A detective novel written by Scottish writer Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It is the first novel for his new character, Sherlock Holmes, and John Watson, who gave Conan Doyle great fame. He wrote it in 1886 and it was published a year later. The novel's name comes from a conversation between Sherlock and his novel historian friend John, in which he explains the investigation of the crime as his "study in scarlet": "There is the scarlet thread of crime running through the colorless fabric of life, and it is our duty to untie it, to separate it, to expose every inch of it."