A Study in Scarlet

First published in 1887, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s “A Study in Scarlet” marks the first appearance of Sherlock Holmes. At the outset of the story we encounter Sherlock Holmes’ sidekick Dr. Watson who has just returned to London from the Second Anglo-Afghan war where he had sustained a shoulder injury which has forced him to leave the army and is now in search of a place to live. He learns from an acquaintance of the availability of a flat for which the current prospective occupant is looking for a roommate to split the rent. The flat is 221B Baker Street, the current prospective occupant, Sherlock Holmes. Upon meeting Sherlock, Watson quickly learns that Mr. Holmes is a consulting detective and gets swept up in the mystery of a fresh murder case being investigated by Scotland Yard. The two investigate an abandoned house off the Brixton Road where a body is found in a blood-stained room with the word “rache”, German for “revenge” scrawled on the wall in blood. What follows is a tale of love and revenge which would launch the literary career of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and the franchise of what may be arguably the world’s most famous literary detective. This edition includes a biographical afterword.