Finished A Study in Scarlet: is the reader also supposed to be able to deduct what happened?

By photongoose

After watching HBomberGuy’s Sherlock video again, I ended up pulling out my Complete Sherlock Holmes from the shelf and actually reading it. I just got through the first book, and honestly I’m kind of let down, so I’m hoping someone can clear some things up for me. One of the points in that video was that BBC Sherlock acts like he just magically knows everything, like some all-seeing guy. I figured the books would be pretty different, but I’m not really seeing that. Spoilers, obviously. At the end, Holmes explains how he reached some of his conclusions. A few of them, I think, you could have figured out yourself if you were paying close attention, like the ring suggesting revenge over a woman. But then he says he sent a telegram to Cleveland and got answers back, and we never actually saw that happen. Same kind of thing with the cab horse being left alone and the blood from Hope’s nose while he was walking, and I’m not even sure how that led Holmes to decide the killer was sturdy and red-faced. And that whole bit about the “woman” who came to claim the ring after the ad... what? It feels strange that Holmes didn’t notice a man was dressed as a woman, and then there’s the part about her vanishing too, even if we assume Hope was the cab driver. Plus, at the end, even though Hope knows Watson’s address from the ad and knows his partner was onto them, he still shows up at 221B and acts surprised when he gets cuffed. For a moment I thought maybe the woman was just a fake lead and it was actually some random woman trying to get the gold ring, but then that idea doesn’t really work and I’m left without an explanation. English isn’t my first language, so maybe I’m missing something, and some of the older wording didn’t help either. I skipped over a few bits without checking meanings, but that was mostly in the more descriptive parts, so I’m not sure that’s the issue. Anyway, I’m still planning to read The Sign of the Four after I watch a few versions of A Study in Scarlet first (open to suggestions). If anyone can help me make sense of these parts, I’d really appreciate it.