Book Summary
Sherlock – The Essential Arthur Conan Doyle Adventures Volume 1
Book Details
Title: Sherlock – The Essential Arthur Conan Doyle Adventures Volume 1
Author: Arthur Conan Doyle
Pages: 344
Publisher: Lijsters - Blackbird
Publication Date: 2016
Genre: Thriller, Classic Detective Fiction
Original Language: English
Topics: Fictional Character Biography, Detective Knowledge and Skills, Personality and Habits,
Solving Crimes, Storytelling.
Notes have been included: These are not part of the text in the book. They are extra insights
intended to help you understand the story. They will always appear in green font.
Important to know:
'Sherlock' was introduced to the world as a TV Series by creators Mark Gatiss and Steven
Moffat by the BBC in 2010. A new generation came to know the legendary Detective Sherlock
Holmes. The series was a tremendous success, winning nine Prime Time Emmy Awards and a
die-hard fanbase. With re-ignited interest, people wanted to read the original stories by the
author Arthur Conan Doyle. This book you are about to read, Volume One, is a collection of
eight stories. Each has been carefully selected by the writers Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat.
Each with a short introduction by them.
In this Volume One you will find: A Study in Scarlet, The Sign of Four, A Scandal in Bohemia,
The Red-Headed League, A Case of Identity, The Man with the Twisted Lip, The Blue
Carbuncle, The Speckled Band.
About the Autor:
Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. He was the third of ten
children, and his father was an Irish painter, who specialized in fantasy scenes. At age nine,
Arthur was sent to a boarding school, which he disliked greatly. He passed the time by
storytelling and showed a real talent for it. Pursuing a medical career, he studied medicine at
Edinburgh University. While he was a medical student, he worked with a man named Dr. Bell. It
is said that this observant physician was his first inspiration for the books. Arthur set himself to
write a story in which the hero would treat crime as Dr. Bell treated disease and where science
would take the place of chance. In 1887, Arthur published his first Sherlock novel, A Study in
Scarlet. In 1890, he followed that with his second Sherlock novel, The Sign of Four. Neither
novel made it big at the beginning. So, he adapted his format to short stories instead of novels.
This worked. In a matter of months, he became a huge success.
A Study in Scarlet is where our heroes meet for the first time. Doctor John Watson and Sherlock
Holmes are brought together to solve a mystery that baffles even the best of detectives. This
story encompasses around a hundred pages. Followed by The Sign of Four, where some time
has passed, and the characters find another mystery to solve. This story is still in the novel
format and takes about a hundred pages. The stories after that are far shorter in design.
We shall review each in its own turn.
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,Book 1: A Study in Scarlet:
Introduction: The first adventure and still one of the best. Our heroes meet. ‘You have been in
Afghanistan, I perceive.’ Corpse trashing! Mormons! Revenge! It must’ve landed like a rocket in
Victorian fiction – Mark and Steven
A reprint from the reminiscences of John H. Watson, MD, late of the Army Medical Department
Note: Dr. Watson tells the story from his perspective using the I-wording. It is meant to convey
the idea that we are reading his personal journey and his personal experiences with Sherlock.
Part 1: 1. Mr. Sherlock Holmes
The first line in the book reads: ‘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.’ Watson describes his medical career. He says that he went on to become an
assistant army surgeon and that he travelled to Afghanistan to meet the Second Afghan War.
Note: The Second Anglo-Afghan War was a military conflict fought between the British Raj and
the Emirate of Afghanistan from 1878 to 1880. The war was split into two campaigns – the first
began in November 1878 with the British invasion of Afghanistan from India. The second ended
in September 1880 when the British decisively defeated the Amir outside Kandahar. A new Amir
was selected by the British, who agreed to a peace treaty.
Watson goes on to say: ‘The campaign brought honors and promotion to many, but for me it
had nothing but misfortune and disaster.’ He explains that he was wounded by a gunshot to the
shoulder, which shattered bone and grazed the subclavian artery.
Note: The subclavian artery is meant to provide blood supply to the upper limbs, as well as part
of the head and neck through its several branches. Dr. Watson may have experienced restricted
oxygen to his brain, shoulders, neck, arms and heart.
Worn with pain and weakened by many hardships, Watson was sent back to England. By the
time he arrived in his home country, he was convinced his health was irretrievably ruined. For
the next nine months, Watson would be given an allowance by the government so that he could
focus on trying to improve his health. Hopefully he could someday continue his medical career.
Since he had no family to speak of, Watson settled in a hotel in London and sought how to fill
his days. Not much time had passed when he decided that his accommodation was too costly
and that he needed a more affordable place to live. On the same day he made this decision, he
ran into a former colleague from medical school. Young Stamford was delighted to see him and
asked him what he had been up to. Watson told him of his many travels and that he needed
new lodgings at a reasonable price. Stamford paused: 'You are the second man to mention that
to me today. A fellow who is working at the chemical laboratory was bemoaning himself because
he could not get someone to go halves with him in some nice rooms which he had found.'
'By Jove!' Watson exclaimed. 'If he wants to share the rooms and the expense, I am the man for
him. I should prefer having a partner than being alone.’
Stamford looked at him pensively. ‘You don’t know Sherlock Holmes yet.’
He explained that Sherlock Holmes was a rather eccentric character and that living with him
may be very taxing. Watson insisted that he wanted to meet him, and Stamford agreed to it.
Note: Jove/Jupiter was the Roman god of the sky, who had power over both gods and men. In
the fourteenth century, when the English started saying 'by Jove,' it was a way to say 'my god'
without blaspheming the Christian god.
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,Stamford cautioned Watson again about Holmes. One of the things he mentioned: ‘Holmes is a
little too eccentric for my tastes – it approaches cold–bloodedness. I could imagine his giving a
friend a little pinch of the latest vegetable alkaloid, but not out of malevolence, you understand,
but simply out of a spirit of enquiry to have an accurate idea of the effects. To do him justice, I
think that he would take it himself with the same readiness. He appears to have a passion for
definite and exact knowledge. Although it may be pushes to excess. When it comes to beating
the subjects in the dissecting-rooms with a stick, it is certainly taking a bizarre shape.’
Note: Alkaloids are a class of naturally occurring organic compounds that contain at least one
nitrogen atom. Some forms of alkaloid would be mentioned as poisons in the Sherlock Holmes
stories. Subjects in dissecting-rooms, means dead bodies in the morgue, which Sherlock would
beat with a stick to verify how far bruises may be produced after death. It was a strange study.
Stamford took Watson to the medical laboratory, where he introduced him to Holmes. Holmes
greeted Watson with enthusiasm and took him off guard immediately by remarking: 'You have
been in Afghanistan, I perceive.'
'How on Earth did you know that?'
Holmes chuckled: 'Never mind that.' He was excited to show them his new findings. A delicate
test with a chemical agent that reacted to blood. This would be helpful to identify criminals. As it
was, too many times a stain could not be identified as blood. This test was a sure way to know.
Watson was impressed. Holmes then turned his attention to Watson and sounded delighted at
the idea of sharing rooms. ‘I have my eye on a suite in Baker Street.’
He asked Watson if he would be annoyed at him smoking tobacco, going days without talking
because he was in a sulky mood and playing the violin. Watson said that none of it would annoy
or bother him. Holmes was happy to hear that. The men agreed to meet the next day. After that
short interaction, Holmes left, and Watson wondered how he knew about Afghanistan.
Part 1: 2. The Science of Deduction
The next day, Holmes and Watson visited the rooms at 221B Baker Street and moved in after
finding them to their liking. At first, the two men just kept to themselves as they sorted their
things out. Then, as time went by, Watson started to study his roommate. Since he was not yet
recovered, Watson would spend much of his time inside with not much else to do. Holmes
intrigued him. Watson noted that Holmes showed a great interest in poisons, the soils of
London, chemistry, sensational literature and British Law. He also marked that all kinds of
visitors would call on advice from Holmes. But to what end?
So strange and diverse the things Holmes knew and did not know, that Watson wrote it down:
1. Knowledge of literature – nil.
2. Knowledge of philosophy – nil.
3. Knowledge of astronomy – nil.
(Watson was shocked to learn that Holmes did not know that the Earth goes round the Sun.)
4. Knowledge of politics – feeble.
5. Knowledge of botany – variable. Well up in belladonna, opium and poisons generally.
6. Knowledge of geology – practical but limited.
7. Knowledge of chemistry – profound.
8. Knowledge of anatomy – accurate but unsystematic.
9. Knowledge of sensational literature – immense. He appears to know every detail of every
horror perpetrated in the century.
10. Plays violin well.
11. Is an expert singlestick player, boxer and swordsman.
12. Has a good practical knowledge of British Law.
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, It was as if the more Watson studied Holmes, the less he understood what he was doing. What
was his means of income? Who were all these visitors? He would like to ask without appearing
rude, however, the right moment to ask always seemed to escape him.
Until one morning, when he stumbled upon an article in a magazine. It was titled: The Book of
Life. It suggested that a person may learn much simply from observing their surroundings. The
article sounded so incredibly far-fetched that Watson says: 'I never read such rubbish in my life!'
Holmes isn't in the least offended when he tells Watson that it is he who wrote it. He then goes
on to reveal that he is a consulting detective, the only one in the world, and that people come to
him for advice when they get stuck in a mystery. His theories, studies and powers of observation
serve him well. To prove it, he discloses to Watson how he knew about Afghanistan.
'You were told, no doubt,' says Watson.
'Nothing of the sort. I knew you came from Afghanistan. From long habit the train of thoughts
ran so swiftly through my mind that I arrived at the conclusion without being conscious of
intermediate steps. The train of reasoning ran, "Here is a gentleman of a medical type, but with
the air of a military man. Clearly an army doctor. He has just come from the tropics, for his face
is dark, and that is not the natural tint of his skin, for his wrists are fair. He has undergone
hardship and sickness, as his haggard face says clearly. His left arm has been injured. He holds
it in a stiff and unnatural manner. Where in the tropics could an English army doctor have seen
much hardship and got his arm wounded? Clearly Afghanistan." The whole train of thought did
not occupy a second.'
Watson is impressed. As Holmes explains how his mind works it becomes transparent how he
deduces things. Still, it is a skill that only he seems to have mastered. At the beginning, Watson
is sometimes still skeptical. However, as time goes on, he learns to trust Holmes’ deductions.
When Watson compares him to his favorite literary detectives, Holmes dismisses them. He says
that he thinks Edgar Allen Poe’s Dupin is inferior and Gaboriau’s Lecoq is a bungler. Somewhat
disillusioned Watson changes the topic by pointing out a man walking on the street in front of
their house. Holmes identifies the man as a marine sergeant and is proven right, when the man
comes in to deliver a letter to him. Watson is stunned.
Part 1: 3. The Lauriston Gardens Mystery
The letter was sent by a detective at Scotland Yard, named Tobias Gregson. The letter reads:
‘There has been bad business during the night at 3, Lauriston Gardens, off the Brixton Road.
Our man on the beat saw a light there about two in the morning, and as the house was an
empty one, suspected that something was amiss. He found the door open, and in the front
room, discovered the body of a gentleman having cards in his pocket bearing the name of
Enoch J. Drebber, Cleveland, Ohio, USA. There had been no robbery, nor is there any evidence
as to how the man met his death.’
Gregson goes on to ask Holmes to come and grant his opinion. Holmes explains to Watson that
Gregson is one of the smartest detectives in Scotland Yard. He and another detective called
Lestrade are his favorites. Although they can be shockingly conventional. At first Holmes doesn't
seem too interested in going, but Watson cannot resist the mystery and asks him to go. He is
promptly invited to come along.
At the house at Lauriston Gardens, Gregson and Lestrade show Holmes and Watson the body
of the man in the empty house. Even though there are blood spatters, it does not appear to
come from the victim. Holmes walks around pensively. He seems to be forming his deductions
already. As the body is removed, a wedding ring falls to the floor. The detectives study the ring.
It was a woman's ring, no doubt. The mystery seems to become harder to solve, although
Holmes remarks that the ring only simplifies things for him. Nothing has been taken from the
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