A Study in Scarlett

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There has been no fictional character more intensely revered, scrutinized, analyzed, and adored than the legendary detective, Sherlock Holmes. The creation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, this cold and calculating master of deduction made his first appearance in A Study in Scarlet and has sleuthed his way into the worldwide canon since. A Study was a huge leap forward in the detective drama genre, bringing with it exciting new ideas and plot possibilities. Conan Doyle wove complicated back stories, logical feats, and complicated criminals together into a story that rivaled the pace of a midnight chase down a London alleyway. Though, while Holmes’ scientific mastery (and social inadequacy) is the dazzling coat draped over the story, the true heart of it comes from the characters. Jefferson Hope, the disillusioned and heartbroken killer, spins the reader’s moral compass in a couple of confusing directions. And of course, the most famous friendship that has ever graced a page or screen, that between Sherlock Holmes and his loyal, admiring, and brave army doctor, John Watson. At first glance, this story appears to be a detective story, but in reality it is a story about a detective.
A Study in Scarlet begins with John Watson, the narrator, describing his background as an injured Afghanistan veteran who is returning to London without friends or family and trying to eke out a calm existence after the calamity of war. He runs into his old friend, Stamford, who sets him up with a potential flatmate…one who he warns Watson in the next sentence may be a little eccentric. Indeed, when the pair first meet, Mr. Holmes is in the middle of some ungodly experiment, glances Watson up and down, determines his entire recent history, and gives him an ad...

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...each others’ only friend, and balanced each other perfectly. You could say they were soul-mates, if you believe in that sort of thing. A Study in Scarlet provides us with the framework for this famed relationship, seeing the automatic click and degree to which they already rely on each other.
A Study in Scarlet was revolutionary, both in the way it depicted detective stories as well the way it depicted the people at the center of them. It was exciting and dramatic; brutal stabbings violence, grand, flourishing deductions, and wrenching matters of the heart. At the center of it all is Sherlock Holmes and the only man in the world who understands him. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle penned a London filled with a veritable playground of clues for these two to pounce on, and they do so with gusto, Holmes with a manic grin and Watson quirking his lips and running to keep up.

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