A review by maggieha
A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle

challenging dark informative mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This was a really great Victorian detective fiction and its influence on others of the genre (both book and TV wise) is very apparent (for example I'm re-watching The Mentalist these days and Sherlock's influence on Patrick Jane as a character is substantial).

Unpopular opinion: the original is way better then the BBC mini-series as the latter's Sherlock is abolutely obnoxious and extremely insensitive which is all chalked up to (and apparently excused by) his genius. 

Here, I actually liked Sherlock Holmes as a character (though he might seem less rude because of the time-period nuances), though the focus was definitely on the case, Watson and the backstory.