A Study in Scarlet (SH #1)

A Study in Scarlet is the very first book from the gigantic 'Sherlock Holmes The Complete Collection' and at only 120 pages barely registers five percent of the mammoth 2200+ pages on offer, which consists of four individual books such as this and six larger volumes of short stories.

It seems more logical for the complete volume to start off with an accessible set of short stories then, but A Study in Scarlet comes in first because it establishes important timelines such as getting into residence at Baker Street, the rewarding and long-lasting relationship between Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson and a myriad of other little details that you gain by reading things in chronological order.

In typical Sherlock Holmes fashion, we explore a mysterious house, find a body on the floor and figure out why and how it got there, introducing us to all the mannerisms and tactics such as detecting different types of cigarette ash, foot impressions on the floor, hidden objects secreted into the body, and gradual reveals as we work things out.

Then, suddenly, we zip off to a countryside Mormon community in the United States for an interrelated but completely different narrative to establish the backstory and motives, before travelling back to the UK to finally resolve the mystery and reveal the murderer. I enjoyed the adventure but wanted to get back to the backstreet affairs of Victorian London where the real action takes place.

For me, the charm of Sherlock Holmes are the quirky bite-size short stories grouped together in various volumes as originally published in periodicals many years ago, rather than the drawn out mysteries that disconnect from the main plot, but these changes in perspective are really welcome and essential at times to freshen things up.

I enjoy Arthur Conan Doyle's writing a lot because of how accessible it is, in a similar way to H.G. Wells from the same era, with such easy flow, ideas coming at you thick and fast but never too complicated to overwhelm you. It's enjoyable and easy to grasp literature.