Holmes and the hit piece...
Was Sherlock Holmes was a tad bit
anti-Mormon? His creator, Arthur Conan Doyle, certainly leaned that way...
A Study In Scarlet was the first story in which the World's most recognized criminal investigator appeared. The second half of the book deals with what Doyle perceived as Mormon brutality, developed from negative stories he had heard about this American religious sect. No doubt it was an ethereal conciseness holdover from the events surrounding Mountain Meadows Massacre (and its aftermath), which occurred in the late 1850's, and frankly, is a book unto itself, remaining controversial to this day. Doyle privately retracted on his portrayal of Mormons in this first Holmes book, but stood firm on his work publicly.
A Study In Scarlet was the first story in which the World's most recognized criminal investigator appeared. The second half of the book deals with what Doyle perceived as Mormon brutality, developed from negative stories he had heard about this American religious sect. No doubt it was an ethereal conciseness holdover from the events surrounding Mountain Meadows Massacre (and its aftermath), which occurred in the late 1850's, and frankly, is a book unto itself, remaining controversial to this day. Doyle privately retracted on his portrayal of Mormons in this first Holmes book, but stood firm on his work publicly.
It's both a literary curiosity and a prime example of 19th century perceptions. The book ushered in, and set the standard, for the whole genre of crime novels, and remains the most popular and widely recognizable, well over a hundred years after Holmes appeared on the shelves. It also stands as a testament to the extreme viewpoints and misconceptions that color quite a few books from the era. Regardless of the faults, like a fairy tale, Holmes took on a life of his own, becoming a beloved legend.
The story itself appeared in Beeton's Christmas Annual for
1887. Being a magazine, surviving copies
are rare and far and few between. Only a
handful survive. Consequently,
there is no online digital facsimile copy to be found online...yet. For now, I'm including this story because it
is one of the seminal cornerstones of literature. That being the case (no pun intended),
something less, but readable will have to do...
Here is a later edition from 1892...A Study In Scarlet