A Study in Scarlet

First published 1887

A Study in Scarlet is most definitely the first Holmes and Watson story. We see their very first meeting. Holmes is a mysterious young man who has found the perfect lodgings but needs another upstanding chap to share with, Watson has been discharged from the army due to his injuries and is leading a miserable existence of idleness and hotel living. He bumps into an old student friend of his who introduces him to Holmes and the rest is literary history.

Young Stamford looked rather strangely at me over his wine-glass. "You don't know Sherlock Holmes yet," he said; "perhaps you would not care for him as a constant companion."

"Why, what is there against him?"

"Oh, I didn't say there was anything against him. He is a little queer in his ideas -- an enthusiast in some branches of science. As far as I know he is a decent fellow enough."

"A medical student, I suppose?" said I.

"No -- I have no idea what he intends to go in for. I believe he is well up in anatomy, and he is a first-class chemist; but, as far as I know, he has never taken out any systematic medical classes. His studies are very desultory and eccentric, but he has amassed a lot of out-of-the way knowledge which would astonish his professors."

"Did you never ask him what he was going in for?" I asked.

"No; he is not a man that it is easy to draw out, though he can be communicative enough when the fancy seizes him."

"I should like to meet him," I said. "If I am to lodge with anyone, I should prefer a man of studious and quiet habits. I am not strong enough yet to stand much noise or excitement. I had enough of both in Afghanistan to last me for the remainder of my natural existence.

Fortunately for all of us he proved more than strong enough for the noise and excitement that was to come. These days of course there would’ve been a big murder investigation and Watson would’ve been introduced to Holmes, in his professional capacity as medical expert, by the police. They would know of each other’s reputations. There would be much verbal backslapping and each would make it clear they considered the other to be the best in his field. As it was, their first meeting saw Holmes a little preoccupied to welcome his future partner in crime. Or rather anti-crime.

"Dr. Watson, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said Stamford, introducing us.

"How are you?" he said cordially, gripping my hand with a strength for which I should hardly have given him credit. "You have been in Afghanistan, I perceive."

"How on earth did you know that?" I asked in astonishment.

"Never mind," said he, chuckling to himself. "The question now is about haemoglobin."

A Study in Scarlet is rarely adapted. The Granada series of the 1980s and 90s didn’t make it. The IMDb reveals few attempts at production, one of which from 1933 is described thus "Members of a secret "trust" that meets in Limehouse are being murdered; a victim's widow enlists Sherlock Holmes' help. The atmospheric doings involve coded messages, a pretty heiress, sinister villains, and a country mansion with a secret passage. The story bears no relation to the novel of the same name." The Peter Cushing series about which I’ve written a little did adapt the story but, rather tellingly, they reduced the entire novel down to fifty minutes.

Because "A Study in Scarlet" is really two novellas in one. The first features Holmes and Watson investigating a murder, the second is an extremely tedious tale of Mormon politics in Salt Lake City. It is the reason the murderer killed those that he killed but it is still an extremely dull way to spend an hour or two.

Undoubtedly the best approach would seem to be that taken by the Radio 4 production team. Instead of equal weight being given to both halves, the Holmes/Watson portion consumed perhaps seventy minutes, twenty minutes being given to an abridged version of the Mormon tale and a brief return to the reminiscences of Doctor John H. Watson at the end. No doubt the Mormon story is important to explain why the murderer murdered and the depth of the story explains why his hatred was so all-consuming that he travelled half way round the world waiting for the right moment to strike. But it is still dull.

Also interesting is the scene which almost reads like one from the pilot of a new television series. It explains a premise which is almost but not quite what would evolve into the Sherlock Holmes that would run for thirty plus years.

"I'm a consulting detective, if you can understand what that is. Here in London we have lots of Government detectives and lots of private ones. When these fellows are at fault they come to me, and I manage to put them on the right scent. They lay all the evidence before me, and I am generally able, by the help of my knowledge of the history of crime, to set them straight. There is a strong family resemblance about misdeeds, and if you have all the details of a thousand at your finger ends, it is odd if you can't unravel the thousand and first. Lestrade is a well-known detective. He got himself into a fog recently over a forgery case, and that was what brought him here."

"And these other people?"

"They are mostly sent on by private inquiry agencies. They are all people who are in trouble about something, and want a little enlightening. I listen to their story, they listen to my comments, and then I pocket my fee."

"But do you mean to say," I said, "that without leaving your room you can unravel some knot which other men can make nothing of, although they have seen every detail for themselves?"

"Quite so. I have a kind of intuition that way. Now and again a case turns up which is a little more complex. Then I have to bustle about and see things with my own eyes."

A fair summing up except for the mention of money (Holmes rarely took cases for their financial merits) and his apparently preference for staying in his rooms and solving cases from there. One cannot collect soil, cigarette buts and shoot spectral doggies from the comfort of one’s living room.

If you are curious about a Study in Scarlet I would suggest the Radio 4 version. It retains all the good bits and discards the rest. Otherwise, read the first half, skim the second and you’ll have a bit more spare time to spend reading my website.