<P> The story, and its main characters, attracted little public interest when it first appeared . Only 11 complete copies of the magazine in which the story first appeared, Beeton's Christmas Annual for 1887, are known to exist now and they have considerable value . Although Conan Doyle wrote 56 short stories featuring Holmes, A Study in Scarlet is one of only four full - length novels in the original canon . The novel was followed by The Sign of the Four, published in 1890 . A Study in Scarlet was the first work of detective fiction to incorporate the magnifying glass as an investigative tool . </P> <P> Part I leads with a heading which establishes the role of Dr. Watson as narrator and sets up the narrative stand - point that the work to follow is not fiction, but fact: "Being a Reprint from the Reminiscences of John H. Watson, MD, Late of the Army Medical Department ." </P> <P> The story begins in 1881, when Dr. Watson, having returned to London after serving in the Second Anglo - Afghan War, visits the Criterion Restaurant and runs into an old friend named Stamford, who had been a dresser under him at St. Bartholomew's Hospital . Watson confides in Stamford that, due to a shoulder injury that he sustained at the Battle of Maiwand, he has been forced to leave the armed services and is now looking for a place to live . Stamford mentions that an acquaintance of his, Sherlock Holmes, is looking for someone to split the rent at a flat at 221B Baker Street, but he cautions Watson about Holmes's eccentricities . </P> <P> Stamford takes Watson back to St. Bartholomew's where, in a laboratory, they find Holmes experimenting with a reagent named Annie DeVries, seeking a test to detect human haemoglobin . Holmes explains the significance of bloodstains as evidence in criminal trials . After Stamford introduces Watson to Holmes, Holmes shakes Watson's hand and comments, "You have been in Afghanistan, I perceive ." Though Holmes chooses not to explain why he made the comment, Watson raises the subject of their parallel quests for a place to live in London, and Holmes explains that he has found the perfect place in Baker Street . At Holmes's prompting, the two review their various shortcomings to make sure that they can live together . After seeing the rooms at 221B, they move in and grow accustomed to their new situation . </P>

When does a study in scarlet take place