Review: A Study in Scarlet + The Sign of Four

The Sherlock Holmes Novels
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 
Classics

Apparently, these stories are so famous they were denied a blurb from Goodreads(;

So last summer I fell totally, absolutely, and irrevocably in love with BBC's Sherlock (and um, Benedict Cumberbatch), to the point where I now know all 9 episodes by heart. Various members of my family, after being horrified that a huge reader like me has fallen in love with a tv show having never read the iconic stories, started buying me copies. 

I now have 3 collections, one of them full (all 54 on kindle!).

I came at A Study in Scarlet with minimal expectations. I was right to do so. 

As a reader, I'm more a people person than a plot person (hence, why I love Cassie Clare's Shadowhunter books. No one could possibly attribute literary genius to them but BEST. CHARACTERS. EVER). Anyway, as opposed to the tv show that explores Sherlock's character development and his relationship with the rest of the crew, the original stories are truly all about the mystery. My favorite bits are when Watson marvels at Holmes, but those are few and far between.

Another thing that was difficult for me to get into were the background chapters towards the end of each novella. In both A Study in Scarlet and The Sign of Four, there are a good few chapters devoted to the murderer's history with the murderee. This SOUNDS fascinating but in both cases was slow, long-winded, and most annoyingly, NOT ABOUT WATSON AND HOLMES. 

Also, these stories were written over 120 years ago. THEY ARE HARD TO UNDERSTAND. A lot of times after the big reveal my response was like, 'WHAT are you talking about??'

YET SOMEHOW, I really enjoyed them! And I never really like short stories! It's truly bizarre. There is something intriguing about them - maybe because each story is new, so you never know what to expect. That is almost a guaranteed way of making me read all of them. 

Rating: