The first Sherlock Holmes story, introducing the consulting detective and his companion Dr John Watson through a London murder investigation with roots in the Mormon settlements of Utah. Doyle establishes Holmes's method of deductive reasoning, the Baker Street setting, and the central partnership that would define the canon. The novel's structure is unusual, splitting between the London investigation and a lengthy American flashback that some readers find disruptive but which establishes the murderer's motive with considerable force.
