There`s the scarlet thread of murder running through the colourless skein of life, and our duty is to unravel it

After a harrowing tour in Afghanistan, Dr. Watson returns to London to convalesce at 221B Baker Street, home to the enigmatic Sherlock Holmes. Their lives are irrevocably thrown together by news that a man has been found dead in a grimy `ill-omened` house, with the word rache - German for revenge - written in blood on the wall. This grisly discovery is complicated further by the look of utter horror on the victim`s face, and the complete absence of any wounds on the body or sign of a struggle.

First published in 1887, A Study in Scarlet is the remarkable first-outing of one of literature`s most famous partnerships.