Invalided home from the war and short of funds, Dr. John Watson is searching for affordable lodgings when a chance introduction brings him together with a singular stranger: Sherlock Holmes. Sharing rooms at 221B Baker Street, Watson finds himself baffled and fascinated by his new companion, a man of dazzling intellect and peculiar habits who turns out to be the world's only consulting detective. When a corpse is discovered in an empty house, untouched yet with a sinister word scrawled in blood nearby, Holmes is drawn into the case. Conan Doyle's 1887 novel, the very first Sherlock Holmes adventure, begins one of literature's greatest partnerships.