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Classic Literature. Fiction. Mystery. HTML: A Study in Scarlet is the first of the Sherlock Holmes stories. Watson narrates his first meeting with the eccentric Holmes, who appears almost genius in some fields of study and completely ignorant in others. This, as Holmes explains, is because he believes that brain space is limited, and one must be careful what one puts in. He gradually reveals his method and thinking to an astonished Watson. We see Holmes languishing at home, scratching at the violin he can play to perfection. We see the erratic way he conducts business, and finally, after a trip across half the world into a completely different landscape and story, we see him unravel the mystery at the heart of the novel in an apparently effortless manner..… (more)
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In this first volume, Dr. Watson meets Sherlock Holmes and they become roommates. Holmes demonstrates all the nigh-magical powers that his deductive reasoning grant him from the start. Watson finds this at once mysterious and fascinating, resolving to chronicle Holmes’ skill. Those skills are tested by the death of a man in an empty house, with no wounds, covered in blood. Whodunnit?
The language holds up quite well for the modern reader. It is a little archaic, but flows just fine. The most anachronistic part of it is the structure. For one, unlike a modern mystery, the reader doesn’t have access to all the clues and has no chance to solve the puzzle on their own. Also, Sherlock Holmes reveals the murder in the middle of the story instead of at the end.
After the big reveal, the scene shifts so suddenly that I was afraid that my download of the ebook had been corrupted, and that there was another book in the middle of mine. It goes from Holmes’ rooms in London to the middle of the American Western desert forty years previously, where a man and a girl are dying of thirst. This shift was mind bogglingly abrupt, but by following it all the way through one learns about why Holmes’ was right in his identification of the murderer.
This emphasis on deductive reasoning and its power forms a strong link with the mindset of your average science fiction novel – things are known and knowable, the universe works logically and predictably, and by applying logic the most difficult puzzles can be solved. However, by being set in a “normal” setting, it is non-threatening to your everyday reader. I imagine that you can draw a direct line from the popularity of the Holmes’ stories to the popularity of the currently multiplying CSI series. So if you’re a fan of science fiction, or just forensics, this book should be a part of your library.
This is the very first Sherlock Holmes adventure. Watson, a doctor who served in India and
The book is written from Watson’s point-of-view and I love the descriptions he gives of Sherlock. He's surprised by how much he knows, but also by how little he knows on certain subjects (like literature and astronomy). Sherlock explains that he can't clutter up his mind with hundreds of details; instead he must fill it only with that which he believes will be useful to him. I also thought it was interesting that even early-on Watson that Sherlock might be addicted to a narcotic (in later books we learn he smokes opium).
Watson also notes that Sherlock's method of deduction reminds him of Edgar Allen Poe's fictional detective, Dupin. To which Sherlock, in his classic condescending style, says he thinks Dupin was a very inferior fellow.
The book takes a really strange turn in the second half. The first half follows Sherlock and Watson as they try to solve the mystery. At the end of part one Sherlock catches the killer, but then part two starts and we are in Utah years earlier. The story introduces brand new characters, including crazy Mormons who kidnap women settlers and force them into marriage. It’s an odd way to plot the story. It all makes sense in the end, but it took me a minute to figure out what was going on.
I would say this isn’t my favorite of the Sherlock books. That’s mainly because of the huge section in Part 2 that he is completely absent from. I still really enjoyed it, but that part just threw me for a loop.
I loved reading this after seeing the BBC version of Sherlock, which begins with the episode "A Study in Pink." The showed stayed remarkably close to the original story (minus the Mormons), mainly changing the time period and a few case details. If you haven’t already watched that series you should!
"He had always determined, deep down in his resolute heart, that nothing would ever induce him to allow his daughter to wed a Mormon. Such a marriage he regarded as no marriage at all, but as a shame and a disgrace. Whatever he might think of the Mormon doctrines, upon that one point he was inflexible. He had to seal his mouth on the subject, however, for to express an unorthodox opinion was a dangerous matter in those days in the Land of the Saints."
While it is true that the Mormon leadership is made out to be a secretive society bent on incorporating as many young girls as possible into their polygamous harems, the novel, I feel, does a good job of describing the difficulties of having unorthodox opinions in a society where being a 'true believer' is highly valued. This ended up being the most interesting part of the novel for me (although I was anxious to see how this would all tie in Sherlock Holmes). Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is a terrific writer, I must say. Instead of writing the straightforward crime/mystery novel that I anticipated, he made me not only understand the motivations of the villain, but actually feel some sense of accomplishment on the villain's part. At the same time, I equally wanted to see Holmes track the man down and show that his superior use of deduction can solve a mystery that to others seems quite puzzling. However, in none of this was there a need to see justice done to the criminal. It would have been just as satisfying, perhaps more so, if the criminal had gotten away at the end (and in a way he does, dying of a heart condition before the trial is held).
The book was immensely enjoyable and I highly recommend it. The Mormon section of the book gets a bad rap for painting Mormons in a negative light and for being a too extended digression from the main plot. I would argue otherwise. The Mormon section contains some of the best narrative exposition, and the departure from the Holmes plot helps to put the motivations of the crime into a much-needed perspective.
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
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.
In the second part of A Study in Scarlet, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle provides a commentary on Mormonism. The reader is informed about how the Latter Day Saints deal with 'Gentiles', that is people with different beliefs from those of Mormonism. When a father does not want to marry his daughter to either Enoch Drebber or Joseph Stangerson, both father and daughter are intimidated by the people in their Mormon community until they finally try to escape their home, their community and even the state of Utah with the help of the daughter's lover, Jefferson Hope. Their flight, however, fails when the father is killed and the daughter taken back into the Mormon community. There she is married to Drebber and dies of a broken heart a month later. That is when Jefferson Hope swears to avenge the deaths of both father and daughter. It is important to mention that Doyle's criticism of Mormonism has to be regarded with respect to the time the novel was written in.
There are several things I liked about A Study in Scarlet. First, there are the rightly famous characters of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson who make a great team of murder investigators and have a lot of witty dialogs. Second, there is Doyle's style of writing which I found amazingly refreshing for a late 19th-century novel. Third, there is the topic of deduction and logic which I think is quite intriguing. While Sherlock Holmes' deductions seem strange at first, Doyle manages to explain them through his narrator John Watson. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle finds a very successful way of passing on knowledge to the reader and thereby influencing and guiding the reading process. On the whole, A Study in Scarlet is a great read which makes me want to read more of the Sherlock Holmes stories. 4 stars.
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.
This was disappointing. I was enjoying the story, with Holmes and Watson following clues, then we get some lengthy, lengthy.... lengggggggthy backstory about why the killings occurred. We go back years to America and this dreadfully meaningless storyline that I-don't-care-about. I honestly
Eventually, we get back to England and H&W.
And I keep noting that Holmes has no justification for pretty much anything he does. I also notice that his solutions only work if you squint and ignore the rest of human experience. Assumption after conjecture after wild guess.
This is not the myth who has grown in my mind, since childhood. This is a pale and doubtful impression.
The story itself is a little awkward in places; Doyle’s craft certainly gets better as the series goes on. The lengthy flashback sequence seems a little out of place, although the tension continues to build. I liked the way that Doyle took his time with the story; he builds Holmes’ and Watson’s relationship slowly, and he really gives the readers time to enjoy the characters and their quirks. The early parts of the book are warm, humorous, and charming. These are some well-developed characters, right from the start, and this sets the tone for every Holmes book that follows. I also thought it was nice that Doyle gave a shout-out to Poe, who pioneered the genre, but it’s a bit unfair (and slightly ironic) that Sherlock Holmes felt the need to complain about him: “Dupin was a very inferior fellow. That trick of his of breaking in on his friends’ thoughts with an apropos remark after a quarter of an hour’s silence is really very showy and superficial.” Showy? Superficial? Has Sherlock looked in a mirror lately? :P Not to mention the fact that he’ll pull the same stunt on Watson in a later story.
All in all, this book is delightful.
This is where we meet Holmes, seeing him always through Watson’s eyes. The first section is fascinating, fast-moving, and
If somehow you’ve missed a look at the London of fogs, gas lamps, and horse-drawn cabs, please give yourself a chance to meet (and love) characters and stories that have stood both the test of time, and some very dicey adaptations. This is the real thing, and so much fun.
A Study in Scarlet is the first Holmes novel, and it beautifully sets the stage for everything that (we know now) is to come. Here we witness the first meeting between Holmes and his faithful assistant, Doctor Watson. We witness Holmes' scientific experiments, his amazing breadth of knowledge in some areas and equally amazing ignorance in others that he does not perceive useful.
In this first novel, Sherlock is called upon to help the police solve a seemingly impossible crime: a man's body has been found in an abandoned house, with no apparent cause of death and no clues. Wait, did I say no clues? Ha! Not with Sherlock on the case. He quickly figures out virtually the whole scenario that first night, but establishing standard protocol Conan Doyle withholds the key information from Dr. Watson who withholds it from us.
I was startled by an interlude in the mystery, which switches to third person (most of the Sherlock stories are told in the first person as a memoir by Watson) to provide some key background information about the murdered man and his killer. It was completely unexpected to me, which I guess proves that there are still surprises to be found even in an overly familiar canon.
There was one other factor that made A Study in Scarlet more enjoyable to me. The novel-length story really gave room for Sherlock's wizardry and subsequent reveal to seem more natural. In the short stories of The Memoirs, I felt the solution to the puzzle was almost tacked on as an afterthought. There was too much telling and not enough showing, I think. Thankfully, Scarlet does not suffer that fate, and it's an excellent beginning to my planned chronological read of all the Holmes stories.
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I'm not a big fan of detective fiction in general, and my knowledge in that field is, well.... next to non-existent (although I was an avid watcher of cartoon series such as 'Sherlock Hounds' and 'Dog City', as a kid... Does that count? Heh, heh?) It's just not the kind of story I'm usually drawn to/into, but I must say Arthur Conan Doyle knows how to put the FUN in detective fiction!
The Sherlock Holmes books are not books you read trying to figure out who is the killer before the detective does, since mister super-sleuth always knows the answer way before anyone. The main interest of the book is the character himself and his crazy deduction methods.
This first episode (A study in Scarlet) has ups and downs: the whole Mormon segment that takes place in the U.S. seems way too long and slow paced in comparison to the London scenes... In the introduction to my edition, it was discussed that the two stories were probably written independently from one another and put together by Conan Doyle when he decided to publish.
In A SCANDAL IN BOHEMIA, Holmes is outsmarted by a fancy woman, and the conclusion to the story is delightfully cute and funny.
A good read, very entertaining!
With the movie that came out recently, I found myself wanting to know more about sherlock and watson. There relationship and the type of
I really enjoyed this one, it is short and sweet, but a good read nonetheless.
I really enjoyed this rather pulpy detective story. It is fast-paced with very
The main delight comes from the characters. Everyone knows of Sherlock Holmes, such as his deerstalker hat and pipe, and his ability to solve crimes. Now that I have read this story, I can appreciate his dry wit, towering arrogance and slight wistfulness that he never seems to garner the credit for solving mysteries.
Watson is often represented as being rather stupid, but I infer from this story that he is merely naive about what human beings are capable of and doesn't have Holmes' expert knowledge of criminology. I loved the way that Holmes was patient and exasperated by turns when explaining his deductions to Watson. You also get a sense of the fact that Holmes is just dying to show off his abilities, and Watson's faithful recording of the case fits this neatly.
The story loses half a star for two reasons, both of which are probably attributable to the time and manner of when it was released.
The first is the abrupt switch from the location in London to the detailed story of Jefferson Hope, who hails from America. At first I was not at all clear why this had been introduced. I believe it may have been done because of the serialised nature of many Sherlock Holmes stories, enabling both new and existing readers to enjoy the tale, but it did jar somewhat.
The second is the way that Mormons and Native Americans are dealt with, although I freely admit that this is due to modern sensibilities and an environment that now decries anything deemed not politically correct. I was a little shocked to see it, but accept that this is the peril of reading anything set in this era.
Altogether, a pacy read with lovely dialogue and an instantly unforgettable character in the form of Sherlock Holmes.