Book of the Week

  I remember four years ago I saw, by chance, a book: Study in Scarlet. I had heard of Sherlock Holmes, superb detective, but had never ever read any book of Arthur Conan Doyle.  The book was very cheap, so it was the perfect time to meet Sherlock. I bought it, and I fell in love with Holmes.

  “It was easier to know it than to explain why I know it. If you were asked to prove that two and two made four, you might find some difficulty, and yet you are quite sure of the fact.''

  A Study in Scarlet was Sherlock Holmes' first outing into the literary world. Published in 1887 (after many rejections) it was an immediate success. Conan Doyle's quirky hero, with his cold deductive mind, violin playing and cocaine addiction, fascinated the reading public, and laid the foundation for the many Sherlock Holmes books and short stories that were to follow over the next three decades. In this first work, all the winning ingredient of a Holmes novel appear fully-formed: a murder, puzzling clues, evil villains, startling locations and an elegant, surprising solution provided in typical laconic style by the arch-sleuth himself.