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The Sign of Four: A Sherlock Holmes Novel (Sherlock Holmes, 2) Audio CD – CD, November 23, 2009
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About the Author
One of AudioFile magazine's Golden Voices, Simon Prebble has received over twenty Earphones Awards and five Listen-Up Awards, and he has been a finalist fourteen times for an Audie Award. In 2006, Publishers Weekly named him Narrator of the Year, and he was named Booklist's 2010 Voice of Choice.
About the authors
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was born in Edinburgh in 1859 and died in 1930. Within those years was crowded a variety of activity and creative work that made him an international figure and inspired the French to give him the epithet 'the good giant'. He was the nephew of 'Dickie Doyle' the artist, and was educated at Stonyhurst, and later studied medicine at Edinburgh University, where the methods of diagnosis of one of the professors provided the idea for the methods of deduction used by Sherlock Holmes.
He set up as a doctor at Southsea and it was while waiting for patients that he began to write. His growing success as an author enabled him to give up his practice and turn his attention to other subjects. He was a passionate advocate of many causes, ranging from divorce law reform and the Channel Tunnel to the issuing of inflatable life-jackets to sailors. He also campaigned to prove the innocence of individuals, and his work on the Edjalji case was instrumental in the introduction of the Court of Criminal Appeal. He was a volunteer physician in the Boer War and later in life became a convert to spiritualism.
His greatest achievement was, of course, his creation of Sherlock Holmes, who soon attained international status and constantly distracted him from his other work; at one time Conan Doyle killed him but was obliged by public protest to restore him to life. And in his creation of Dr Watson, Holmes's companion in adventure and chronicler, Conan Doyle produced not only a perfect foil for Holmes but also one of the most famous narrators in fiction. Penguin publish all the books about the great detective, A Study in Scarlet, The Sign of Four, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Return of Sherlock Holmes, The Valley of Fear, His Last Bow, The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes, The Uncollected Sherlock Holmes and The Penguin Complete Sherlock Holmes.
Photo by Walter Benington (RR Auction) [US Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.
Twitter Version: Dad, Husband, Not President, and Citizen.
And now my Back Cover Version: Arthur Atwood is a political writer and lover of classic literature. Most known for his beloved Classics for Democrats and Republicans series. Atwood brings his whit and charm to every work. He is a devoted follower of "laugh at yourself before others do".
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"The Sign of the Four" is the second "Sherlock Holmes" novel, the first being "A Study in Scarlet". This novel was published in 1890, during the Victorian Era. It is a good example of both of a Sherlock Holmes novel, and Victorian Literature. The novel is of medium length. Many Victorian novels are quite lengthy compared to many modern American popular novels. The language is somewhat formal and proper, especially when individuals such as Holmes and Watson are speaking. The is no vulgarity. The story was authored during the time of British Colonialism and some references may seem ethnically insensitive.
"The Sign of the Four" and "A Study in Scarlet" are both good novels and I liked both of them about the same. Both involve a back stories from other countries. The back story takes up a good bit of the time of both novels. It also makes both novels somewhat unlikely stories, but of course, this is fiction! At times both of these stories are somewhat convoluted. But in the end they are both fairly readable and comprehendable.
As a retired detective who enjoys Victorian Literature, Sherlock Holmes is certainly one of favorite fictional detectives.. I enjoy some of his leaps of logic, although for me many of them fall into the category of "possiblity" rather than "probability" as far as I am concerned. Of course Sherlock Holmes is almost always correct.
During my career, I had to rework numerous cases, "cold cases" and others that were generally screwed up messes. When I worked these cases, what I found was that often police officers would sometimes make such leaps of logic and then assume these leaps are correct. When cases go nowhere, as often as not I found it was because these leaps were incorrect.
In summary, I liked this novel very much. At times the story was somewhat convoluted but was still enjoyable. In the near future I intend to continue my study of Sherlock Holmes stories, the next being "A Scandal in Bohemia". Thank You...
During this discussion a woman arrives to plead with Holmes to take on her case. At first it sounds like a missing person case. What unfolds is a tale that has quite a lot of "brainwork" for Holmes and Watson. The twists and turns just keep coming up until the end.
As a PBS show it was always one of the least favorite Sherlock Holmes episodes. This the first time I have read it since school and , my views haven't really changed.
For those considering reading for the first time in 2023. I will state this book was written when some people were very careless with their speech so prejudicial terms are used based upon look and ethnicity.
As far as writing about mystery, crimes and thrillers. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle brought to the table skills that hook readers to this day and, modern authors often try to duplicate.
This story is also one of the most important ones because here dr Watson, Sherlock's loyal sidekick, is falling in love. He is mostly silent about his feelings because the girl is beautiful and he is not rich.
And here is my favorite scene as well: the one when Sherlock explains why he is taking drugs.
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Easy to carry.
Good quality pages.
Reviewed in India on December 21, 2023
Easy to carry.
Good quality pages.
Arthur Conan Doyle always nails his openings. I loved Sherlock’s complaint about how bored he was and Watson trying to distract him. I loved Mary, and how sweetly Watson fell in love with her—not only because of her looks, but because of her character. And I loved how nobly he fought his affection until he knew he was free to love her. I wish she’d shown up again! The Sholtos were all very unpleasant people, but Jonathan Small was very interesting and I loved how true he was to his oath and how he refused to be swayed by racism or to allow anyone to say that his Indian partners were “less than” a white man. Altheney Jones was quite amusing, and quite compatible with Sherlock; it’s too bad he doesn’t show up again.
The plot is so fun. I enjoy seeing Sherlock & Watson partner up; and of course all the deductions and brainwork was epic. There was copious amounts of excellent humour, and the “flying chase up the river” was absolutely thrilling—and possibly one of my favourite Sherlockian dénouements. This story raises some very good questions to ponder, and has a good moral. Overall, it’s my second-favourite Sherlock novel after The Hound of the Baskervilles.
Content: Slight swearing, drinking, smoking; Sherlock’s morphine/cocaine addiction is revealed (condemned by Watson); a gruesome (bloodless) murder; a couple more murders mentioned/described; some racism/contemptuousness.
A Favourite Quote: “‘Well, I gave my mind a thorough rest by plunging into a chemical analysis. One of our greatest statesmen has said that a change of work is the best rest.’”
A Favourite Beautiful Quote: “It was a September evening, and not yet seven o’clock, but the day had been a dreary one, and a dense drizzly fog lay low upon the great city. Mud-coloured clouds drooped sadly over the muddy streets. Down the Strand the lamps were but misty splotches of diffused light, which threw a feeble circular glimmer upon the slimy pavement. The yellow glare from the shop-windows streamed out into the steamy, vaporous air, and threw a murky, shifting radiance across the crowded thoroughfare. There was, to my mind, something eerie and ghost-like in the endless procession of faces which flitted across these narrow bars of light—sad faces and glad, haggard and merry.”
A Favourite Humorous Quote: “Miss Morstan’s demeanour was as resolute and collected as ever. I endeavoured to cheer and amuse her by reminiscences of my adventures in Afghanistan; but, to tell the truth, I was myself so excited at our situation, and so curious as to our destination, that my stories were slightly involved. To this day she declares that I told her one moving anecdote as to how a musket looked into my tent at the dead of night, and how I fired a double-barrelled tiger cub at it.”