A Study in Scarlet (Pocket Penguin Classics)
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Product Description
Product Description
When Dr John Watson takes rooms in Baker Street with amateur detective Sherlock Holmes, he has no idea that he is about to enter a shadowy world of criminality and violence. Accompanying Holmes to an ill-omened house in south London, Watson is startled to find a dead man whose face is contorted in a rictus of horror. There is no mark of violence on the body yet a single word is written on the wall in blood. Dr Watson is as baffled as the police, but Holmes’s brilliant analytical skills soon uncover a trail of murder, revenge and lost love
About the Author
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was born in Edinburgh in 1859 and died in 1930. Penguin publish all the books about the great detective, A Study in Scarlet, The Sign of Four, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Return of Sherlock Holmes, The Valley of Fear, His Last Bow, The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes, The Uncollected Sherlock Holmes and The Penguin Complete Sherlock Holmes.
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First Sentence
In the year 1878 I took my degree of Doctor of Medicine of the University of London, and proceeded to Netley to go through the course prescribed for surgeons in the army. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
In the year 1878 I took my degree of Doctor of Medicine of the University of London, and proceeded to Netley to go through the course prescribed for surgeons in the army. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
If you are like me and like to read a series from the start then with Sherlock Holmes you have to start with `A Study in Scarlet'. It is actually the book in which Dr Watson, just back from the army after being injured, becomes introduced to the mysterious and slightly odd Sherlock Holmes via a mutual acquaintance as they are both looking for shared digs. You guessed it; this is of course the now infamous address 221B Baker Street.
As the two slowly get to learn more about each others habits Dr Watson soon discovers that Sherlock Holmes is indeed an amateur detective, though only in terms that it is not under an official capacity as the police come to him for help. It is then little time before Watson ends up on the trail with Sherlock for a murderer in on of the most baffling mysteries London has seen in some time. That of the unscathed dead man, found in a derelict house in Brixton, who is surrounded by blood that is not his own and the word `Rache' written in blood on the wall!
Naturally being a Sherlock Holmes mystery you can expect the unexpected and an impossible sounding case that by the end Sherlock Holmes will have made seem easier than playing chess against a five year old. You can also expect horse cab chases, a sight into the Victorian underbelly, dead ends and twists through the London streets. If you love a good mystery or a great Victorian book then this is definitely for you. I still think there is yet to be a detective or a series that betters Sherlock Holmes.
The one thing I had forgotten about `A Study in Scarlet' since reading it many, many moons ago was that it's a book of two halves. The first is working out who the murderer is, the second takes us to foreign shores and looks at how the case ended up where it did and the aftermath. This half has a very different tone, the first being told by Watson and has the gloom of London, the second being set in sunnier climates told like an adventure story (which Conan Doyle was also very famous for) involving love that cannot be and the Latter Day Saints. (That is all I will say on the plot.) Initially I was a little cross as I wanted more Holmes and he features little in the second half, but then as a whole book it has more impact, you only realise just how much cleverer Sherlock is than you could even think. I thoroughly enjoyed this and read it in two sittings.
As the two slowly get to learn more about each others habits Dr Watson soon discovers that Sherlock Holmes is indeed an amateur detective, though only in terms that it is not under an official capacity as the police come to him for help. It is then little time before Watson ends up on the trail with Sherlock for a murderer in on of the most baffling mysteries London has seen in some time. That of the unscathed dead man, found in a derelict house in Brixton, who is surrounded by blood that is not his own and the word `Rache' written in blood on the wall!
Naturally being a Sherlock Holmes mystery you can expect the unexpected and an impossible sounding case that by the end Sherlock Holmes will have made seem easier than playing chess against a five year old. You can also expect horse cab chases, a sight into the Victorian underbelly, dead ends and twists through the London streets. If you love a good mystery or a great Victorian book then this is definitely for you. I still think there is yet to be a detective or a series that betters Sherlock Holmes.
The one thing I had forgotten about `A Study in Scarlet' since reading it many, many moons ago was that it's a book of two halves. The first is working out who the murderer is, the second takes us to foreign shores and looks at how the case ended up where it did and the aftermath. This half has a very different tone, the first being told by Watson and has the gloom of London, the second being set in sunnier climates told like an adventure story (which Conan Doyle was also very famous for) involving love that cannot be and the Latter Day Saints. (That is all I will say on the plot.) Initially I was a little cross as I wanted more Holmes and he features little in the second half, but then as a whole book it has more impact, you only realise just how much cleverer Sherlock is than you could even think. I thoroughly enjoyed this and read it in two sittings.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I liked this book but I thought the few chapters in the middle which weren't narrated by Watson slowed the pace down way too much.
These Penguin Red editions with cover designs by Despotica really are some of the most striking looking Sherlock Holmes editions available and at a particularly reasonable price.
If you are going to read Holmes then this is the place to start.
These Penguin Red editions with cover designs by Despotica really are some of the most striking looking Sherlock Holmes editions available and at a particularly reasonable price.
If you are going to read Holmes then this is the place to start.
Format:Paperback
Sherlock Holmes has always just been there, an instantaneously recognisable character such as, for example, is James Bond. Any yet, I had no idea of his origins before reading this, the first book in the series. In "A Study In Scarlet" we learn of how Dr Watson (recently invalided out of the army after being injured in Afghanistan), links up with Holmes (carrying out experiments in a University laboratory but apparently not a full time student), in their mutual search for low cost but respectable lodgings. Holmes is already training himself to be a master detective, and is already known to the police as a useful source to be consulted, but as yet has won no public fame. Watson, initially skeptical about Holmes's powers of deduction (but fascinated by his somewhat eccentric character), is quickly won over as the police bring him in to assist with the baffling murder of an American gentleman in an empty London house; a murder with no apparent reason or cause. A significant part of the book thereafter is taken up with the history leading up to the murder, something which, to my surprise, takes us back to Salt Lake City and the Mormon religion. The result of this is that the book reads like an adventure story and a detective story, rolled in to one. Once Holmes solves the murder he then explains to Watson why, although on the surface this was a difficult case to crack, it was easy for him. And so the book ends with Holmes providing the reader with a clear explanation of his techniques of detection; techniques that will ultimately bring fame to both he and his creator, Conan Doyle. An excellent start to the series.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A Study in, um.. Wow.
I absolutely L.O.V.E this book. It's got so many twists, it's crazy! It was a pleasure to read and I fully intend on buying the rest, you should too <3
Published 3 months ago by cherrypie
v good
For someone who gets bored quickly this book captured my imagination from start to fnish.Easy to read yet makes you think. Enjoyed the tangent to the US. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Zen
GREAT
I love Sherlock Holmes anyway, but after watching Sherlock - Series 1 [DVD] I wanted to read the books, I'm completely glad I did, I don't regret buying it at all and I think I've... Read more
Published 8 months ago by Sherlock4eva
A superb start to the classic detective series!
I decided it was time to start reading the classic crime stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and I am glad I did. This story is superb, I was captivated from start to finish. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Louise Roberts
Great!
I got the Sherlock Holmes collection for Christmas and had finished A Study In Scarlet within two nights. Read more
Published 17 months ago by MRS J JONES
Brilliant
This is the second Holmes book that I have read. the first was the Hound of the Baskervilles. you are introduced to the super sleuth's assisstant and companion Watson at the... Read more
Published 22 months ago by Crouchback
Something you'll enjoy
A 'Study In Scarlet' introduces the reader to a few of the best characters of all time. The first of the Sherlock Holmes tales sets the foundations for many stories to come, and... Read more
Published on 7 Feb 2010 by Lexhen
A Study In Scarlet - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
A rare thing for most readers - finding a book that is everything you want. This one, and i am utterly convinced when i say this, is absolutley it. Read more
Published on 19 July 2008 by reedydeluxe
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