The Sign of Four by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

The Sign of the Four by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Completed January 3, 2011

Reason for Reading: Carry on in the Series

As a dense yellow fog swirls through the streets of London, a deep melancholy has descended on Sherlock Holmes, who sits in a cocaine-induced haze at 221B Baker Street. His mood is only lifted by a visit from a beautiful but distressed young woman Mary Morstan, whose father vanished ten years before. Four years later she began to receive an exquisite gift every year: a large, lustrous pearl. Now she has had an intriguing invitation to meet her unknown benefactor and urges Holmes and Watson to accompany her. And in the ensuing investigation which involves a wronged woman, a stolen hoard of Indian treasure, a wooden-legged ruffian, a helpful dog and a love affair even the jaded Holmes is moved to exclaim, Isn't it gorgeous!'

This the second book in the Sherlock Holmes series. I have all ready read the third book, so that means that I have actually read 3 books in a series. We will just ignore that it is a series I only started this year...

Once again, I love Sherlock Holmes. I always knew that I would. I should have read these books a long time ago! There was always something about the character of Holmes that appealed to me. Instead, I just watched from the sidelines and never read the originals. I am remedying that now! This book also made me appreciate Watson a bit more. He has a sort of separate storyline in this book that is a bit endearing. In spin-offs that I have seen, people always make Watson seem like a fair less person than Holmes. That is simply not the case. Even if you are not as smart as Holmes, that doesn't make you any less of a person because Holmes is simply a genius. His ideas on things are comical and you often wonder how he accomplishes anything.

This is another short look at one of the cases that Holmes investigates. It starts with a distraught, but sensible, young woman who comes to him for help. I have to admit, for the time in which these books were written, the women are actually sensible. They are not entirely Damsel in Distress characters. Some of them handle things rather well. In the short story collection I reviewed earlier this year, one woman even outsmarts Holmes. I have to applaud Doyle for mostly treating women in his books with dignity and respect. Now, some of the things that Holmes says about women are not exactly flattering, but one has to pick their battles!

There is a lot of elements to this case that sound rather odd, but when Doyle puts them together they make for another fun addition to the series. I am looking forward to more later on in the year!

The Series:
1. A Study in Scarlet
2. The Sign of Four
3. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
4. Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes
5. The Hound of Baskervilles
6. The Valley of Fear
7. The Return of Sherlock Holmes
8. His Last Bow
9. The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes

This book counts for the TwentyEleven Reading Challenge.

A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Completed January 1, 2010

Reason for Reading: Carry on in the Series

Convalescing in London after a disastrous experience of war in Afghanistan, Dr John Watson finds himself sharing rooms with his enigmatic new acquaintance, Sherlock Holmes. But their quiet bachelor life at 221B Baker Street is soon interrupted by the grisly discovery of a dead man in a grimy ill-omened' house in south-east London, his face contorted by an expression of horror and hatred such as Watson has never seen before. On the wall, the word rache German for revenge' is written in blood, yet there are no wounds on the victim or signs of a struggle. Watson's head is in a whirl, but the formidable Holmes relishes this challenge to his deductive powers, and so begins their famous investigative partnership.

This is the first adventure of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. This is the story where they meet and it all begins. It is worth reading just to see how Dr. Watson deals with Holmes and his eccentric nature. It was entertaining. Holmes is himself from the very beginning, but Watson moves in with him anyway. This is their first case together and it is an interesting one. The novel is not very long, but it is a good introduction to the characters and stories that you will come to expect from the series overall.

Holmes is an interesting character, though. You never know quite what to expect from him, but at the same time he is predictable. I really like how Doyle wrote his character. You could almost call him annoying, but at the same time he is endearing. He is the type of character that is so smart he doesn't quite know how to deal in the real world, but at the same time he helps many people out and makes them quite fond of his abilities. Plus, Watson needs to learn what Holmes is capable of because when he moves in he doesn't even know what he does for a living.

Overall, another good book in the Sherlock Holmes series.

The Series:

1. A Study in Scarlet

2. The Sign of Four

3. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

4. Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes

5. The Hound of Baskervilles

6. The Valley of Fear

7. The Return of Sherlock Holmes

8. His Last Bow

9. The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes

This book counts for the TwentyEleven Reading Challenge.

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Completed January 1, 2011

Recommended by Rachel

This splendid collection of mysteries carries readers back to a gas-lit era, when literature's greatest detective lived on Baker Street. A dozen of Holmes and Watson's best-known cases includes 'The Speckled Band', 'The Red-Headed League', 'The Five Orange Pips', 'The Copper Beeches', and 'A Scandal in Bohemia.'

Rachel is a huge fan of Sherlock Holmes, so I always wanted to read some to see what the fuss was about. This was the second book I read on my eReader and it was well-worth the time. I have always known who Sherlock Holmes was, of course, but most of the enjoyment can be derived from actually reading the books in the series. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is a collection of short stories. Normally I am not a big fan of short stories, but these are more like connected case files. Dr. Watson has married and moved away from Baker Street, but he still makes appearances so he can participate in the cases and record them for posterity.

As many people know, Sherlock Holmes is a character that you will not find anywhere else. He reminds me of Sheldon from the Big Bang Show in the sense that he is a species all of his own. You never know what they are going to do next. Now, Holmes has taken it upon himself to help others, so that is rather different from Sheldon, but they still are rather different than anyone else you see in real life or literature. Over the course of the stories I found myself being drawn into the world of Sherlock Holmes. I was curious how the cases were going to play out and what clues he found during the course of his investigation. It all makes so much sense when he explains things out, but until then you are rather left in the dark. By Watson telling the story you find things out as he does, so you don't have too much information and are not disappointed by the big reveal.

Overall I really enjoyed this collection of short stories. Watson makes for an interesting narrator and Holmes is, and always will be, Holmes. I think I developed a little literary crush on him now and cannot wait to read more books in the series to find out what he is up to next.

The Series:

1. A Study in Scarlet

2. The Sign of Four

3. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

4. Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes

5. The Hound of Baskervilles

6. The Valley of Fear

7. The Return of Sherlock Holmes

8. His Last Bow

9. The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes

This book counts for the TwentyEleven Reading Challenge.