Abcde BLOG

by Arthur Conan Doyle

I enjoyed The Sign of the Four much more than A Study in Scarlet, primarily because it kept me happily within the British Empire.  I know that's probably an obnoxious thing to say, but when I read a Sherlock Holmes mystery, a great part of the joy I take in it is the Victorian British-ness of the characters.  This novel uses the same flashback to precipitating events that A Study in Scarlet uses, but the flashback's integration is much more smooth.  The reader knows who is talking and where s/he is being led.  And where we are led is India during the uprisings against British colonials.  

In many ways The Sign of the Four is remarkably similar to A Study in Scarlet.  The deaths in each stem from a long-nursed revenge, there is the previously mentioned flashback sequence, the element of foreign or alien religion is a major theme in both, and, of course, the criminals respect their captors and give them the full story according to their own code of honor.  What makes The Sign of the Four a more enjoyable read for me is the Britishness of the setting and the plain fun of stolen treasure.  I was rather distracted by Watson's romance, but thoroughly enjoyed the chase for the criminal(s), as well as the backstory. 

Overall, I think this is a better novel than A Study in Scarlet, but it's not as tight and methodical and interesting as some of the short stories.