Sir Arthur Conan Doyle uses many literary devices to convey an impression of suspense and mystery. They are placed throughout the story to ensure that the reader is always guessing as to what happens next.

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Sir Arthur Conan Doyle uses many literary devices to convey an impression of suspense and mystery. They are placed throughout the story to ensure that the reader is always guessing as to what happens next.

The primary device that Doyle uses is a combination of melodrama and academic writing. The latter is used in abundance with touches of the former to ensure that the reader is not put off at any point. Furthermore, it ensures a sense of realism which makes the mystery much more intense. Doyle's academic style can be seen from the very first sentence of the story when he states: "Of all the problems, which have been to my friend Mr Sherlock Holmes for solution..." Coupled with academic writing is understatement when he writes, "At the time the circumstances made a deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly served to weaken the effect." Melodrama can be observed from the statement, "[it] was so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details..."

Throughout the beginning of the story the credibility of the narrator, Dr Watson, is built up to ensure a relationship of trust between him