A Study in Scarlet, Arthur Conan Doyle

First edition on sale at Rareandanitquebooks.com

The Book

Spoilers Ahead

    In the story that introduced the world to the most iconic character of all time, Sherlock Holmes, we start with Dr. John Watson, and his unfortunate convalesence after being wounded in the Afghan War. He tells us upfront that he took his medical qualifcations in 1878, we find Watson in 1881 not yet well enough to resume his medical career and looking to share lodgings with someone. Upon entering into a bar, Watson runs into an old friend who introduces him to Holmes, who is a young man in the same predicament. Watson finds Holmes agreeable and they take up residence in 221B Baker street.

    After several weeks of living together, Watson is intrigued by Holmes' strange profession, but try as he might, he cannot guess what Holmes does. In the course of trying to figure it out, Watson reads an article on the art of deductive reasoning, and picks a fight with Holmes about how far that skill can go before he falls into fancy. Holmes, disagrees and demonstrates his powers of deduction for Watson's amazement. While they sit discussing the article a letter arrives for Holmes inviting him to see a crime scene under the control of Scotland Yard. Watson urges Holmes to go, so they do. 

    At the crime scene, they find a man had been poisoned, yet the writing on the wall is in blood. Holmes surveys the evidence, questions the constables, and then decides he has enough information to solve the mystery. He takes the American identity of victim, and contacts the police in America by telegram. Upon receiving a reply, he puts an advertisement in the evening newspaper, hoping to lure the quarry out into the open. This fails. 

    From here the book makes a hard turn, and we see the settlement of Utah by Mormons, how they saved the lives of a man and a little girl. And how, the life of the little girl ends many years later, being denied her one true love and in the death of her "father."

    When we come out of this interlude, Sherlock places the name of a cab driver into the newspaper and then proceeds to solve the crime for Scotland Yard, much to the amazement of Watson and the Inspectors Lestrade and Gregson. 

My Thoughts

    Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wasn't a Sir yet when he published his first ever story, the novel, A Study in Scarlet. In so doing, he achieved the truly remarkable, he created an original. Sherlock Holmes, the idea, was what happened when Doyle thought "Hey, I wonder what would happen if my remarkable mentor, Dr. Joseph Bell, was a detective solving crime, rather than a medical man?" 

    Dr. Bell, was by all accounts, a master of deductive reasoning in the medical field. And grimy, Victorian England was very, very into death. As a highly educated man, Doyle was forced to hone his writing skills, so I can see how this creative writing would have been a release for him. Doyle must have been, at this point in his life, widely read in adventure and gothic stories. Certainly, he was a fan of Poe, because Watson, our Doyle stand in, was enamored of Poe's detective, August Dupin. 

    And through Watson's eyes we see the wonder and the awe, and a little bit of the chagrin, that a medical man in training Doyle must have been under Bell's tutelage. This wonder at the world, which we see so plainly through Watson's eyes, gives us the thing that will propel mystery fiction forward, the admiring narrator. This formula was so successful that it spawned two best selling fan fictions in the 20th century. For who could argue that Hercule Poirot or Nero Wolfe are not Sherlock stand ins? Nor is it particularly supportable that the naïve, honest, and earnest Captain Hastings is not a Dr. Watson derivative. Although there are those who might argue that Archie Goodwin is no Dr. Watson, I would say that while Hastings is the naïve, earnest component of Watson, Goodwin is the cynical, emotional, steel fighter side of Watson. Hastings is the man, who even the tragedies of WWI did not rattle his soul, Goodwin is the man for whom, the law, and its failures soured to the point of cynicism. Watson certainly starts the series as a naïve, lazy, bumbling man, trusting in the police to set things right, and by the end of the series believes that Holmes has it more right that these men sworn to uphold the rule of law. If Hastings is one extreme of Watson, Goodwin is an Americanized version of the other extreme. 

    This story made very little splash when it appeared in the Christmas edition of Beeton's Christmas Annual. But then greater London and indeed all of the world did not yet need the lanky man who would capture all of our imaginations. A year later, and all of that would change. The public, having seen the failures of the police to catch the Whitechapel Murderer, needed to know that there was a clever man out there, willing to put the very best of their society forward to defeat this demonic evil. 

    An interesting factoid about Sherlock Holmes is that not once is he portrayed in Doyle's work with a deerstalker hat and an Inverness cape. But, one account of the Whitechapel Murderer, the man is described in such a way, which forever links Jack the Ripper, the man the press invented with Sherlock Holmes, the man Sir Arthur Conan Doyle invented. 

   This book is controversial for a couple of reasons. First and foremost, it contains a scene of callous animal abuse. And secondly, it's depiction of Mormonism is sensationalized to the point of absurdity, taking a few strongly held believes and perverting them to make the story work. It is little wonder that the book is challenged. But like I have said of other controversial books, I believe readers have the ability to read these things without it corrupting their inner core. That idea is nonsense. 

How Much My Library Card Saved Me

    I have this book as part of a complete set of Sherlock Holmes stories. Actually, I have a couple of editions of this book, one in the form of a free Kindle download and one in the form of an audiobook performed by Stephen Fry. I read the free Kindle edition, so I did not use my library card for this particular book. 

    In order to stay on track for the series, I had to start reading books that I owned. My library was closed New Year's Day, which meant if I checked books out of the library then, I would not have been able to complete them in time to have a good review up. So I read this book as I waited for my first set of books to be delivered to keep us on track. Rest assured, I have already checked out books this year and the reviews of those books will be up shortly. 

This Book                    0.00

Still Here? 

    Do me a huge favor and subscribe to the blog. To get it in your inbox, subscribe here. Thanks, it means the world to me!