A STUDY IN SCARLET is the first in Arthur Conan Doyle's "Sherlock Holmes" series of mystery novels. Holmes resolves to solve the mystery of a corpse found at a derelict house with the word "RACHE" scrawled in blood on the wall beside the body.

Sherlock Holmes is a brilliant London-based "consulting detective" and is famous for his intellectual prowess and renowned for his skillful use of astute observation, deductive reasoning and forensic skills to solve difficult cases. Most of the Sherlock Holmes stories are narrated by Watson, Holmes' friend and assistant.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) was a Scottish physician and writer, best known for his creation of the super-sleuth Sherlock Holmes. Doyle was a prolific writer whose other works include science fiction stories, historical novels, plays and romances, poetry, and non-fiction. He began writing Sherlock Holmes stories as a way to pass time between seeing patients at his medical practice.