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Literature review of Arthur Conan Doyle’s complete novels and stories

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is one of the best authors of the 19th century. He is best acknowledged for his enduring role in creating the popular character Sherlock Holmes. Additionally, the character of Holmes has gone ahead to be remodeled in some modern novels and television films as well. In simple terms, Conan Doyle was a trendsetting author who exhibited a number of myriad literary models and styles as shown in his three novels, namely; A Study in Scarlet, Adventure of the Dancing Men, and A Scandal in Bohemia.

Arthur Conan Doyle starts the novel by introducing the dominant characters of the novel; ‘A Study in Scarlet’, Dr. John Watson and Sherlock Holmes, where the audience gets to comprehend the circumstances that prevailed in the characters’ first meeting day and the life they shared. Additionally, Arthur tries to get the audience to have a sense of how Watson and Holmes, who were once one-time-flatmates, established their friendship to become the best friends ever. In this case, Conan Doyle offers a full cast from the onset with appearances by a detective and Lestrade, who gets more play later as compared to the detective.

One striking feature of this novel is that it was among the first stories to employ a magnifying glass as a detection tool. To some extent, this is interesting because it is a mystery to comprehend why the police chose this tool as a detection technique. In simple terms, it can be right to argue that there was a number of innocent individuals who were sentenced because of these synthetic detective methods. Additionally, Scotland Yard invited Holmes to help them deal with a sensational case where a man was found dead with no clear indication of the cause of death. Holmes immediately identifies overlooked clues to the case, but the circumstances leading to how he solved the mystery remain under wraps. Moreover, the way he interprets identified clues was even more mysterious because Arthur Conan Doyle’s story revolves less about a few simple clues but revolves more about the backstory that covers a bigger part of the book.

A Study in Scarlet is a doozy of a backstory that is filled completely with wagon trains, Mormons, and pioneers. Additionally, Conan Doyle argued that the Mormons were used because this story was meant to be fiction. Therefore, it is up to individuals to decide on their own if the story is intentionally offensive to a particular religious group or if it is just a coincidence that it discusses people who are morons. On a personal level, A Study in Scarlet does not rate as one of the best Holmes stories, but, to a greater extent, it is a joy to read because of the role it plays in introducing characters in the novel.

The second novel that was authored by Conan Doyle is the Adventure of the Dancing Men. Like most of Sherlock Holmes stories by Conan Doyle, the adventure of the dancing men is presented in the form of a memoir written by the first person narrator, Watson. Additionally, the novel commences in Watson’s and Baker Street apartments based in London. Sherlock Holmes, who seems to be deeply absorbed in his test-tubes and chemicals, amazes Watson by reading his mind. Moreover, astonished by Holmes remarks, Watson demands a clear explanation by which Holmes complies by relating a number of reasoning chains that starts with a chalk on Watson’s left hand and summarizes his explanation by the investment decision.

The introduction part of the story clearly portrays Holmes as a parlor trick master in the sense he surprises Watson with an observation coupled with a power of logic. In this case, Holmes explains the reasons he thinks Watson does not want to invest in certain property in South Africa.

One saddening aspect of this novel is that it does not revolve around any actual dancing and, therefore, cannot be subtitled. Additionally, after the introduction part, Holmes throws a sheet to Watson embedded with a drawing of little dancing men. It turns out later that Holmes is trying to decipher the sheet for a client called Hilton Cubitt. In this case, it can be clearly true to argue that this stands out as one of the most inefficient code in history because it entails little dancing unhealthy stick figure people which generally must have taken a long time to draw.

Cubitt tells Holmes that he saw a human figure vanishing into the darkness outside his house, and he believed that his wife knew who the person in the darkness was. He went after the man, but, unfortunately, this resulted into more figures of drawings of dancing me on the chalkboard. All was going on well with them until they started receiving some encrypted messages. Hilton took the messages as a joke, but his wife was freaking out. In the process, she hired Holmes to help her figure out what was going on. After a few days, Hilton is found dead after sending a message to Holmes and, besides, his wife is injured and near death because of a gunshot wound.

On investigation, Holmes notices an open window and finds money in a woman’s purse. Holmes then sends an encrypted code to a neighboring farm known as the Elbridge’s followed by the explanation of his method. Due to the code, the messages were signed Abe Slaney, and the last coded messages threatened Hiltons wife. Abe is then arrested and gets jail term as opposed to the death penalty since no one was sure about the identity of the person who fired the gunshot. The sentencing of Abe clearly shows the ineffectiveness of the law enforcement and crime scene investigation techniques that were used during this period.

In A Scandal in Bohemia, Conan Doyle attempts a new literary form that entailed a self-contained short story with a character possessing a continuing nature at the center of it, although Sherlock Holmes appeared in some stories before. It is universally acknowledged that in short stories, the author must aim at establishing a very sweet story without wasting even a single word. In this case, Arthur Conan Doyle embraced this style in this story; A Scandal in Bohemia by writing a series of stories about a detective. The characters that described the nature of the detective were built up throughout the novel producing a lifelike human character that to some extend might have been difficult to portray in a single story.

The mystery of this story starts at Holmes’ apartment with the arrival of a potential client, where Holmes demonstrates his abilities by revealing something unknown about the client. Additionally, through his actions, he gains the confidence of the client and his employer. Conan Doyle then ensures that Holmes, Watson and the client gather in the next scene where he explains Holmes’ methods and the mystery. Moreover, Arthur Conan Doyle uses all these mystery elements repeatedly, hence keeping the stories fresh by adding a new detail or a new mystery into the anew scene. Furthermore, the technique employed in this novel aimed at elevating Conan Doyle to new heights as an author during his reign on both sides of the Atlantic by making the technique to be first used in his book A Scandal in Bohemia.

In conclusion, the tales of Watson and Sherlock Holmes will be fondly remembered through the novel plots and, especially, through the relationship that exists between the characters and their capabilities individually. Additionally, the world in which Holmes and Watson lived was filled with numerous metaphors, conflicts, descriptors and foreshadowing. Therefore, the general schema that Conan Doyle uses in his novels, no matter how unique the setting or the locale is, they will always remain mysteriously the same.