A Study in Scarlet (Sherlock Holmes, #1) in Around the World in 80 Books

Jun 18, 2009 Steve rated it liked it

Shelves: fiction, crime-mystery-noir

I've read only a few of the Holmes stories, so my expectations have largely been shaped by the media. That said, I was kind of surprised how this played out. For example, Watson is not the fool of the movies, but a hardened soldier from Britain's wars. Holmes is everything you could hope for, a great character that jumps out at you whenever he's on the page. The story itself is Victorian melodrama, with lost loves, revenge, convenient death(s), and a bizarre interlude set in Utah. On surface, th ...more

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Jul 02, 2012 MichelleCH rated it it was amazing

Shelves: group-reads, classics, fiction, mystery, suspense, kindle, victorians-challenge

This was my first Holmes book and yes, I am hooked. For me this was a great introduction to how Watson and Holmes met and the backgrounds that created these fascinating men.

I really like both. Watson is so different from Holmes and is the more practical and immediately likeable.

I don't read a lot of mysteries and this was a very interesting start for me. Holmes and his observations seem so obvious after the fact and I liked being a passenger in his mind. In this tale, the part that the Mormons ...more

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Apr 30, 2010 Laura rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, xx-2010-xx

3.5 stars. This was Conan Doyle's first book. I read Baskervilles earlier this year, and it was sooo much better. If you start with this one, don't let it scare you away from his other stuff. It starts out well, but diverges off to a pretty dry storyline that seems totally unconnected. It isn't, but that doesn't make it any less dry. The Sherlock Holmes stories definitely improve as they go! ...more

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