church. Back in Utah, one of the men forced a young woman to be one of his many wives, even though she was already betrothed to another man. The woman dies of a broken heart and her fiance spends the rest of his life chasing the two men all over the world to avenge his lover's death. I found the portion of the book that didn't involve Holmes and Watson to be fascinating, partly because it showed how some people viewed Mormons during the 19th Century, but also because the story was so well told. It made me wonder if there were other non-Sherlock Holmes stories that could have been written by this great author.

[davido1103 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Classic (1st) Sherlock Holmes, very well read. The Mormons don't come out so well in this story...

[spyderman58 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

My first Sherlock Holmes book was without disappointment. A very nice read and would be recommended to anyone asking for something to read.

[breakerfallen · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Great character development that I felt was missing from the later short stories. I'm glad I read this one - it makes me want to read the rest in order.

[sageness · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I read this for the first time 26 years ago. Funny how much and little I remembered. Very interesting how animated and emotive this - original - Holmes is, especially compared to later fan writers (pro and otherwise) portraying him as, essentially, Spock.

Now, I dig Spock, don't get me wrong, but he's about a tenth as emotive as Watson's beloved detective here. *g*