A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Sherlock Holmes Book One)

 

Publication Date: 

1888

Length:

176 pages

Summary:

Since I wondered myself...the title of this book comes from the words of Holmes himself in a speech to Watson. He says, "There's the scarlet thread of murder running through the colorless skein of life, and our duty is to unravel it, and isolate it, and expose every inch of it." This is the first story of Holmes and Watson. Through a series of events they become roommates and are seemingly compatible. Watson is intrigued by Holmes and his work, clients being those with criminal cases to solve. And Holmes likes schooling Watson on his methods, holding back his most coveted "tricks" for solving his cases. Watson, a veteran of the Second Afghan War is used to a serious side of life, but he still retains a bit of innocence and guile as he marvels at Holmes's uncanny detective skills. 

When a telegram arrives requesting Holmes's help in solving a new case, the two men travel to the crime scene, finding a victim, a strange German word written on the wall, RACHE, and a lady's gold wedding ring. After using a newspaper ad to try to find the ring's owner, Holmes later becomes convinced the owner is in on the murder. When another murder occurs with more identical clues, Holmes is convinced all is related and begins his deduction skills to solve the crimes and piece everything together. 

Moving into the second half of the story, the scenery changes abruptly. We are taken back in time to early Mormon settlers in Utah and a story that seems completely irrelevant to the first half of the book. In 1847, John Ferrier and his daughter Lucy are in dire straits, stranded in the desert and needing help. When a train of Mormons happen upon them they agree to save them only if they turn to the faith. They agree and go with them, making their lives in the colony permanent. Over time, as Lucy grows up, John becomes uneasy and disillusioned with the group and sees escape as necessary. But it is nearly impossible as they are prisoners of hardened religious men who make it their mission to track down those who leave the flock. In time, John will risk it all for freedom, whatever the cost. 

My Thoughts:

Not wanting to give away too much I'll end my summary there. This was truly a book that had the unexpected! Not only did I not think the setting and ideas would change so abruptly and be so different from each other, I thought we would get to know Holmes and Watson's characters a bit more. I now know why some chat groups on Sherlock Holmes have told people not to start with book one. There are so many different orders one can read these books in apparently. I see why. If I'm being honest, it was a bit of a letdown because I didn't want that second backstory. It was very creative but I wanted a typical crime with Holmes solving it while Watson helps and getting to know them more as people. I guess Doyle thought the extra story would tie together in a unique way and it certainly did, it just wasn't my cup of tea. 

I did learn some new things about the Mormons in that time period and that was interesting. My love of history made me want to keep reading. And the cult like atmosphere they generated was creepy and made you want to see justice meted out to them. 

Of course this IS my very first time to read any of Doyle's work. Can you believe that? So I will give it awhile before I'll give up on them. Maybe I'll read the order suggested by those who are better experts in his work and have read them all.

I plan to read some other reviews on this book and the more popular ones to see which look good to me. My fellow bloggers will have some great thoughts to compare with mine I'm sure.