50 Books in a Year: Book #54 A Study in Scarlet

The only Sherlock Holmes book I've ever read is The Hound of the Baskervilles, I read it, on purpose, in 6th grade after spending many years watching the old black and white version with Basil Rathbone. I was looking forward to reading more Holmes for The Gilmore Girls Reading Challenge, but didn't want to read The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (as I knew it wasn't the first book). Then a friend turned me on to this...

It just makes sense that after watching Benedict Cumberbatch (Hell-O the Anglophile in me loves him and his name, can we get more British with the name there?) in A Study in Pink  I'd want to read Doyle's A Study in Scarlet.

Um, yeah, while I enjoy the parallels, I should have probably read the book first...

Fun parallels:
1] The titles, of course, are adorable in comparison to each other.
2] The dialogue...there are parts in the book that are word for word in the episode (opening scene, Holmes defending why the cops need him, blood on the walls) the setting and inflections changed, which just makes it more interesting.
3] The Cabbie...of course, one is in a horse-drawn buggy, but still.
4] The choice (don't want to give anything away here).
5] Holmes still vain, still mad, still quite misunderstood by everyone except Watson, and, of course, himself.
6] The Solar System.
and...
7]They both open with Watson having PTS, wounded, back from a military tour in Afghanistan (kid you not, same opener).

A Study in Pink is...
1] Faster paced, there is a whole entire sequence, in the novel, set in The States about Mormons and scandals and murder, that I'm sure we sort of needed, but not really in a rather long chapter flashback...totally ruins the pacing and it's hard to get the pace back or care about the murders after that.
2] Has a Watson that I just adore, second only to Jude as Watson, of course.
3] Devoid of doggie-icide...I'm sure that wouldn't go over well, sick and old dog or not, with a modern audience.
4] devious and creepy, the ending is breath-taking and, well, I didn't have to go through 4 million (slight exaggeration) pages of nonsense to get to to it.

So, while I liked this book is really isn't as good as The Hounds of the Baskerville nor as fun and clever as it's modern version.

4 Stars   

I love this book, but would not give up my first born for it...you should read it though :)

For more Holmes info check out: Holmesian Derivations