A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle: book review

A Study in Scarlet (1887, edition 2005) is set in London at the end of the 1880s. It is the first case of detective Sherlock Holmes and Dr John Watson together.

Narrated by Watson, this is also the beginning of Holmes and Watson – how they came to be living in the same lodging at Baker Street, and their initial interactions with each other. It is also the beginning of Sherlock’s consultancies for the London police force, and how Watson became Sherlock’s sidekick when asked if he wanted to accompany Sherlock to a crime scene ‘if you have nothing better to do.’

Their first case is a dead man in a south London house. The body has no markings of violence, but on the wall is a word written in blood. The title comes from Sherlock Holmes: ‘There’s a scarlet thread of murder running through the colourless skein of life, and our duty is to unravel it, and isolate it, and expose every inch of it.’

Watson’s commentary provides insight on the logic used to solve the case—and his reactions. This is not just an interesting case of love and revenge, but it is also a lesson on the skills of observation. Sherlock Holmes is an unconventional innovator in his field as hones his craft.

Whenever I re-read it, I still like it.

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of: Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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