Mystery · Detective
A Study in Scarlet
Dr Watson meets his strange new flatmate, and a word written in blood starts their first case.
Five levels, about 80 languages
- A2ElementaryShort sentences and everyday words.
- B1IntermediateYou follow clear stories about familiar things.
- B2Upper intermediateLonger sentences, richer vocabulary.
- C1AdvancedClose to the original, lightly condensed.
- C2ProficientThe complete novel.
One purchase is one book, in one language, at one level: $4.99. Another level of a book you own is $1.99. Editions nobody has asked for yet are written on request: chapter 1 in a few minutes, the rest while you read. How the levels work.
About the book
The first meeting
Dr John Watson is back in London from the war in Afghanistan, wounded, in poor health and short of money. A friend introduces him to a man looking for someone to share rooms at 221B Baker Street. The man’s habits are odd, and his knowledge is a puzzle: he knows everything about soils, poisons and crimes, and nothing at all about the solar system. His name is Sherlock Holmes. Soon two Scotland Yard detectives call him in to look at a body in an empty house, with a word written on the wall in blood. Arthur Conan Doyle was a young doctor when he published it in 1887.
Why it works for learners
It’s short, and its first half is one of the best introductions to any detective in fiction: you watch Watson try to work out his flatmate, and then you watch Holmes work. The scene in which Holmes explains how he knew Watson had been in Afghanistan is a model of clear reasoning. The vocabulary is London, rooms, money, police, evidence and deduction.
Be ready for the second half, which jumps abruptly to the American West and a different story before returning to London. Many first-time readers are surprised by it, and its picture of the early Mormon community is sensational and one-sided.
Which level to start at
B1 is ideal; the book is short and the main mystery is clear. At B2 you’ll enjoy more of the characterization in the opening chapters. Because so much depends on that first meeting, this is a satisfying first Holmes even at A2. Tap any word for its meaning in that sentence, and save the ones you want to your Words list.
Read next
- The Sign of the Four, the second Holmes novel
- The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, the first twelve short stories
- The Moonstone, the detective novel that came before Holmes