Here is one of the literary works for which the fictional character of Sherlock Holmes has become the most famous detective of all time. And not only that, but it is in this 1887 novel is where Arthur Conan Doyle's famous character first appears.
Holmes appears, but also his indefatigable and patient companion Dr. Watson, since it is in this book that we see how they begin to live together, in the same apartment on Baker Street that they will occupy during all subsequent novels.
That is, in A Study in Scarlet Conan Doyle introduces us to the characters, their characteristics, hobbies and customs. Not forgetting that he also presents us with what over time literary critics have called the Holmesian or Sherlockian canon.
The beginnings of this series were not really in the form of a novel, but they were first published in a London magazine, and later became a stand-alone book. By the way, a novel that featured illustrations by Arthur Conan Doyle's own father, named Charle Altamont Doyle.
As in all the works of this series, the narrator of the events is not the detective, but Doctor John H. Watson. In fact, at the beginning we are given to understand that this is going to be his memories
But it's actually more than that, since in the play we candistinguish two distinct parts. In the first, the protagonists are Sherlock and Watson who are about to solve a crime that has occurred in London, and for which they have been called by the Scotland Yard police. But there is a second part, in which the story goes back in time, several decades ago, to take us to the state of Utah in the United States, a basically Mormon territory.
This second part even has a separate sub title: “The land of the saints”. And there is an omniscient narrator other than Watson, since neither he nor Sherlock have been in that place nor have they seen the crime that is narrated there. The truth is that the Mormon Church and its practices are narrated and described very critically, for example with regard to polygamy. Something that at the time was not exempt from criticism, for which years later Conan Doyle had to apologize.
The fact is that the two parts are unified in a final chapter in which everything makes sense. A chapter in which the narrator is once again Watson.
By the way, you don't have to search the whole book for the famous expression “Elementary, dear Watson”, because that was never written by the author. And its popularity is due to one of the multiple film versions that have been produced.
