"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." Arriving in the wilderness of London and in need of lodgings, Dr John Watson finds himself sharing rooms at 221B Baker Street with one Sherlock Holmes whom he has been introduced to. When a corpse is discovered in a derelict house Watson, fascinated by his brilliant, eccentric companion, is soon drawn into Holmes' investigations. There's no sign of a struggle, no wounds on the body, yet scrawled in blood across the walls is the word RACHE . Watson is baffled but for Holmes the game is afoot? One of four of the full-length Holmes novels, this story that first appeared in Beeton's Christmas Annual for 1887 marks the first appearance of famed detective duo Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson.