‘If my future were black, it was better surely to face it like a man than attempt to brighten it by mere will-o’-the-wisps of the imagination.’

‘When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.’

The Sign of Four is a Sherlock Holmes story with a cursed murder theme. We’re introduced to the familiar reasoning of our favourite detective before a case finally lands on him to alleviate his boredom. The case itself is about a set of pearls delivered to Lady Morstan every year following the mysterious disappearance of her father.

There are elements of Watson’s personal life that intrude on the plot, with his family, hopes, and dreams. Watson is seen as warm while Holmes, cold.

Praise

As with most Sherlock Holmes stories there are the fascinating, outlandish series of events summed up perfectly logically at the end, in this case where a monologue explains all, where I was engrossed in learning the backstory to the murders, based in several different circumstances and involving all sorts of things.

Criticism

By modern standards, the book, as with many 19th century stories, is not culturally appropriate or doesn’t hold back from stating opinions that would likely be censored nowadays. Sometimes I didn’t mind this – there was no way to get around it short of boring the reader – while at other times I felt it was too typical of the attitudes at the time.

Overall

Worth reading? Yes. Was it as good as The Hound of the Baskervilles? I’m not certain whether this was true.