Upper Middlebrow

Upper Middlebrow


Episode 86: “A Study in Structure,” or Arthur Conan Doyle’s A Study in Scarlet

May 09, 2025

The lads go bananas over Arthur Conan Doyle's first Sherlock Holmes mystery, "A Study in Scarlet," published in 1887. We meet the mercurial Sherlock Holmes and his by turns skeptical then credulous biographer, Dr. John H. Watson, late of Afghanistan. The short novella or long short story wastes no time in driving towards the solving of its central mystery, but then makes a strange swerve into the American West and a bout of extended exposition. Chris and Jesse spend a rollicking hour discussing the book and excavating its odd structure. The final verdict? Two pills up.