A Study in Scarlet
The novel that introduced the world to Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. A dead man in an empty house, the word RACHE written in blood, and a trail of vengeance that leads back to the salt deserts of Utah and a lost love destroyed by Mormon fanaticism.
The first Holmes novel, and structurally the strangest: half London detective story, half Utah western, with a hard cut between them that has puzzled readers since 1887. The first half is Watson meeting Holmes and learning to live with him, which is mostly dialogue between two men working out how much to tell each other. The second abandons them entirely for Jefferson Hope, John Ferrier and a young woman in a wagon train. Two casts, effectively, and hearing them as two casts makes the structure feel intentional rather than like a book breaking in half.
The voices that carry it
Watson and Holmes have to sound like strangers in chapter one and flatmates by chapter three, which is the hardest thing anywhere in this recording. Jefferson Hope arrives late and carries the whole American half.
Chapter one plays without an account. Start listening to A Study in Scarlet.
Voice cast
9 characters plus the narrator, each with their own voice. All the voices of A Study in Scarlet.
- Sherlock Holmes — The world's only consulting detective, first encountered by Watson at St. Bartholomew's Hospital. Eccentric, electric, intensely logical. Younger here than in later stories.
- Dr. Watson — A wounded army surgeon returned from Afghanistan, new to London and to Holmes. Warm, practical, initially bemused by Holmes's extraordinary methods.
- Inspector Lestrade — Scotland Yard's tenacious if limited inspector. Ferret-like features, confident in orthodox methods, perpetually underestimating Holmes.
- Inspector Gregson — The other Scotland Yard inspector on the case, tallest and best-dressed of the detectives. More pompous than Lestrade and equally convinced of his own cleverness.
- Jefferson Hope — The avenging murderer — an American frontiersman who spent two decades hunting down the men who destroyed the woman he loved. Physically imposing, righteous in his own eyes, dying as he confesses.
- Stamford — Watson's old medical acquaintance who introduces him to Holmes. Cheerful, slightly nervous about the introduction.
- John Ferrier — An American pioneer rescued by Mormon settlers as a dying man, who built a prosperous life in Utah while raising the orphan Lucy as his daughter. Stubborn, fiercely protective, ultimately doomed.
- Lucy Ferrier — John Ferrier's adopted daughter — a beautiful, spirited young American woman who falls in love with Jefferson Hope and is forced into a Mormon marriage instead.
- Brigham Young — The formidable leader of the Mormon settlers, who delivers the ultimatum to John Ferrier. Authoritative, patient, implacable.
Chapters
- Chapter I: Mr. Sherlock Holmes
- Chapter II: The Science of Deduction
- Chapter III: The Lauriston Gardens Mystery
- Chapter IV: What John Rance Had to Tell
- Chapter V: Our Advertisement Brings a Visitor
- Chapter VI: Tobias Gregson Shows What He Can Do
- Chapter VII: Light in the Darkness
- Chapter I: On the Great Alkali Plain
- Chapter II: The Flower of Utah
- Chapter III: John Ferrier Talks with the Prophet
- Chapter IV: A Flight for Life
- Chapter V: The Avenging Angels
- Chapter VI: A Continuation of the Reminiscences of John Watson, M.D
- Chapter VII: The Conclusion
About this recording
Should I listen to A Study in Scarlet before the other Holmes stories?
It is the first published and the only one that shows Holmes and Watson meeting, so it rewards going first. The short stories are self-contained and can be heard in any order after it.
Why does the middle of the book change completely?
Doyle drops the London narrative for a long flashback to Utah that explains the murderer's motive, then returns. In this recording the shift is audible: a different set of voices takes over, and Holmes and Watson are gone until it ends.