In A Study in Scarlet, Sherlock Holmes is the mystery-solving detective introduced alongside Dr Watson.
Arthur Conan Doyle’s A Study in Scarlet was first published in 1887 in Beeton’s Christmas Annual. It is the first appearance of both Sherlock Holmes and Dr John Watson, who narrates most of the novel. Watson meets Holmes in London after both men seek affordable accommodation and are introduced by Stamford.
The novel establishes several features that became central to the series: Holmes’s use of observation and deduction, Watson’s role as companion and narrator, and the contrast between Holmes’s analytical methods and Scotland Yard’s conventional police work. Its plot has two major sections, with the second moving from London to Utah and explaining the crime’s background.
The title refers to the “scarlet thread of murder” that Holmes says runs through the colourless web of life. It is often confused with The Sign of the Four, the second Holmes novel, which appeared in 1890.