A Study in Scarlet, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle‘s first novel featuring his legendary detective Sherlock Holmes — which was first published in 1887 — has been removed from the sixth-grade reading curriculum by the county school board of Albemarle, VA, after voting on it last Thursday for reasons that have attracted controversy to the famed mystery in the past, according to an article at the Los Angeles Times’ Nation Now blog.

Doyle’s extremely negative portrayal of Mormonism as a religion dominated by those who would commit acts of murder, kidnapping, and enslavement to protect their ideals has long been criticized by followers of the Mormon religion. But according to several sources, including Doyle’s own daughter and Levi Edgar Young, a descendant of Mormon leader Brigham Young, Doyle had admitted in the years following the publication of A Study in Scarlet that at the time he wrote it his attitude toward the Church of Latter-Day Saints had been swayed by how the Church was being portrayed in the press. The author had even apologized.

A new Sherlock Holmes novel — the first officially endorsed by the estate of original author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle — is coming to book shelves soon, announced Orion Publishing House.

Written by children’s author Anthony Horowitz, who is known for his past work on the book series about teenage spy Alex Rider, the new novel will be true to the original material as much as possible.

“My Holmes is going to be exactly the Holmes of the (original) novels without any new information on my part,” Horowitz said in an interview with BBC. “I don’t want to take any liberties with this great iconic figure.”

Having grown up reading the Sherlock Holmes novels, Horowitz said he couldn’t resist the opportunity to write a brand new adventure. “My aim is to produce a first rate mystery for a modern audience while remaining absolutely true to the spirit of the original.”