A Study in Scarlet (Sherlock Holmes #1) by Arthur Conan Doyle- 3 Stars

[Joi]

This proves that even in the olden days, the trifecta of love, crime, and religious will interest just about anyone in a book. I recently went to the Seattle Center's special exhibit on Arthur Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes, and it inspired me to actually pick up the first in the series. Everyone is familiar with Sherlock, I knew about his eccentricities, his methods, and whatnot. But the exhibit was really great and put it into perspective. If anyone is interested, here's the link to the exhibit.

I thoroughly enjoyed the first part of A Study in Scarlet. I didn't realize it was going to be from Watson's perspective so that was a surprise. Loved getting to know how Sherlock and Watson met, and loved seeing into Sherlock's mind. How he comes to conclusions, how reads the unreadable, and how he sees what others take for granted. I wasn't super interested in the mystery because it moved so quickly I didn't have time to engage with it as much. Still fun, was planning on giving it 4 stars.

Then the book goes into this super weird backstory that you don't know why it's there and I was completely thrown off. Flashes to America and Mormanism- I actually had to google the book because I thought the version I had had the wrong middle section in it... I didn't really care about these characters and until I realized how they intertwined I was pretty bored. I get why it was there, because at the end tying everything together was great. But man there should be some sort of warning about the middle section of this! This knocked it down to 3 stars for me. But I'm definitely willing to give Sherlock and Conan Doyle another try. I've heard there are much better stories, so perhaps I shouldn't go "in order" of the series, and just skip to the good stuff.

[anarresa]

I've always had a soft spot for the Red-Headed League and of course the Hound of the Baskervilles is popular for good reason.

It could be fun to watch the first episode of Sherlock with Benedict Cumberbach, it's based on the same story.

[Jgrace]

I like the short stories better than the novels. The Speckled Band was included in a junior high literature anthology that I first read in the last century (!) and I think it's still my favorite. There have been so many spin offs and variations on Sherlock Holmes as a character that it's fun to be familiar with the original stories.