OK, this review has been a long time coming, I know. A Study In Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle..what can you say about this...let's start at the beginning shall we?
OK, if you watch the BBC series "Sherlock" (only 6 episodes I know but NEW SEASON IN 2014), specifically the first episode "A Study in Pink" you'll have a handle on the basic plot for the story. A mild mannered John Watson, "late of the army medical department" took a bullet to the shoulder in Afghanistan, which, if you read the original story, grazed his subclavian artery, (Hence Sherlock's question in "A Study in Pink" "Afghanistan or Iraq?") and was invalided home. it's established that he has "neither kith nor kin in England" and nothing but his army pension keeping him there. He is introduced, by an old colleague, to Sherlock Holmes. Actually they meet because his old friend takes him back to Bart's (St. Bartholomew's Hospital, where they both trained) to meet a man who also happens to be looking for someone to share a flat in London. Hence the famous duo are introduced and they embark on their many journeys together. This tale establishes a bit about each of their characters as both Holmes and his 21st Century counterpart are both avid about science and experiments, play the violin and assist Scotland Yard in solving cases hence this section in "A Study in Pink"
Sherlock Holmes: How do you feel about the violin?
John Watson: I’m sorry, what?
Sherlock Holmes: I play the violin when I’m thinking and sometimes I don’t talk for days on end. Would that bother you? Potential flatmates should know the worst about each other.
John: You told him about me?
Mike: Not a word.
John: Then who said anything about flatmates?
Sherlock: I did. Told Mike this morning I must be a difficult man to find a flatmate for. Now here he is, just after lunch, with an old friend clearly just home from military service in Afghanistan. Wasn't a difficult leap.
John: How did you know about Afghanistan?
Sherlock: Got my eyes on a nice little place in central London, we ought to be able to afford it. We’ll meet there tomorrow evening seven o’clock. Sorry, got to dash, I think I left my riding crop in the mortuary.
John: Is that it?
Sherlock: Is that what?
John: We've only just met, and we’re going to go and look at a flat?
Sherlock: Problem?
John: We don’t know a thing about each other. I don’t know where we’re meeting, I don’t even know your name.
Sherlock: I know you’re an Army doctor, and you've been invalided home from Afghanistan. You've got a brother worried about you, but you won’t go to him for help, because you don’t approve of him, possibly because he’s an alcoholic, more likely because he recently walked out on his wife, and I know your therapist thinks your limp's psychosomatic, (Shoulder wound, remember) quite correctly, I’m afraid. That’s enough to be going on with, don’t you think ? The name is Sherlock Holmes, and the address is 221B Baker Street. Afternoon.
(He leaves. John glances at Mike.)
(Quote courtesy of http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sherlock_(TV_series) )
Now, if you've read "A Study in Scarlet" you'll know that this exchange, more or less, between Holmes and Watson, actually did happen and we know that they did, eventually, move into 221B Baker St. together. In the canon Doyle work John Watson actually does have a brother and Stamford tells Watson that Sherlock Holmes has taken to "beating the mortuary subjects with a stick" (an experiment in post-mortem bruising) he also does play the violin and is prone to days of silence where he neither sleeps nor eats, We also know, from...I think it's "The Hound of the Baskervilles" that he's usually an early riser when he does sleep at all.
As a basis for introducing the main characters of a series this work is fantastic, it not only introduces us to who they are but gives background about them and I really would suggest reading it and the rest of the Sherlock Holmes stories, especially if you're into mystery. Although, if you are going to dive in to the canon works of Sherlock Holmes as written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, go chronologically. These stories, are journal entries written by John Watson that chronicle his life with the famous detective. These make amazing reads and are shorter than novels, they were originally published in Strand magazine so they're not really that long if you don't have a lot of time. I would suggest that you read them, especially if you're a fan of any of the movie or TV show adaptations (Jeremy Brett, Basil Rathbone, Robert Downey Jr., Benedict Cumberbatch, Johnny Lee Miller) Also, especially for kids, a good segway into introducing them into Sherlock Holmes is the Disney movie "The Great Mouse Detective." (One of my absolute favourites I love it!)
That's all from me today, sorry this was so late coming but, exams got in the way, I'll try and post more regularly in 2014 but second semester is starting so I'm not going to make any promises. Again, if you want to suggest a book for me to read, leave it in the comments, I think I fixed it so you no longer need a Google+ account to leave a comment, I might create a Facebook page for my writing and blogging in the near future so if I do, you, and my Facebook friends will be the first to know, thanks for reading and do please feel free to follow my blog.
