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Sherlock Holmes #1-2
A Study in Scarlet & The Sign of the Four (Wordsworth Classics)
The world's most famous detective uses his celebrated skills of deduction in A Study in Scarlet , the tale that introduces Dr. John Watson. Recently discharged from the military, Watson takes a room with an amazing young man — the arrogant crime expert, Sherlock Holmes. Their investigation of a bizarre crime proves to be an auspicious beginning for one of the most illustrious crime-solving partnerships of all time.
The second tale, The Sign of Four , is an incredible story of greed and revenge in which Holmes and Watson accompany a beautiful young woman on a mission that leads to a terrifying, one-legged man in the dark heart of London.
A thrilling experience for legions of Holmes fans, these exciting tales will also serve as an excellent introduction to readers who have never made the acquaintance of this incomparable detective and his colleague.
The second tale, The Sign of Four , is an incredible story of greed and revenge in which Holmes and Watson accompany a beautiful young woman on a mission that leads to a terrifying, one-legged man in the dark heart of London.
A thrilling experience for legions of Holmes fans, these exciting tales will also serve as an excellent introduction to readers who have never made the acquaintance of this incomparable detective and his colleague.
Unknown Binding
Published December 5, 2001
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About the author
Arthur Conan Doyle
15.8k books24.4k followersSir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle was a Scottish writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for A Study in Scarlet, the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Holmes and Dr. Watson. The Sherlock Holmes stories are milestones in the field of crime fiction.
Doyle was a prolific writer. In addition to the Holmes stories, his works include fantasy and science fiction stories about Professor Challenger, and humorous stories about the Napoleonic soldier Brigadier Gerard, as well as plays, romances, poetry, non-fiction, and historical novels. One of Doyle's early short stories, "J. Habakuk Jephson's Statement" (1884), helped to popularise the mystery of the brigantine Mary Celeste, found drifting at sea with no crew member aboard.
Doyle was a prolific writer. In addition to the Holmes stories, his works include fantasy and science fiction stories about Professor Challenger, and humorous stories about the Napoleonic soldier Brigadier Gerard, as well as plays, romances, poetry, non-fiction, and historical novels. One of Doyle's early short stories, "J. Habakuk Jephson's Statement" (1884), helped to popularise the mystery of the brigantine Mary Celeste, found drifting at sea with no crew member aboard.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 838 reviews
May 11, 2020
Como siempre un caso magistralmente resuelto por Sherlock y su incomparable capacidad de deducción. Dividido en dos partes y podría parecer que la segunda parte no tiene relación con la primera y por el contrario se descubren secretos importantes que aclaran todo.
¡Buenísimo!
¡Buenísimo!
March 19, 2023
Die ersten beiden Sherlock Holmes Geschichten in diesem wunderbaren Buch; ich liebe schon die Aufmachung! Die beiden Kriminalgeschichten sind echte Klassiker und man merkt ihnen ihr Alter auch durchaus gut an. Es liest sich ein bisschen "eingestaubt", aber ich finde auch, das macht den Charme dieser Krimis aus. Und ich liebe einfach diese Krimis, in denen sich die Lösung alleine durch Nachdenken, Denken und Kombinieren finden lässt!
August 1, 2022
two for one
The first piece in this two tale collection is A Study In Scarlet. I first read this long story/short novel in high school. Read it again in college after receiving THE ANNOTATED SHERLOCK HOLMES, Ed. William S. Baring-Gould, as a superlative going away gift. Since those two readings, I spent a number of years in law enforcement, mostly as an intelligence analyst and investigator. Upon rereading the story, I found that I have a greater appreciation of Holmes as well as a few professional quibbles with his methods and with his creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Continuing to read, I found that I do not care. Doyle is such a master of the English language and Holmes, Watson and the rest are such wonderfully drawn characters that I still enjoy them immensely.
A STUDY IN SCARLET introduces Holmes and Watson to the public as well as to each other. Doyle says a few unkind words about Mormons in this story. If you are so sensitive that you can not stand a few harsh words there is a bowdlerized and censored version of the story called Sherlock Holmes Remastered: A Study in Scarlet by Leo Zanav. An abysmal, poor effort at rewriting Conan Doyle's work, I recommend staying away from it. If you are that sensitive, I also recommend that you skip Doyle altogether and stick with modern politically correct twaddle.
The second tale, THE SIGN OF FOUR, has been one of my two favorite Sherlock Holmes books since I was a child. What red-blooded American boy or girl for that matter wouldn't like an adventure and mystery tale of stolen treasure; India during the mutiny; strange, exotic characters invading a stately home of England in search of the treasure stolen from the thieves by double dealing "gentlemen" ; murder and more. The only thing I didn't like was the ultimate fate of the treasure. As an adult, I understand that this enabled Dr. Watson to find an even greater treasure but....
The first piece in this two tale collection is A Study In Scarlet. I first read this long story/short novel in high school. Read it again in college after receiving THE ANNOTATED SHERLOCK HOLMES, Ed. William S. Baring-Gould, as a superlative going away gift. Since those two readings, I spent a number of years in law enforcement, mostly as an intelligence analyst and investigator. Upon rereading the story, I found that I have a greater appreciation of Holmes as well as a few professional quibbles with his methods and with his creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Continuing to read, I found that I do not care. Doyle is such a master of the English language and Holmes, Watson and the rest are such wonderfully drawn characters that I still enjoy them immensely.
A STUDY IN SCARLET introduces Holmes and Watson to the public as well as to each other. Doyle says a few unkind words about Mormons in this story. If you are so sensitive that you can not stand a few harsh words there is a bowdlerized and censored version of the story called Sherlock Holmes Remastered: A Study in Scarlet by Leo Zanav. An abysmal, poor effort at rewriting Conan Doyle's work, I recommend staying away from it. If you are that sensitive, I also recommend that you skip Doyle altogether and stick with modern politically correct twaddle.
The second tale, THE SIGN OF FOUR, has been one of my two favorite Sherlock Holmes books since I was a child. What red-blooded American boy or girl for that matter wouldn't like an adventure and mystery tale of stolen treasure; India during the mutiny; strange, exotic characters invading a stately home of England in search of the treasure stolen from the thieves by double dealing "gentlemen" ; murder and more. The only thing I didn't like was the ultimate fate of the treasure. As an adult, I understand that this enabled Dr. Watson to find an even greater treasure but....
July 28, 2022
Was für ein toller Klassiker! Und in was für einer tollen Aufmachung!
Zugegeben: ich lese wenig bis keine Klassiker. Aber neulich habe ich mal wieder die Serie "Sherlock" angeschaut und bekam so Lust auf dieses Buch.
Für einen Klassiker lies es sich wirklich easy weglesen. Wer die Serie und ihren einzigartigen Charme/Humor liebt, wird auch mit dieser Geschichte bzw. diesen Geschichten seine Freude haben. Auch wenn man die Stories vielleicht mehr oder weniger schon kennt, wollte ich nach jedem Kapitel weiterlesen, weil es so spannend war und ich wissen wollte, was als nächstes passiert.
Dazu kommt dann natürlich die tolle Gestaltung des Verlages dieser Schmuckausgabe. Mit beiliegenden Karten, Einladungen, Steckbriefen etc. Die weiteren Bände werde ich mir auf jeden Fall auch nach und nach in diesen tollen Schmuckausgaben zulegen und vielleicht dann eher im Herbst gemütlich wegschmökern.
Zugegeben: ich lese wenig bis keine Klassiker. Aber neulich habe ich mal wieder die Serie "Sherlock" angeschaut und bekam so Lust auf dieses Buch.
Für einen Klassiker lies es sich wirklich easy weglesen. Wer die Serie und ihren einzigartigen Charme/Humor liebt, wird auch mit dieser Geschichte bzw. diesen Geschichten seine Freude haben. Auch wenn man die Stories vielleicht mehr oder weniger schon kennt, wollte ich nach jedem Kapitel weiterlesen, weil es so spannend war und ich wissen wollte, was als nächstes passiert.
Dazu kommt dann natürlich die tolle Gestaltung des Verlages dieser Schmuckausgabe. Mit beiliegenden Karten, Einladungen, Steckbriefen etc. Die weiteren Bände werde ich mir auf jeden Fall auch nach und nach in diesen tollen Schmuckausgaben zulegen und vielleicht dann eher im Herbst gemütlich wegschmökern.
June 7, 2022
A Study in Scarlet 5 Stars
How can you not give 5 stars to the story that introduced one of literature's most famous detectives?
This story introduces Dr Watson to the enigmatic Sherlock Holmes, and us along with him. From there, we follow along on the mystery of a murder that takes an interesting turn.
I really love the way this one evolves, and adds more depth to the mystery. The latter characters are easy to like, and I enjoy the way it twists the original story into a different form.
The cleverness of this story is minimal compared to other adventures, but it is a lot of fun meeting these characters for the first time.
The Sign of the Four
RTC another time! I'll come back to this when I don't have so much new stuff to get through!
How can you not give 5 stars to the story that introduced one of literature's most famous detectives?
This story introduces Dr Watson to the enigmatic Sherlock Holmes, and us along with him. From there, we follow along on the mystery of a murder that takes an interesting turn.
I really love the way this one evolves, and adds more depth to the mystery. The latter characters are easy to like, and I enjoy the way it twists the original story into a different form.
The cleverness of this story is minimal compared to other adventures, but it is a lot of fun meeting these characters for the first time.
The Sign of the Four
RTC another time! I'll come back to this when I don't have so much new stuff to get through!
Read
October 16, 2023Meravellós. M'ho he passat pipa. Com una criatura en un parc d'atraccions.
February 24, 2024
Nachtrag, gelesen 2011
August 14, 2020
"Ya es tiempo de saber que cuando un hecho semeja oponerse a una apretada sucesión de deducciones, existe siempre otra interpretación que salva la aparente paradoja."
Estudio en escarlata 3/5 ⭐
El signo de los cuatro 3.7/5 ⭐
Es mi primer acercamiento a las aventuras de Sherlock Homes y su compañero y amigo el Dr. Watson y me ha gustado mucho, Sherlock con su muy particular manera ser entre irónico y sarcástico, así como su capacidad de deducción para resolver los casos, y Watson, planteado todas esas dudas que como lector vas teniendo.
Estudio en escarlata es muy introductorio, conocemos un poco de nuestros protagonistas y después se va desarrollado el caso en cuestión, en cambio, el signo de los cuatro lo sentí un poco más ágil y con más misterio, aún así, son historias que sacan el detective que todos tenemos dentro.
🕵🏻♀️🔎
Estudio en escarlata 3/5 ⭐
El signo de los cuatro 3.7/5 ⭐
Es mi primer acercamiento a las aventuras de Sherlock Homes y su compañero y amigo el Dr. Watson y me ha gustado mucho, Sherlock con su muy particular manera ser entre irónico y sarcástico, así como su capacidad de deducción para resolver los casos, y Watson, planteado todas esas dudas que como lector vas teniendo.
Estudio en escarlata es muy introductorio, conocemos un poco de nuestros protagonistas y después se va desarrollado el caso en cuestión, en cambio, el signo de los cuatro lo sentí un poco más ágil y con más misterio, aún así, son historias que sacan el detective que todos tenemos dentro.
🕵🏻♀️🔎
January 4, 2025
01/50
Empezamos muy bien el año. ¡Qué gran lectura!
El año pasado me enganché de sobre manera a Agatha Christie con su tan conocido Hercules Poirot y no podía dejar este año pasar sin leer a Arthur Conan Doyle y al tan famosisimo Sherlock Holmes. Evidentemente ya lo conocía pero nunca había leído nada de él hasta ahora que, como me ha encantado, voy a leer todas las obras relacionadas con Holmes.
En cuanto a esta edición, preciosísima y muy bien cuidada en mi opinión, nos encontramos con 2 obras: "Estudio en escarlata" y "El signo de los cuatro". Sin duda mi favorita ha sido la primera ya no solo por el caso que me ha parecido más interesante sino porque vemos como se conocen Sherlock y Watson y como se va desarrollando su relación.
Sin duda investigaré el orden y leeré los siguientes.
Empezamos muy bien el año. ¡Qué gran lectura!
El año pasado me enganché de sobre manera a Agatha Christie con su tan conocido Hercules Poirot y no podía dejar este año pasar sin leer a Arthur Conan Doyle y al tan famosisimo Sherlock Holmes. Evidentemente ya lo conocía pero nunca había leído nada de él hasta ahora que, como me ha encantado, voy a leer todas las obras relacionadas con Holmes.
En cuanto a esta edición, preciosísima y muy bien cuidada en mi opinión, nos encontramos con 2 obras: "Estudio en escarlata" y "El signo de los cuatro". Sin duda mi favorita ha sido la primera ya no solo por el caso que me ha parecido más interesante sino porque vemos como se conocen Sherlock y Watson y como se va desarrollando su relación.
Sin duda investigaré el orden y leeré los siguientes.
March 1, 2019
Nota ar fi undeva la 4.5*, povestea in sine fiind cea care a crescut nota nu neaparat deducerile domnului Holmes. Watson este un dragut, un contrast bine ales pentru Holmes. Ultima parte a cartii ste alerta si te tine in suspans. Mi-a placut ideea lui Holmes de a uita lucrurile neinsemnate pentru a nu ne umple creierul inutil, putandu-l folosi astfel la maxim.
December 17, 2021
Clasicos de los buenos que más se puede pedir ! 🤗👌
May 31, 2020
Una grata lectura , es la primera vez que leo a Doyle y debo admitir que disfrute mucho el libro y obviamente disfrute la genialidad de Sherlock Holmes y su “modus operandi” aunque para ser honesta me gusto más “Estudio en Escarlata” que “El Signo de los Cuatro, pero definitivamente espero volver a encontrarme con Mr Holmes muy pronto.
September 22, 2010
A Study in Scarlet is wonderful right up until the point where there's an entirely separate story wedged into the middle of it. I understand the relevance of having the perspective of the criminals, but I think ACD got a little carried away. I've never read this before, however, so to see the first ever meeting of Sherlock Holmes and John Watson was enjoyable, and seeing how they grow to each other.
A Sign of the Four, on the other hand, is definitely my preferred of the two. Maybe I pay too much attention to and grow easily annoyed by plot holes, but there were clear mistakes in continuing from the previous book to this, not to mention the odd error throughout this story. But, as we only moved away from Holmes and Watson at the very end to discover the missing details of Sherlock's deductions, it was enjoyable, easy to get wrapped up in, and less complicated to follow.
I have to admit, though, that I think picturing Holmes and Watson as Sherlock and John from 'Sherlock' helped get me through both of these stories, and picking out the bits that the modern day show updates and fits in was interesting to me. Over all, I thoroughly enjoyed both novels, despite the odd moments of struggling to get through parts, and I'll definitely be reading both again in future.
A Sign of the Four, on the other hand, is definitely my preferred of the two. Maybe I pay too much attention to and grow easily annoyed by plot holes, but there were clear mistakes in continuing from the previous book to this, not to mention the odd error throughout this story. But, as we only moved away from Holmes and Watson at the very end to discover the missing details of Sherlock's deductions, it was enjoyable, easy to get wrapped up in, and less complicated to follow.
I have to admit, though, that I think picturing Holmes and Watson as Sherlock and John from 'Sherlock' helped get me through both of these stories, and picking out the bits that the modern day show updates and fits in was interesting to me. Over all, I thoroughly enjoyed both novels, despite the odd moments of struggling to get through parts, and I'll definitely be reading both again in future.
March 28, 2023
5/5⭐
Mi lectura correspondió a El signo de los cuatros y resultó ser una excelente novela del gran genio del detectivismo, Sherlock Holmes. Debo decir que el capítulo uno chocó fuerte porque no esperaba semejante revelación pero luego de eso, logré viajar al mundo de Holmes por boca de si amigo Watson.
"—Mi mente se subleva ante el estancamiento. Proporcióneme usted problemas, proporcióneme trabajo, deme los más abstrujos criptogramas o los más intrincados análisis, y entonces me encontraré en mi ambiente. Podré prescindir de estimulantes artificiales. Pero odio la aburrida monotonía de la existencia. Deseo fervientemente la exaltación mental".
En ésta novela vemos una evolución en la relación entre los personajes dónde el autor nos regala un desarrollo profundo de los mismos y así vamos descubriendo cosas de ellos como ser los defectos.
El signo de los cuatro es una excelente Novela de misterio, en dónde convergen el asesinato, corrección, robo y traición. Altamente recomendable.
"—La prueba mayor de la auténtica grandeza del hombre está en la proporción de su propia pequeñez"
Mi lectura correspondió a El signo de los cuatros y resultó ser una excelente novela del gran genio del detectivismo, Sherlock Holmes. Debo decir que el capítulo uno chocó fuerte porque no esperaba semejante revelación pero luego de eso, logré viajar al mundo de Holmes por boca de si amigo Watson.
"—Mi mente se subleva ante el estancamiento. Proporcióneme usted problemas, proporcióneme trabajo, deme los más abstrujos criptogramas o los más intrincados análisis, y entonces me encontraré en mi ambiente. Podré prescindir de estimulantes artificiales. Pero odio la aburrida monotonía de la existencia. Deseo fervientemente la exaltación mental".
En ésta novela vemos una evolución en la relación entre los personajes dónde el autor nos regala un desarrollo profundo de los mismos y así vamos descubriendo cosas de ellos como ser los defectos.
El signo de los cuatro es una excelente Novela de misterio, en dónde convergen el asesinato, corrección, robo y traición. Altamente recomendable.
"—La prueba mayor de la auténtica grandeza del hombre está en la proporción de su propia pequeñez"
May 11, 2020
Primer libro de Arthur Conan Doyle que leo y realmente me ha gustado un montón, Sherlock Holmes es un personaje increíble y me ha sorprendido increíblemente, en cuanto a Watson es un veterano que perfila perfecto junto a Holmes.
Recomendadisimo.
Recomendadisimo.
October 23, 2016
Τράβηξε πολύ αυτό το βιβλίο μιας και το διάβαζα οταν η ανάγκη για αστυνομικά γινόταν αφόρητα πιεστική. Ακόμα δεν έχω διαβάσει την σπουδή στο κόκκινο αλλα γενικότερα οι ιστορίες ήταν pretty basic, και το βάρος ριχνόταν στην εξιχνίαση της υπόθεσης απο το δαιμόνιο μυαλό του Σέρλοκ παρα στην υπόθεση αυτή καθαυτή. Παρ'ολα αυτά η ανάγνωση ήταν πάντοτε απολαυστική και με παράσερνε, απόδειξη του αναμφισβήτητου ταλέντου του Σερ Ντόυλ. Άλλωστε πάντα η εξελεκτική πορεία της σκέψης του Σέρλοκ είναι απο μόνη της μια ανταμοιβή για τον αναγνώστη.
November 20, 2019
Ако и досега изпитвам недоверие към мормоните, това е благодарение на “Етюд в червено”. Това е един от малкото криминални сюжети на Конан Дойл, в който трилърът и психологическа нишка почти засенчват криминалната.
“Знакът на четиримата” пък е истинска екзотика, приятно допълваща поредния заплетен случай.
“Знакът на четиримата” пък е истинска екзотика, приятно допълваща поредния заплетен случай.
October 2, 2014
Read a couple of years ago. Listening to the Derek Jacobi audiobooks now. Added thoughts on narration and such over at my blog: here and here
Overall star rating: 3.5
A Study in Scarlet - 3 stars
There are some truly brilliant parts of this novel, the growing relationship between Holmes and Watson, the interactions between Holmes and the police, the deductive reasoning that sees Holmes pulling solutions almost from thin air, the mystery itself...Why then only three stars? Well... once the mystery is solved – at around the halfway point - all those good enjoyable things that one reads a Holmes story for disappear and the narrative shifts into a third person account of the murderer’s backstory explaining his motives and relationship with his victims.
It’s a jarring change and not really a very welcome one. After spending the first half of the book invested in the relationship between Holmes and Watson and being fascinated by the correct conclusions Holmes could leap to based on almost nothing, I didn’t particularly care to get invested in this second set of characters. The most explanation of motive I needed was a quick monologue from the murderer summarising the key points – not a multi-chapter epic of lost love. But a multi-chapter story-within-a-story was what I got, and it simply didn’t quite work. The third person narrative seemed awkward and ill-fitting with the rest of the book, which reads as a personal account told through the eyes of Dr Watson. If the Holmes canon is meant to be written by Dr Watson, then this section doesn’t quite fit – the information is a bit too detailed for someone who wasn’t there, even if they have received a second-hand account, and the tone is completely different from Watson’s bluff, amiable style of writing. I kept asking myself where this omnipotent narrator had come from and wondering when we could get back to Holmes and Watson.
It didn’t help that none of the characters in this story-within-the-story were very interesting. There was a typical older mentor figure, his adopted daughter Lucy, and a rough handsome young hunter, all felt rather sketched in and none of the other characters were fleshed out even enough to be worth mentioning. The father was fatherly; the daughter was one of those annoying perky orphan kids who say things like ‘Oh! but why didn’t you tell me we were going to die? We can join mother then’ but eventually grows up into the most beautiful woman ever whilst still preserving her childish innocence and ‘charm’ (I use that term loosely); and the hunter was rough, young and handsome and well…you can totally see where that story is going, right? Insta-love! That’s right! Don’t you just love that trope? It’s all very disappointing and predictable, especially as the reader already knows what has to happen and already knows that Doyle is a much, much, better writer than this who can actually write fully developed characters because we’ve just cut away from them to read this second-rate part.
I’ll be fair on Doyle though. This was his first Sherlock Holmes book and it didn’t actually receive any real attention until his short stories were already a hit and he had solidified his style and characters a bit more. When it’s good it’s very good, and he does learn from this mistake in future books. Dodgy flashbacks and inaccurate portrayals of Mormonism aside, it’s worth reading for Sherlock Holmes alone – the mystery is just icing on the cake. He’s a wonderfully real character, even as he manages almost inhuman feats of observation and deduction. He has his flaws – a rather superior attitude being the major one and very patchy knowledge on anything that doesn’t pertain to his own narrow interests in solving crime for another. He’s not ‘perfect’, he’s as occasionally frustrating and annoying as someone with superior skills really is but he is amazingly charismatic. (Watch as these traits change until he becomes a caricature of himself in future stories though).
Now that many of his methods have been adopted both by the police and fictional detectives, you might think he would have lost some of his unique appeal – but I don’t think he has. The style of detective fiction may have shifted to ‘show the reader all the clues and see if they can work it out’, but Sherlock’s cold, calculated analysis of clues the reader (and Watson) weren’t even aware of until he mentions them, are still a joy to wonderful to read.
So despite the low rating I really do think this is a worthwhile read. Just remember though; they do get better! (And then worse...)
The Sign of the Four - 3.5 stars
A much more satisfying read/listen than A Study in Scarlet and one that seems to have learnt from the truly dire mistake of that story. Whilst there is a flashback here to the antagonist’s past and the motivations for his actions, it’s a lot shorter told as a confession – with all the bias and slant to be expected in first person narration – and fits in almost seamlessly with the style of the rest of the story. Also in its favour is the fact that the backstory is a lot more interesting in its own right. But there’s a whole mystery to solve before we get to that part so I’ll backtrack towards the beginning.
The Sign of the Four opens with the introduction – and actually one of the few mentions – of Sherlock Holmes cocaine habit and exploration into his psychology. It’s one of the things I love about Holmes that I don’t get with my otherwise beloved Poirot – he’s not just a thinking-machine but a complex person. He’s a man of extremes and, if he was non-fictional and alive today would probably be diagnosed with a serious form of mood disorder; if there’s an interesting crime he’ll be in the middle of a rush of activity but as soon as it’s solved he can flip, in an instant to lethargy and (then legal) drug abuse. At the start of the story he’s been in this lethargic, melancholy state for several months. Holmes is too clinically detached a character for him to be very likable or relatable on a personal level – even as someone who suffers from depression myself – but it does make him a more interesting and human character to read about than the earlier version in A Study in Scarlet.
Following a pattern that becomes relatively common in the short stories Watson does his best to get Holmes out of this funk by prompting several small examples of Holmes’ deductive genius – that Watson had gone to a specific place earlier in the day, the family history of Watson’s pocket watch etc. etc. These mainly serve to either show or remind the reader of Holmes’ skill and competence before we get to the real mystery, and it works – though I have to say I do get a bit tired of the ‘this type of mud is only found in one place!’ solutions as they do seem a bit of a cheat and I don’t always agree with Holmes that his explanation is the only one, even if it is the most likely. However, it is only with the arrival of Mary Morstan and her strange story of her father, who disappeared several years ago, and the anonymous pearls she started receiving several years later, that Holmes snaps out of his lethargy and starts getting interested.
Here again, you can see Doyle developing a framework used in later stories – the odd but seemingly but non-criminal story, that leads to something much darker and nastier than it first appears once untangled. Not that a mysteriously disappearing dad isn’t pretty dang dark, but that it isn’t a straight up simple crime such as being called to a murder scene – detective work needs to be done to even discover the crime in the first place. It’s a more complex, and arguably more interesting, device than the relatively straight forward plot to A Study in Scarlet and has the benefit of a more emotional core in trying to find the truth for a living character than A Study in Scarlet’s quest to identify the murderer of a character only introduced as a corpse. Of course Holmes gets the basics in about five minutes flat but it takes a while longer for the full story to be revealed, by which time the character’s have themselves a real crime to deal with and we get to the meat of the story.
And the meat of the story…well it sounds almost Robert Louis Stevenson/’boys own adventure’ in places; wooden legs, stolen treasure, hidden murders, and exotic weapons. It’s got action and adventure tropes in spades – there’s even a chase sequence! But the mystery itself well… Holmes sums it up best himself when he says that normal everyday crimes that offer no distinctive clues are harder to solve than the big ones with lots of unusual elements are. And here there are so many clues; footprints, exotic weapons, poisoned darts, the motif of a man with a wooden leg. Holmes is hardly drawing his conclusions from small inconsequential elements – the basic story (ignoring specific backstory elements only the villain would know) is practically written over the crime scene for anyone with eyes and ears to draw conclusions from. But, of course, the police and Watson are both baffled,
The backstory, when we get to it, though, is fascinating – perhaps more so to me because it focusses on a period of colonial history that I’ve studied; the India Mutiny of 1857. Even if you know nothing about it though it’s a more wonderful and exciting backdrop than Mormon Utah, and there’s a lot more going on than a few blokes all fancying the same girl. There are some, unpleasant, elements of exoticism and Victorian racial theory however – one apparently universally bloodthirsty and violent tribe is described as ‘naturally hideous’ by an anthropology textbook and ‘monstrous’ in appearance by the narrator. You’ve just got to grit your teeth and remember the time period if you find yourself being too annoyed. But there’s also an, admittedly not entirely sympathetic, depiction of Sikhs as being worth a white man’s loyalty that redeems it slightly (many Sikhs fought alongside the British in putting down the mutiny and they were favoured by the Victorian colonial regime set up afterwards). It’s a dark and brutal chapter of colonial/Indian history though that works as a perfect backdrop to the crime and sets a much better and more atmospheric tone for the whole book than is ever achieved in A Study in Scarlet.
This book, as a whole, is simply more grown up in every way than its predecessor; the narrative issues have been ironed out, more humanity has been given to the characters, the tone is much more consistent, and there’s an emotional heart to the story. Now I don’t actually rate this emotional heart particularly highly or find it remotely necessary for this type of book – it consists of Watson rather fancying the female client and if there’s one thing Doyle isn’t good at, it’s romance – but it succeeds far better than the romantic insta-love storyline in A Study in Scarlet. This is a lot to do with the fact that we’re privy to Watson’s thoughts and understand his bias but mainly because Mary is a fundamentally more interesting, complex, and less annoying character than Lucy ever was. It may not be my favourite thread of the storyline but it doesn’t detract at all from my enjoyment of the rest of the book.
It’s not a ‘perfect’ Holmes story – but the elements of the character and storytelling technique are still being introduced and developed. However you can see here, far more than in the first Sherlock Holmes book, why the Holmes stories took off the way they did.
Random almost unrelated recommendation! The Ruby in the Smoke by Philip Pullman – a victorian-set mystery novel that also features the India Mutiny as a key element of the backstory. Aimed at children/teenagers but an enjoyable read that features both a pretty awesome female protagonist and a female villain who isn’t a femme fatale.
Overall star rating: 3.5
A Study in Scarlet - 3 stars
There are some truly brilliant parts of this novel, the growing relationship between Holmes and Watson, the interactions between Holmes and the police, the deductive reasoning that sees Holmes pulling solutions almost from thin air, the mystery itself...Why then only three stars? Well... once the mystery is solved – at around the halfway point - all those good enjoyable things that one reads a Holmes story for disappear and the narrative shifts into a third person account of the murderer’s backstory explaining his motives and relationship with his victims.
It’s a jarring change and not really a very welcome one. After spending the first half of the book invested in the relationship between Holmes and Watson and being fascinated by the correct conclusions Holmes could leap to based on almost nothing, I didn’t particularly care to get invested in this second set of characters. The most explanation of motive I needed was a quick monologue from the murderer summarising the key points – not a multi-chapter epic of lost love. But a multi-chapter story-within-a-story was what I got, and it simply didn’t quite work. The third person narrative seemed awkward and ill-fitting with the rest of the book, which reads as a personal account told through the eyes of Dr Watson. If the Holmes canon is meant to be written by Dr Watson, then this section doesn’t quite fit – the information is a bit too detailed for someone who wasn’t there, even if they have received a second-hand account, and the tone is completely different from Watson’s bluff, amiable style of writing. I kept asking myself where this omnipotent narrator had come from and wondering when we could get back to Holmes and Watson.
It didn’t help that none of the characters in this story-within-the-story were very interesting. There was a typical older mentor figure, his adopted daughter Lucy, and a rough handsome young hunter, all felt rather sketched in and none of the other characters were fleshed out even enough to be worth mentioning. The father was fatherly; the daughter was one of those annoying perky orphan kids who say things like ‘Oh! but why didn’t you tell me we were going to die? We can join mother then’ but eventually grows up into the most beautiful woman ever whilst still preserving her childish innocence and ‘charm’ (I use that term loosely); and the hunter was rough, young and handsome and well…you can totally see where that story is going, right? Insta-love! That’s right! Don’t you just love that trope? It’s all very disappointing and predictable, especially as the reader already knows what has to happen and already knows that Doyle is a much, much, better writer than this who can actually write fully developed characters because we’ve just cut away from them to read this second-rate part.
I’ll be fair on Doyle though. This was his first Sherlock Holmes book and it didn’t actually receive any real attention until his short stories were already a hit and he had solidified his style and characters a bit more. When it’s good it’s very good, and he does learn from this mistake in future books. Dodgy flashbacks and inaccurate portrayals of Mormonism aside, it’s worth reading for Sherlock Holmes alone – the mystery is just icing on the cake. He’s a wonderfully real character, even as he manages almost inhuman feats of observation and deduction. He has his flaws – a rather superior attitude being the major one and very patchy knowledge on anything that doesn’t pertain to his own narrow interests in solving crime for another. He’s not ‘perfect’, he’s as occasionally frustrating and annoying as someone with superior skills really is but he is amazingly charismatic. (Watch as these traits change until he becomes a caricature of himself in future stories though).
Now that many of his methods have been adopted both by the police and fictional detectives, you might think he would have lost some of his unique appeal – but I don’t think he has. The style of detective fiction may have shifted to ‘show the reader all the clues and see if they can work it out’, but Sherlock’s cold, calculated analysis of clues the reader (and Watson) weren’t even aware of until he mentions them, are still a joy to wonderful to read.
So despite the low rating I really do think this is a worthwhile read. Just remember though; they do get better! (And then worse...)
The Sign of the Four - 3.5 stars
A much more satisfying read/listen than A Study in Scarlet and one that seems to have learnt from the truly dire mistake of that story. Whilst there is a flashback here to the antagonist’s past and the motivations for his actions, it’s a lot shorter told as a confession – with all the bias and slant to be expected in first person narration – and fits in almost seamlessly with the style of the rest of the story. Also in its favour is the fact that the backstory is a lot more interesting in its own right. But there’s a whole mystery to solve before we get to that part so I’ll backtrack towards the beginning.
The Sign of the Four opens with the introduction – and actually one of the few mentions – of Sherlock Holmes cocaine habit and exploration into his psychology. It’s one of the things I love about Holmes that I don’t get with my otherwise beloved Poirot – he’s not just a thinking-machine but a complex person. He’s a man of extremes and, if he was non-fictional and alive today would probably be diagnosed with a serious form of mood disorder; if there’s an interesting crime he’ll be in the middle of a rush of activity but as soon as it’s solved he can flip, in an instant to lethargy and (then legal) drug abuse. At the start of the story he’s been in this lethargic, melancholy state for several months. Holmes is too clinically detached a character for him to be very likable or relatable on a personal level – even as someone who suffers from depression myself – but it does make him a more interesting and human character to read about than the earlier version in A Study in Scarlet.
Following a pattern that becomes relatively common in the short stories Watson does his best to get Holmes out of this funk by prompting several small examples of Holmes’ deductive genius – that Watson had gone to a specific place earlier in the day, the family history of Watson’s pocket watch etc. etc. These mainly serve to either show or remind the reader of Holmes’ skill and competence before we get to the real mystery, and it works – though I have to say I do get a bit tired of the ‘this type of mud is only found in one place!’ solutions as they do seem a bit of a cheat and I don’t always agree with Holmes that his explanation is the only one, even if it is the most likely. However, it is only with the arrival of Mary Morstan and her strange story of her father, who disappeared several years ago, and the anonymous pearls she started receiving several years later, that Holmes snaps out of his lethargy and starts getting interested.
Here again, you can see Doyle developing a framework used in later stories – the odd but seemingly but non-criminal story, that leads to something much darker and nastier than it first appears once untangled. Not that a mysteriously disappearing dad isn’t pretty dang dark, but that it isn’t a straight up simple crime such as being called to a murder scene – detective work needs to be done to even discover the crime in the first place. It’s a more complex, and arguably more interesting, device than the relatively straight forward plot to A Study in Scarlet and has the benefit of a more emotional core in trying to find the truth for a living character than A Study in Scarlet’s quest to identify the murderer of a character only introduced as a corpse. Of course Holmes gets the basics in about five minutes flat but it takes a while longer for the full story to be revealed, by which time the character’s have themselves a real crime to deal with and we get to the meat of the story.
And the meat of the story…well it sounds almost Robert Louis Stevenson/’boys own adventure’ in places; wooden legs, stolen treasure, hidden murders, and exotic weapons. It’s got action and adventure tropes in spades – there’s even a chase sequence! But the mystery itself well… Holmes sums it up best himself when he says that normal everyday crimes that offer no distinctive clues are harder to solve than the big ones with lots of unusual elements are. And here there are so many clues; footprints, exotic weapons, poisoned darts, the motif of a man with a wooden leg. Holmes is hardly drawing his conclusions from small inconsequential elements – the basic story (ignoring specific backstory elements only the villain would know) is practically written over the crime scene for anyone with eyes and ears to draw conclusions from. But, of course, the police and Watson are both baffled,
The backstory, when we get to it, though, is fascinating – perhaps more so to me because it focusses on a period of colonial history that I’ve studied; the India Mutiny of 1857. Even if you know nothing about it though it’s a more wonderful and exciting backdrop than Mormon Utah, and there’s a lot more going on than a few blokes all fancying the same girl. There are some, unpleasant, elements of exoticism and Victorian racial theory however – one apparently universally bloodthirsty and violent tribe is described as ‘naturally hideous’ by an anthropology textbook and ‘monstrous’ in appearance by the narrator. You’ve just got to grit your teeth and remember the time period if you find yourself being too annoyed. But there’s also an, admittedly not entirely sympathetic, depiction of Sikhs as being worth a white man’s loyalty that redeems it slightly (many Sikhs fought alongside the British in putting down the mutiny and they were favoured by the Victorian colonial regime set up afterwards). It’s a dark and brutal chapter of colonial/Indian history though that works as a perfect backdrop to the crime and sets a much better and more atmospheric tone for the whole book than is ever achieved in A Study in Scarlet.
This book, as a whole, is simply more grown up in every way than its predecessor; the narrative issues have been ironed out, more humanity has been given to the characters, the tone is much more consistent, and there’s an emotional heart to the story. Now I don’t actually rate this emotional heart particularly highly or find it remotely necessary for this type of book – it consists of Watson rather fancying the female client and if there’s one thing Doyle isn’t good at, it’s romance – but it succeeds far better than the romantic insta-love storyline in A Study in Scarlet. This is a lot to do with the fact that we’re privy to Watson’s thoughts and understand his bias but mainly because Mary is a fundamentally more interesting, complex, and less annoying character than Lucy ever was. It may not be my favourite thread of the storyline but it doesn’t detract at all from my enjoyment of the rest of the book.
It’s not a ‘perfect’ Holmes story – but the elements of the character and storytelling technique are still being introduced and developed. However you can see here, far more than in the first Sherlock Holmes book, why the Holmes stories took off the way they did.
Random almost unrelated recommendation! The Ruby in the Smoke by Philip Pullman – a victorian-set mystery novel that also features the India Mutiny as a key element of the backstory. Aimed at children/teenagers but an enjoyable read that features both a pretty awesome female protagonist and a female villain who isn’t a femme fatale.
May 26, 2023
A pesar de que el género policíaco o de detectives no me llama mucho, la verdad es que se nota por que el Sherlock Holmes de Conan Doyle es un verdadero clásico. Una lectura muy amena y divertida que nos narra los primeros casos de Holmes y su compañero el doctor Watson.
Estudio en escarlata me gustó más que el signo de los cuatro, sobre todo por la historia que hay detrás de los asesinatos, historia que se desarrolla en Estados Unidos, de hecho, para mí lo mejor de cada historia es precisamente ese relato final que contextualiza lo que motivó los delitos.
Buenas probabilidades de continuar con las aventuras de Sherlock Holmes.
Estudio en escarlata me gustó más que el signo de los cuatro, sobre todo por la historia que hay detrás de los asesinatos, historia que se desarrolla en Estados Unidos, de hecho, para mí lo mejor de cada historia es precisamente ese relato final que contextualiza lo que motivó los delitos.
Buenas probabilidades de continuar con las aventuras de Sherlock Holmes.
May 30, 2020
Mi primer acercamiento a Sherlock Holmes.
Como fan de Ágatha Christie desde los 14 años inevitablemente estuve comparando todo el rato lo cual no me permitió disfrutar de la lectura en plenitud. Si valoro enormemente que las historias de Conan Doyle tiene trasfondos históricos reales, planteando contextos para seguir investigando; en “Estudio en escarlata” nos invita a conocer acerca de los orígenes de una religión en particular y en “El signo de los cuatro” sobre la ocupación británica en india. Me parece sumamente interesante pero el amor es el amor y yo sigo mucho más conectada con las historias de Poirot. 🕵🏻♂️
Como fan de Ágatha Christie desde los 14 años inevitablemente estuve comparando todo el rato lo cual no me permitió disfrutar de la lectura en plenitud. Si valoro enormemente que las historias de Conan Doyle tiene trasfondos históricos reales, planteando contextos para seguir investigando; en “Estudio en escarlata” nos invita a conocer acerca de los orígenes de una religión en particular y en “El signo de los cuatro” sobre la ocupación británica en india. Me parece sumamente interesante pero el amor es el amor y yo sigo mucho más conectada con las historias de Poirot. 🕵🏻♂️
August 10, 2023
A Study in Scarlet
First read: March 2015
Rating: 3/5 stars
Re-read: July-Aug 2023
Rating: 4/5 stars
The introduction of Dr. Watson and Sherlock Holmes! This was a good little mystery but it felt a little like Conan Doyle ran out of ideas about half way through and switched to writing an American Western to meet a word limit. It was still enjoyable and sets up the characters of Holmes and Watson well.
The Sign of the Four
Read: August 2023
Rating: 2/5 stars
Hmmm...read as a product of its time, The Sign of the Four can be viewed as an exotic mystery; complete with hidden treasure, international conspiracies and romance. Read as someone living in the twenty-first century, it is safe to say that some of the depictions of the non-English, non-white characters are problematic at best!
First read: March 2015
Rating: 3/5 stars
Re-read: July-Aug 2023
Rating: 4/5 stars
The introduction of Dr. Watson and Sherlock Holmes! This was a good little mystery but it felt a little like Conan Doyle ran out of ideas about half way through and switched to writing an American Western to meet a word limit. It was still enjoyable and sets up the characters of Holmes and Watson well.
The Sign of the Four
Read: August 2023
Rating: 2/5 stars
Hmmm...read as a product of its time, The Sign of the Four can be viewed as an exotic mystery; complete with hidden treasure, international conspiracies and romance. Read as someone living in the twenty-first century, it is safe to say that some of the depictions of the non-English, non-white characters are problematic at best!
September 13, 2020
Es la primera vez que leo una de las Famosas historias de Sherlock Holmes tenia altas expectativas, pero a mi modo de ver fue un personaje muy normalito. Una muy buena historia, me gustó como al final las dos historia que parecían diferentes se unen, pero los personajes Sherlock y Watson se me quedaron cortos.
June 27, 2025
Sherlock, the icon that you are
January 30, 2025
I had to pick up another Sherlock to accompany my viewing of the BBC sherlock. I def liked study in scarlet more than the sign of four but both were entertaining
June 26, 2021
See this review and more at my blog, The Scribe Owl
3.5/5 stars
This collection of the first two Sherlock Holmes books was a fantastic introduction to the characters Sir Arthur Conan Doyle has crafted. That said, it's very easy to tell that this is some of his early work. I read The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes a couple of years ago and liked it much more than these stories.
I think one of the reasons I didn't like these as much as The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is because they were longer. Yes, that gave time for more plot, but sometimes Sir Arthur Conan Doyle took that too far. A Study in Scarlet had an entire story inside the story, for goodness sake!
With this era of detective books, the genre was just blooming. But there is a lot of longwinded villain confessions. I'm talking 50 pages of the murderer explaining their whole life story. It gets old quickly, though it's definitely something likely to be fixed in the author's later work.
All in all, this was a good start to the Sherlock Holmes stories. It dragged and twisted itself in knots at times, but it's still definitely worth a read.
3.5/5 stars
This collection of the first two Sherlock Holmes books was a fantastic introduction to the characters Sir Arthur Conan Doyle has crafted. That said, it's very easy to tell that this is some of his early work. I read The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes a couple of years ago and liked it much more than these stories.
I think one of the reasons I didn't like these as much as The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is because they were longer. Yes, that gave time for more plot, but sometimes Sir Arthur Conan Doyle took that too far. A Study in Scarlet had an entire story inside the story, for goodness sake!
With this era of detective books, the genre was just blooming. But there is a lot of longwinded villain confessions. I'm talking 50 pages of the murderer explaining their whole life story. It gets old quickly, though it's definitely something likely to be fixed in the author's later work.
All in all, this was a good start to the Sherlock Holmes stories. It dragged and twisted itself in knots at times, but it's still definitely worth a read.
January 4, 2026
Eine sehr schöne Ausgabe für die Geschichten von Sherlock Holmes.
Dies war meine erste Begegnung mit den Geschichten von Doyle und den Fällen von Ahwrlock und Watson. Die beiden Fälle waren interessant und es war spannend zu sehen, wie Sherlock mit seinen Schlussfolgerungen zur Lösung der Fälle kahm.
In dieser Ausgabe waren die Geschichten noch mit schönen Illustrationen und Infomaterial rund um die historische Zeit versehen. Sehr empfehlenswert!
Dies war meine erste Begegnung mit den Geschichten von Doyle und den Fällen von Ahwrlock und Watson. Die beiden Fälle waren interessant und es war spannend zu sehen, wie Sherlock mit seinen Schlussfolgerungen zur Lösung der Fälle kahm.
In dieser Ausgabe waren die Geschichten noch mit schönen Illustrationen und Infomaterial rund um die historische Zeit versehen. Sehr empfehlenswert!
September 12, 2017
Μερικές από τις περιπέτειες του κυρίου Χολμς και η γνωριμία του με τον γιατρό Γουάτσον σε μια πολύ ωραία έκδοση. Διασκεδαστικές και ενδιαφέρουσες όλες οι ιστορίες, προσωπικά ξεχώρισα τη "Σπουδή στο κόκκινο", καθηλωτική.
May 19, 2024
A Study In Scarlet - 4⭐️
The Sign Of The Four - 4⭐️
The Sign Of The Four - 4⭐️
January 30, 2025
Reading Sherlock really made me appreciate the character development of each of the actors that have played him and Watson over the decades. It’s truly a classic character and if I ever need an easy read and a good mystery I’ll pick one up.
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