"A Study in Emerald" first appeared in the anthology Shadows Over Baker Street, a collection of stories combining the worlds of Arthur Conan Doyle and H. P. Lovecraft; it has subsequently been available as part of Gaiman's short story collection Fragile Things, in the collection New Cthulhu: The Recent Weird, and is available online. The online version takes the form of a Victorian periodical or newspaper, which includes various advertisements that reference characters such as Vlad Tepes, Victor Frankenstein, Spring Heeled Jack, and Dr. Jekyll.
When Gaiman was asked if he had any plans to make a follow-up set in the world of the story, he said: "I hope so. I know the title and the protagonist of the next story in it".[2]
Plot summary
The unnamed narrator, a veteran of a bloody war against the "gods and men of Afghanistan", whose arm has been gravely injured by torture, is seeking lodgings upon his return to "Albion"; he becomes the roommate of a man of extraordinary deductive skills who puts them to use as a 'consulting detective'. Early in their acquaintance, Inspector Lestrade of Scotland Yard arrives at their lodgings in Baker Street, hoping to hire the narrator's roommate to solve "a matter of national importance". The roommate insists on bringing the narrator; they investigate the murder scene, and the detective correctly deduces that the victim is of German royal blood, having an inhuman number of limbs. Lestrade confirms his identity: a guest and nephew of the Queen of Albion. They puzzle over the word Rache scrawled onto the wall in the victim's blood. After leaving the scene, they are taken to the Palace. The Queen, one of the Great Old Ones who defeated humanity 700 years ago and now rule the world, consults with them about the affair. As payment for his services, the Queen heals the veteran's withered shoulder with a touch.
The investigation takes the detective and the veteran to a music hall show, starring a noted actor called Sherry Vernet. A "tall, languid" man, Vernet stars in three productions, including a historical narrative depicting the war between humanity and the Great Old Ones. Posing as a theatrical agent offering to take the show to the New World, the detective meets Vernet and quickly determines that he and another, a man with a limp and skill with surgical equipment, were present in the room where the German noble died. Agreeing to meet the detective in his rooms, Vernet seemingly does not suspect a thing; the detective promptly summons Lestrade, intending to have Vernet arrested. He reveals what he has deduced: that Vernet is a seditionary "Restorationist", an anarchist who believes that the Great Old Ones are not the benevolent rulers that they claim to be, but vicious, soul-destroying monsters from whom humanity must be freed. Vernet lured the German noble to the Whitechapel rooms and turned the noble over to his accomplice, who committed the actual murder.
But when the detective and his allies try to spring their trap, they find that their quarry has eluded them, leaving behind only a letter that confirms the detective's suspicions; Vernet also possesses considerable deductive abilities and has deduced that the detective was not who he claimed to be. Vernet reveals that he had briefly corresponded with the detective posing as a man named "Sigerson", offers suggestions for future undercover work and compliments several papers that the detective had written, including "The Dynamics of an Asteroid". Vernet, who also uses the alias "Rache", also details horrors that he has witnessed being committed by the Great Old Ones as justification for the crime. As Lestrade rushes off to search for Vernet and the limping accomplice (tentatively identified as a former military surgeon named John (or maybe James) Watson), the detective admits that it is unlikely that Vernet has left the city, having probably elected (as the detective would) to hide in the lawless depths of the rookery of St. Giles until the search is abandoned. He requests that the veteran burn Vernet's letter, dismissing it as "seditionary nonsense". The veteran does not do so, instead adding a copy of the letter and an account of the investigation to his bank deposit box, not to be opened until everyone involved in the case is dead. He supposes that, due to undisclosed current events in Russia, this will likely be an imminent occurrence.
The reader, from the beginning of the story, is misled to believe that the detective and his veteran friend, the narrator, are Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, by means of what information about them is provided and what concealed, and the fact that their roles in the story are parallel to those of Holmes and Watson in Conan Doyle's original Holmes stories. Indeed, the story strongly mirrors the opening chapters of the original Holmes novel, A Study in Scarlet, from which it takes its name.
Whilst almost none of the characters are explicitly identified in the text, it is strongly hinted by the twist ending that 'Rache' is Holmes, and the detective and his veteran friend are Professor James Moriarty and Colonel Sebastian Moran (who, in Doyle's original stories, are the criminal mastermind enemy of Sherlock Holmes and his right-hand man and accomplice, respectively). The 'Limping Doctor', meanwhile, is identified explicitly as "John (or perhaps James) Watson".
In particular:
The 'detective' character has written a paper on 'The Dynamics of an Asteroid', which "Rache" comments on. In the Conan Doyle books, Moriarty is the author of this paper.[3]
The narrator signs his name at the end of his story. Although the name is obscured, he possesses the initials 'S.M.', indicating that he is Sebastian Moran.[4]
The narrator, when introduced to Vernet, is called Sebastian.
The 'detective' character is described to have a 'thin smile', a physical characteristic Doyle repeatedly used to describe villainous characters in his stories.
The narrator repeatedly mentions what a crack-shot he was before being wounded. In "The Adventure of the Empty House", Moran is described as an expert marksman.[5]
Conan Doyle's drafts show he originally intended to call Sherlock Holmes "Sherrinford" (which some Sherlockians consider was actually the name of Sherlock's oldest brother). Holmes' grandmother was a relative of the French artist Vernet. "Sherry Vernet" is therefore an obvious stage name for Sherlock Holmes.
In this story, Sherlock is a gifted actor. In the story "A Scandal in Bohemia", Sherlock is said to be a master of disguise. In the same story Watson laments on how "the stage lost a fine actor, even as science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in crime".
Similarly to the above, the "Limping Doctor" is revealed by "Rache" to possess creative writing skills on top of his medical abilities and writes the plays performed by the theatrical troupe. Watson was the narrator of almost all of the Conan Doyle stories, which were presented as his published accounts of the investigations.
Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes is extremely selective about which fields of science he studies, with deep – indeed peerless – insight into matters such as chemistry, botanical poisons, and the soil types encountered in various parts of London, but a studied ignorance about matters less relevant to crime-solving such as basic astronomy. The Holmes of this story, however, has chosen to pursue researches in advanced theoretical physics. The detective reveals to the narrator that his correspondence with "Rache" involved the latter's "wild theories" concerning "the relationship between mass, energy and the hypothetical speed of light", which he calls "nonsense, of course…but inspired and dangerous nonsense nonetheless".
While not explicitly stated at the conclusion of the story, based on the date that accompanies the "signature", the recent events in Russia most likely refer to the assassination of Tsar Alexander II in 1881, i.e. an assassination of a Great Old One of extreme importance.
Spin-off media
British game designer Martin Wallace created a boardgame based on "A Study in Emerald",[6] that was released in October 2013.[7] A second edition with new art and streamlined rules was released in 2015.[8]
In June 2018, Dark Horse Comics published a graphic novel adaptation of the short story by Rafael Scavone, Rafael Albuquerque and Dave Stewart.[9]
Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a "consulting detective" in the stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with observation, deduction, forensic science and logical reasoning that borders on the fantastic, which he employs when investigating cases for a wide variety of clients, including Scotland Yard.
A Study in Scarlet is an 1887 detective novel by British writer Arthur Conan Doyle. The story marks the first appearance of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, who would become the most famous detective duo in literature. The book's title derives from a speech given by Holmes, a consulting detective, to his friend and chronicler Watson on the nature of his work, in which he describes the story's murder investigation as his "study in scarlet": "There's the scarlet thread of murder running through the colourless skein of life, and our duty is to unravel it, and isolate it, and expose every inch of it."
"The Adventure of the Empty House", one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is one of 13 stories in the cycle collected as The Return of Sherlock Holmes. It was first published in Collier's in the United States on 26 September 1903, and in The Strand Magazine in the United Kingdom in October 1903.
Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century is an animated television series in which Sherlock Holmes is brought back to life in the 22nd century. The series is a co-production by DIC Entertainment, L.P. and Scottish Television Enterprises and was nominated for a Daytime Emmy for Special Class Animated Program.
Detective Inspector G. Lestrade, or Mr. Lestrade, is a fictional character appearing in several of the Sherlock Holmes stories written by Arthur Conan Doyle. Lestrade's first appearance was in the first Sherlock Holmes story, the novel A Study in Scarlet, which was published in 1887. The last story in which he appears is the short story "The Adventure of the Three Garridebs", which was first published in 1924 and was included in the final collection of Sherlock Holmes stories by Doyle, The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes.
"The Adventure of the Norwood Builder", one of the 56 short Sherlock Holmes stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is the second tale from The Return of Sherlock Holmes. The story was first published in Collier's (US) on 31 October 1903 and in The Strand Magazine (UK) in November 1903.
Colonel Sebastian Moran is a fictional character in the stories written by Arthur Conan Doyle. An enemy of Sherlock Holmes, he first appears in the 1903 short story "The Adventure of the Empty House". Holmes once described him as "the second most dangerous man in London", the most dangerous being Professor Moriarty, Moran's employer.
Without a Clue is a 1988 British comedy film directed by Thom Eberhardt and starring Michael Caine and Ben Kingsley. It is based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's characters from the Sherlock Holmes stories but, in this version, the roles are reversed: Dr. John Watson is the brilliant detective, while "Sherlock Holmes" is an actor hired to pose as the detective so that Watson can protect his reputation as a physician.
Sherlock Holmes has long been a popular character for pastiche, Holmes-related work by authors and creators other than Arthur Conan Doyle. Their works can be grouped into four broad categories:
The Spider Woman is a 1943 mystery film starring Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes and Nigel Bruce as Dr. Watson, the seventh of fourteen such films the pair were involved in. As with all of the Universal Studios films in the series, the film is set in then-present day as opposed to the Victorian setting of the original stories. This film incorporates elements from the 1890 novel The Sign of the Four, as well as the short stories "The Final Problem", "The Adventure of the Empty House", "The Adventure of the Speckled Band" and makes explicit reference to "The Adventure of the Devil's Foot".
Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon (1942) is the fourth in the Basil Rathbone/Nigel Bruce series of 14 Sherlock Holmes films which updated the characters created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to the then present day. The film is credited as an adaptation of Conan Doyle's 1903 short story "The Adventure of the Dancing Men," though the only element from the source material is the dancing men code. Rather, it is a spy film taking place on the background of the then ongoing Second World War with an original premise. The film concerns the kidnapping of a Swiss scientist by their nemesis Professor Moriarty, to steal a new bomb sight and sell it to Nazi Germany. Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson have to crack a secret code in order to save the country.
The Sherlockian game is the pastime of attempting to resolve anomalies and clarify implied details about Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson from the 56 short stories and four novels that make up the Sherlock Holmes canon by Arthur Conan Doyle. It treats Holmes and Watson as real people and uses aspects of the canonical stories combined with the history of the era of the tales' settings to construct fanciful biographies of the pair.
Leslie S. Klinger is an American attorney and writer. He is a noted literary editor and annotator of classic genre fiction, including the Sherlock Holmes stories and the novels Dracula, Frankenstein, and Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde as well as Neil Gaiman's The Sandman comics, Alan Moore's and Dave Gibbons's graphic novel Watchmen, the stories of H.P. Lovecraft, and Neil Gaiman's American Gods.
The Sleeping Cardinal, also known as Sherlock Holmes' Fatal Hour in the United States, is a 1931 British mystery film directed by Leslie S. Hiscott and starring Arthur Wontner and Ian Fleming. The film is an adaptation of the Sherlock Holmes stories by Arthur Conan Doyle. Although it is not based on any one particular story, the film draws inspiration from "The Empty House" and "The Final Problem". The film is the first in the 1931–1937 film series starring Wontner as Sherlock Holmes. It is unrelated to the Basil Rathbone series of Sherlock Holmes films that began in the late 1930s.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes, also known simply as Sherlock Holmes, is a 2010 British-American steampunk mystery film directed by Rachel Lee Goldenberg and produced by independent American film studio The Asylum. It features the Sherlock Holmes characters created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, though it follows an original plot. The film details an unrecorded case in which eccentric detective Holmes and his companion Dr. Watson investigate a series of unusual monster attacks and a plot to destroy London. Gareth David-Lloyd plays Dr. John Watson and Ben Syder, making his film debut, plays Sherlock Holmes.
"A Study in Pink" is the first episode of the television series Sherlock and first broadcast on BBC One and BBC HD on 25 July 2010. It introduces the main characters and resolves a murder mystery. It is loosely based upon the first Sherlock Holmes novel, A Study in Scarlet.
The House of Silk is a Sherlock Holmes novel written by British author Anthony Horowitz, published in 2011. The book was promoted with the claim it was the first time the Conan Doyle Estate had authorised a new novel that is not a Sherlock Holmes pastiche.
Sherlock Holmes is a Russian television crime drama series based on the Sherlock Holmes detective stories by Arthur Conan Doyle and aired in November 2013. Some of the stories have never been adapted before. It stars Igor Petrenko as Sherlock Holmes and Andrei Panin as Doctor John Watson. Eight episodes were produced.
"The Abominable Bride" is a special episode of the British television programme Sherlock. The episode was broadcast on BBC One, PBS and Channel One on 1 January 2016. It depicts the characters of the show in an alternative timeline: the Victorian London setting of the original stories by Arthur Conan Doyle. The title is based on the quote "Ricoletti of the club foot and his abominable wife" from "The Adventure of the Musgrave Ritual" (1893), which refers to a case mentioned by Holmes. The story also draws on elements of original Conan Doyle stories of Holmes such as "The Five Orange Pips" (1891) and "The Final Problem" (1893).
Sherlock in Russia is a Russian detective TV series based on Arthur Conan Doyle's stories about the legendary detective Sherlock Holmes. This is the third Russian adaptation of the character and the first with original script. The series was released in October 2020 on the Start.ru streaming service.
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