This book is two stories in one, like most of the Sherlock Holmes books I have. Since watching the BBC’s Sherlock tv series, I was excited to read the cases that inspired those episodes.

Read: March 16 – March 17, 2024

Genre: Classic, Mystery, Detective
Audience: General
Book contains: murder, death, robbery, period-typical racism

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Two Mysteries that Commence a Lifelong Friendship

Dr John Watson, back home after being wounded in action during the second Afghan war, is in search of lodgings, and after a meeting with an old friend, finds a flat share in Sherlock Holmes, an odd fellow with a penchant for solving mysteries. After a time, Watson joins the consulting detective in his cases.

I previously read The adventures of Sherlock Holmes but I was still so excited to read this book, where Sherlock and John meet for the first time.

The copy I own has both these stories in one, as many do. It was part of a boxed set from Arcturus. Along with my hardcopy, I listened along to A Study in Scarlet podcast on Spotify, recordings by LibriVox and Great Audiobooks on Spotify for the second story, also LibriVox.

The first tale, A Study in Scarlet was told in two parts, the first being Sherlock solving the case, and the second part being the context of the case, and then the explanation given by the murderer after his arrest. For The Sign of the Four, it began as usual, with a client arriving with a case, and the boys uncovering a deeper mystery upon the discovery of a murder.

It was fun learning about the characters, as many I already know. There are, of course, Sherlock Holmes and Dr John Watson. There is their landlady, Mrs Hudson, who makes brief appearances. And there are several different Detective Inspectors from Scotland Yard that Sherlock works with: Gregson and (the ever-famous) Lestrade in A Study in Scarlet and Athelney Jones in The Sign of the Four. Sherlock is as clever as he’s famous for, and more cordial at times than depicted in other media, though he can also be scathing and demeaning to people.

I love the sparking friendship between Holmes and Watson. They’re both honorable, and while John isn’t as smart as Sherlock, he’s still quite sharp and able to put together the clues that Sherlock gives him. Sherlock has a working relationship with each of the detectives, though they aren’t overly friendly; the DIs always take the credit, and while they do come to him for advice, they’re consistently doubting or making fun of his methods, despite the results. Sherlock doesn’t care about the credit, but this is part of the reason John starts writing the stories about him for The Strand newspaper, which I find sweet of him.

There were parts of the story that made me cringe—specifically the period-typical racism and misogynistic comments. I can’t expect any better, as this was the opinion of the time. Otherwise, the flow and language was brilliant; I was really drawn into the mysteries each time. The second part of A Study in Scarlet lost me a bit, since it doesn’t include Sherlock or John until the end, but I was still captured by the story as I continued reading.

Though these are full novels, they’re shorter than the novels I typically read, and the pacing is quite fast, as Sherlock figures things out quickly. There’s always a new clue, and the clue-finding process isn’t slow or drawn out like other mysteries. It’s a different style, to be sure, since this story doesn’t allow the reader to try and figure it out on their own; Sherlock is the one solving it impressively.

I’m really enjoying Doyle’s works, and I highly recommend them to anyone who loves reading mysteries and especially to people who write mysteries.

Related Reviews:

A Study in Scarlet & The Sign of the Four by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
The Return of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
His Last Bow by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson