In this new season of Adventures in Compliance, host Tom Fox takes a deep dive into the Sherlock Holmes novels. Throughout this season, Tom will thoroughly explore each novel in a four-part series. The four novels we will consider from the ethics and compliance perspective are A Study in Scarlet, The Sign of Four, The Hound of the Baskervilles, and The Valley of Fear. We begin with A Study in Scarlet for our new season’s first offering. In Part 3, Tom deeply dives into the investigative lessons learned from the story.
When Sir Arthur Conan Doyle introduced the world to Sherlock Holmes in A Study in Scarlet, he didn’t just give us the greatest fictional detective of all time—he gave compliance professionals a master class in investigative methods. Through his cool logic, careful observation, and constant search for the truth, Holmes modeled what every corporate investigator should aspire to emulate. From his crime scene analysis to using deceptive tactics to expose a suspect, Holmes’s first published case offers lessons relevant to modern compliance programs, especially when dealing with internal investigations, whistleblower reports, and root cause analysis. Here are five enduring investigative lessons, grounded in the facts of A Study in Scarlet, that today’s compliance professionals can apply in their work.
Highlights include:
Let the Evidence Speak First—Not the Theory
Small Clues Are Often the Most Telling
Reconstruct the Incident with Logic and Imagination
Use Deception Strategically to Draw Out the Truth
Motive Often Lies in the Past—Not Just in the Present Crime
Resources:
The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes FAQ by Dave Thompson
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