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A study in scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle


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Nobody reads Sherlock Holmes.....

I refer you to the well known phrase of John McEnroe.

 

 

 

you dont think there are some plot holes ?

 

It is a decade or so since I last read it. I don't recall any. What did you have in mind?

 

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get back and brush up your memory; you will find a lot of holes.

His deduction doesn't hold water.

1. chapter 7 : Light in the darkness

a. page 55-56 :"...the boots pointed out the door to me, and was about to go downstairs again when i saw something that made me feel sickish,..... From under the door there curled a little red ribbon of blood, which had meandered across the passage and formed a little pool along the skirting at the other side....the door was locked on the inside,but we put our shoulders to it, and knocked it in. The window of the room was open, and beside the window, all huddled up, lay the body of a man in his nightdress.He was quite dead and had been for some time, for his limbs were rigid and cold....The cause of death was a deep stab in the left side, which must have penetrated the heart."

 

Q: The man was found dead beside the window, how much blood he lost is enough to flow to the door to be seen ?

 

b. page 57 : " Nothing of any importance.... There was a glass of water on the table, and on the window-sill a small chip ointment box containing a couple of pills." Sherlock Holmes sprang from his chair with an exclamation of delight. "The last link," he cried, exultantly."My case is complete."

 

Q: How did Sherlock jump into conclusion at the mention of a small chip ointment box that it is the pills in the ointment box that poisoned the first victim ? and only half of pills is toxic ?

Q: Why is murderer so stupid to leave the ointment box he did not use to kill the 2nd victim on the dead man's room ?

Q: Why is the murderer so stupid to return to the place where Sherlock and Dr. Watson live after he was much alarmed that Sherlock followed his friend who took the ring back from Sherlock ?

 

2. Page 117 (conclusion)

"... it is seldom that any man, unless he is very full-blooded, breaks out in this way through emotion, so i hazarded the opinion that thecriminal was probably a robust and ruddy-faced man."

Q: is it medically true a full-blooded man who has aneurysm has a ruddy face and nosebleed ?

 

3......

4......

5......

6......

(not complete)

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1a. Does the description of the room place the window some distance from the door? You assume the window is on the wall opposite the door, rather than adjacent wall? Is that stated in the story?

 

1b. He did not jump to the conclusion. He had arrived at a sute of solutions that lacked evidence to preferone over another. the last piece of evidence provided the meansof that distinciton.

 

1c. Are you asserting muderers are universally not stupid, or capable of stupid acts.

 

1d. I need to reread the story to comment.

 

2. It was likely believed to be a medical fact at that time and therefore a logical deduction.

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1a. Does the description of the room place the window some distance from the door? You assume the window is on the wall opposite the door, rather than adjacent wall? Is that stated in the story?

 

1b. He did not jump to the conclusion. He had arrived at a sute of solutions that lacked evidence to preferone over another. the last piece of evidence provided the meansof that distinciton.

 

1c. Are you asserting muderers are universally not stupid, or capable of stupid acts.

 

1d. I need to reread the story to comment.

 

2. It was likely believed to be a medical fact at that time and therefore a logical deduction.

1a. no description of the room arrangement. I only assume that the room must be VERY small...

 

1b. i am not convinced. Sherlock didnt give any clue or hint of his conclusion.

 

1c. the stupid murderer makes the story dull, whereas the high IQ one makes the detective stories absorbing. no wonder it took the criminal 20 years to track the victims and kill them.

but what's the point of creating a stupid murderer to readers ??

Another Q is how could Sherlock tell the brands of tobacco by observing the ashes with his naked eyes ? (i cant find in which page)

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  • 2 years later...

Did anyone read A study in scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle ?

any comments ?

plot holes ?

thanks.

This is the first book Arthur Conan Doyle wrote. The murderer is very easy to sympathize with. The victims deserved it anyway for killing his love. This book is also very different from Arthur's latter books, with 2 parts to it. I thought it was romantic.

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  • 2 weeks later...

A lot of Holmes's deductions in general either don't make sense upon closer examination or else are based on facts which aren't true, either because Conan Doyle was mistaken or because science marches on. You have to take the books on their own terms which sometimes means accepting that Sherlock knows what he's talking about and pretending that the books are set in an alternate reality where the world actually works the way it was generally portrayed in Victorian fiction.

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A lot of Holmes's deductions in general either don't make sense upon closer examination or else are based on facts which aren't true, either because Conan Doyle was mistaken or because science marches on. You have to take the books on their own terms which sometimes means accepting that Sherlock knows what he's talking about and pretending that the books are set in an alternate reality where the world actually works the way it was generally portrayed in Victorian fiction.

 

you are absolutely right !

any real & absorbing & logical detective books you could recommend ? thanks !

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