A review by thetomatowriter
The Sign of Four by Arthur Conan Doyle

5.0

Probably my favorite of the Sherlock Holmes novels, not least of all because I LOVE Mary Morstan (later Watson). Mind you, in a series that's so thoroughly a boy's club, I tend to get excited about any ladies that appear, but Mary would be a fantastic character in anything. Holmes himself even admits: "I think she is one of the most charming young ladies I have ever met and might have been most useful in such work as we have been doing. She had a decided genius that way; witness the way in which she preserved the Agra plan from all the other papers of her father." (In fact the one thing I wish SOME Sherlock Holmes adaptation would do would be to get Mary involved in some of the crime-solving, but anyway.) But even without Mary, the whole atmosphere of this book is exactly what you picture going into a Sherlock Holmes story. It's grim and dreary, with an odd yellow fog all over England. There's murder, hidden treasure that comes with an elaborate backstory, intense boat chases, near brushes with death. And even romance, though Sherlock turns his nose up at anything emotional as the "enemy of logic." Also, while you miss the comical failures of Gregson and Lestrade, this story features Athelney Jones, a Scotland Yard detective that Sherlock actually respects, even (GASP) likes. For me, and I know everyone has a different experience, but just for ME, The Sign of Four is sort of the epitome of Sherlock Holmes novels, if not Sherlock Holmes as a whole.