Other editions of book A Study in Scarlet

A tired and battle scarred surgeon returns to London after being wounded in the third Afghan war. After his money starts to run low, a chance encounter leads him to take a flat with an eccentric man at 221B Baker Street. Thus begins the famous crime-solving partnership of the Holmes and Watson duo.When a body turns up in an abandoned building, Scotland Yard is baffled, and calls in the worlds first 'consulting detective', Mr. Sherlock Holmes. Through observation, subterfuge, and tenacity, he is soon able to discover the identity of the assassin, but that is only the beginning of the bizarre mystery.

Excerpt from A Study in Scarlet: And Other StoriesThese methods of Bell impressed Doyle greatly at the time. The impression made was a lasting one.But, while Joseph Bell is the original Sherlock Holmes, another Edinburgh professor had a finger in the pie, so to speak.While Joseph Bell gave Doyle the idea of the character Holmes, the man haps, influenced Doyle in adapting that character to the detection of crime, was Sir Henry Littlejohn.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

"A Study in Scarlet" (1887) marks the first appearance of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, who would become two of the most famous characters in popular fiction. The book's title derives from a speech given by Holmes, an amateur detective, to his friend and chronicler Watson on the nature of his work, in which he describes the story's murder investigation as his "study in scarlet": "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." Although Conan Doyle wrote 56 short stories featuring Holmes, "A Study in Scarlet" is one of only four full-length novels in the original collection.

Two American travelers have been killed—one with poison, the other with a knife through the heart—and the only clues at the scene are a woman’s wedding ring and the German word for “vengeance” written in blood. The military surgeon Dr. John Watson is brought in to investigate, along with his clever, arrogant new roommate, Sherlock Holmes. Thus begins one of the most famous crime-solving partnerships of all time in this debut of one of literature’s most remarkable detectives. Doyle borrowed his major elements—the detective of superhuman intellect; cases as fantastical as they are criminal; the final, dramatic resolution—from the works of Edgar Allan Poe, adding his own distinctive touches: a strong feeling for the atmosphere of late-Victorian London, an interest in the methods of science, and a chivalric concern for justice and the oppressed. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930) was born of Irish parentage in Scotland. He studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh, but initial poverty as a young practitioner led him into authorship. His first book introduced that prototype of the modern detective in fiction, Sherlock Holmes. He also wrote historical romances and two essays in pseudoscientific fantasy, The Lost World (1912) and The Poison Belt (1913).

“A Study in Scarlet” is the first novel of Sherlock Holmes’ series. Generally considered a major innovation in the field of crime fiction, the novel is full of suspense and action with Holmes disentangling a mind-boggling mystery. The book explicitly unfolds the dark corners of human psychology which in turn gives immense understanding of the criminal mind. Engrossing!

'A Study in Scarlet' is a detective mystery novel written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, introducing his new character of Sherlock Holmes, who later became one of the most famous literary detective characters. He wrote the story in 1886, and it was published the next year. The book's title derives from a speech given by Holmes to his sidekick Doctor Watson on the nature of his work, in which he describes the story's murder investigation as his "study in scarlet": "There’s the 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."

A Study in Scarlet takes you back to the beginning of one of the most renowned detective duos of all time. After being wounded in the Afghan war, Doctor Watson decides to rent a room from the eccentric scientist, Sherlock Holmes, and is quite intrigued by his new landlord's bizarre behavior. He soon discovers that Holmes is using forensic science to help Scotland Yard solve difficult cases. When a body is discovered in an abandoned house, Watson is compelled to work with Holmes on the investigation. He is fascinated by Sherlock Holmes's meticulous detective work and careful examination of the physical evidence. It doesn't take Holmes long to come up with a profile of the killer by simply examining the crime scene and the duo sets out on a crime solving adventure.

A Study in Scarlet is a detective mystery novel written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, introducing his new characters, "consulting detective" Sherlock Holmes and his friend and chronicler, Dr. John Watson, who later became two of the most famous characters in literature. Conan Doyle wrote the story in 1886, and it was published the following year. The book's title derives from a speech given by Holmes to Doctor Watson on the nature of his work, in which he describes the story's murder investigation as his "study in scarlet": "There's the 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." (A "study" is a preliminary drawing, sketch or painting done in preparation for a finished piece.) The story, and its main characters, attracted little public interest when it first appeared. Only 11 complete copies of Beeton's Christmas Annual 1887 are known to exist now and they have considerable value. Although Conan Doyle wrote 56 short stories featuring Holmes, A Study in Scarlet is one of only four full-length novels in the original canon. The novel was followed by The Sign of the Four, published in 1890. A Study in Scarlet was the first work of detective fiction to incorporate the magnifying glass as an investigative tool. Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle, (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a Scottish writer and physician, most noted for his fictional stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, which are generally considered milestones in the field of crime fiction. He is also known for writing the fictional adventures of a second character he invented, Professor Challenger, and for popularising the mystery of the Mary Celeste. He was a prolific writer whose other works include fantasy and science fiction stories, plays, romances, poetry, non-fiction and historical novels. Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle was born on 22 May 1859 at 11 Picardy Place, Edinburgh, Scotland. His father, Charles Altamont Doyle, was born in England of Irish Catholic descent, and his mother, Mary (née Foley), was Irish Catholic. His parents married in 1855. In 1864 the family dispersed due to Charles's growing alcoholism and the children were temporarily housed across Edinburgh. In 1867, the family came together again and lived in squalid tenement flats at 3 Sciennes Place. Supported by wealthy uncles, Doyle was sent to the Roman Catholic Jesuit preparatory school Hodder Place, Stonyhurst, at the age of nine (1868–70). He then went on to Stonyhurst College until 1875. From 1875 to 1876, he was educated at the Jesuit school Stella Matutina in Feldkirch, Austria. By the time he left, he had rejected religion and become an agnostic, though he would eventually become a spiritualist mystic. From 1876 to 1881 he studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh Medical School, including a period working in Aston (now a district of Birmingham) and Sheffield, as well as Ruyton-XI-Towns, Shropshire. While studying, Doyle began writing short stories. His earliest extant fiction, "The Haunted Grange of Goresthorpe", was unsuccessfully submitted to Blackwood's Magazine. His first published piece The Mystery of Sasassa Valley, a story set in South Africa, was printed in Chambers's Edinburgh Journal on 6 September 1879. On 20 September 1879, he published his first academic article, "Gelsemium as a Poison" in the British Medical Journal. Doyle was employed as a doctor on the Greenland whaler Hope of Peterhead in 1880 and, after his graduation from university in 1881 as M.B., C.M., as a ship's surgeon on the SS Mayumba during a voyage to the West African coast. He completed his M.D. degree (an advanced degree in England beyond the usual medical degrees) on the subject of tabes dorsalis in 1885.