The first book we'll be reading together is A Study in Scarlet, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. This book is the debut story of famous sleuth Sherlock Holmes, and is widely considered a classic.

This book is available as a free ebook from Project Gutenberg. You can use the OverDrive app to read it on your phone, tablet, or computer.

It's also available as a free Kindle book. You can also buy the complete Sherlock Holmes collection on Kindle for 99¢.

This is also a popular enough book that most libraries should have a print copy.

This thread will also serve as the main discussion thread for this book.

How age-appropriate is this book?

It is generally classed into Grades 7-12, it has been a long time since I personally read it to comment on it personally, it apparently has drawn a bit of fire for its portrayal of Muslims, being removed from Virginia's school reading list for 6th graders for that reason. I don't recall much from it that was problematic generally speaking though.

The book has been used on sixth-grade reading lists(though was removed due to complaints of it being derogatory toward Mormons). I've read the first several chapters, including the murder scene, and for a murder mystery, violence and gore are kept to a minimum. As for language, I searched the Kindle edition for swear words, and there are two instances of the word 'de*ce' and one instance of 'd*mn*d'. My personal recommendation would be ages 11 and up. If you still have concerns, I would highly recommend that you talk to your parents or someone who has read the book.

Do Book Club members have to read each book that is selected for discussion? How long is each book "on" in the book club?

Nope! No need to read every book. Just pick the ones you're interested in. Each book will be featured for one month(unless we all finish early and decide to move on sooner, that is).

Be aware that this story is told in an interesting way; it's broken into two distinct parts. The first part is the Sherlock Holmes mystery, and then it goes into an extended flashback which eventually sets up the wrap up. It caught me off guard the first time I read it because it seems to be completely unrelated at first, but you'll get it eventually.

That's good to know - that is unusual, and now I know not to expect the flashback to end right away.

I haven't started reading the book yet. I should get started on that...

So, any thoughts, folks? I liked it, but I wish the mystery had been more reader-solvable. We didn't have all the information Sherlock had, and it was completely impossible to guess all the stuff that went on in Utah... That's what I like about Agatha Christie's mystery novels, you have enough information to theorize and occasionally come close to the answer(although you never get it spot-on). It's likely because Christie's books have a very limited number of suspects. Here anyone in London could have done the murder.