Arthur Conan Doyle - Study in Scarlet

the first Sherlock Holmes novel introduces holmes and watson and takes us along the murder case of Enoch Drebber.

It was pretty awesome. I've never read any sherlock holmes so I'm just familiar with the charicatures of him that have showed up through the decades since these were published. It turns out he is a solitary, almost cocky, meticulous person.

It's a lot of fun to see how forensic science has progressed from a hundred years ago; how much sheer chemistry has been developed since then.

[spoilers]it even has MORMONS. I totally didn't see that coming. It was so interesting to see a portrait of the West by an englishman[/spoiler]