I have referenced my book haul far too many times, but I’ll probably continue to reference it because I’ve not finished reading! One of the books I bought was A Study in Scarlet, the first Holmes and Watson novel.

While I was reading this book, I kept thinking back to the first episode of Sherlock: A Study in Scarlet. I’ve been watching it with my family lately, so everything is fresh in my mind. So… spoilers for both the episode and the book, as I talk about some of the things that struck me.

Honestly, the first thing I noticed was the Rachel/Rache inversion. In the book, the detectives think that the victim was trying to write the name ‘Rachel’, while in the show, it’s the other way around (okay, not sure if Anderson counts but he’s part of the force). I thought it was pretty clever and not something I would have realised if I hadn’t read the book.

The second thing I noticed was that Sherlock is a lot more polite in the book. In the show, he has zero social skills. In the book, Sherlock isn’t that rude – he may not have many emotions, but he knows how to behave. I was actually pretty surprised when I read the book because I expected someone a lot more socially awkward.

Third thing: I actually like the book a lot more because of the backstory to the killer. I mean, the Moriarty connection in the show was smart, but the motivation for the killings was so much stronger in the book. Not going to lie, I was quite confused when the second half of the book started, but by the end, I had a lot more sympathy for the murderer than I did at the end of the show.

After reading A Study in Scarlet, I realised that the TV version was pretty faithful to the original, with their own twist on the whole thing. I normally read the book before watching the show, so doing things backwards is a whole new experience (hence the post). It’s weird to say, but I found my reading experience to be enhanced – I knew the basic plot, and then it was seeing where things were changed or what references were made.

If you’re familiar with Sherlock Holmes and the TV show, did you read the books first or did you watch the series first? Do you think one impacted the enjoyment of the other?

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