Sir Arthur Conan Doyle published the second Sherlock Holmes novel, The Sign of Four, to little fanfare. A Study in Scarlet, Doyle’s first novel to feature the superdetective and his friend and chronicler, Dr. Watson, appeared in 1887. However, the characters only became popular when featured in a series of short stories Doyle published in The Strand Magazine, a periodical later to be forever identified with Doyle and Holmes.

The Sign of Four begins with a chapter titled “The Science of Deduction,” which introduces several important Holmes trademarks. As indicated, it outlines Holmes’s approach to crime solving, as well as describing his dwelling at 221B Baker Street, where he lives under the watchful eye of his housekeeper, Mrs. Hudson. In addition, readers observed Holmes using cocaine, a habit he indulged when bored, as well as Dr. Watson’s vehement opposition to drug use. Doyle’s own background in medicine surfaces in Watson’s admonition to “Count the cost! Your brain may, as you say, be roused and excited, but it is a pathological and morbid process, which involves increased tissue-change, and may at last leave a permanent weakness.” The topic was a timely one, as increased drug use in London during the late 19th century had given rise to infamous opium dens, places Doyle also later featured in his series.

Holmes speaks of his monographs on various topics and uses his trademark pipe and deerstalker hat. Dr. Watson’s enduring fondness for pretty young women, as well as his experiences as an army surgeon, are also important topics. Finally, Watson’s first-person-narrator voice, one with which millions of readers would become acquainted over the following century, frames the tale.

The plot begins when the lovely Miss Morstan employs Holmes to investigate a recent mysterious note, seemingly connected to the disappearance 10 years earlier of her father, Captain Morstan. Morstan was to have taken a year’s leave from the navy, which he planned to spend with his daughter following a visit to a Mr. Sholto, but he never arrived to meet his daughter. Miss Morstan explains that the annual delivery of a single perfect pearl to her place of employment with a Mrs. Cecil Forrester began a few years following her father’s disappearance. On the day of her visit to Holmes, she had received a letter asking her to bring two friends to “the third pillar from the left outside Lyceum Theatre tonight,” and Holmes and Watson agree to play the part of the friends. Holmes has found the mystery he needed to substitute for his cocaine use.

It will involve exotic men from the Orient; the bald-headed Sholto twins, sons of the original Mr. Sholto who first befriended, then betrayed, Captain Morstan; the mysterious phrase “the sign of the four”; murder; and a treasure chest filled with jewels. Holmes and Watson eventually work with Inspector Athelney Jones to discover that Captain Morstan had been involved with a group of men who planned to recover the treasure stolen by one of them during a revolt in India. However, Sholto betrayed the group, and a scheme of vengeance was hatched by one group member, Mr. Small.

In the end, the mystery of the sign of four is solved, and Small is discovered as a murderer. While his pursuers dream of wealth, he throws the treasure into the Thames rather than letting anyone else have it. However, Watson discovers a real treasure when he falls in love with Mary Morstan and takes her as his bride.

The plot itself offers nothing remarkable. Rather, Holmes’s methodology captures the reader’s imagination. Cool, detached, logical to a fault, he sees clues where others see nothing, following the trail they form to the mystery’s answer.

Sherlock Holmes set the standard for the modern detective, his name becoming an integral part of popular culture. He has appeared countless times in various media forms since Doyle’s death, including a popular television series filmed by the BBC starring the late Jeremy Brett in the title role.

Analysis of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Stories

Bibliography
Liebman, Arthur. The Biographical Sherlock Holmes: An Anthology/Handbook: His Career from 1881 to 1914. New York: Rosen Publishing Group, 1984.

Categories: British Literature, Detective Novels, Literature, Mystery Fiction, Novel Analysis

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