The Sign of the Four
-
- €5.99
-
- €5.99
Publisher Description
Holmes and Watson unravel a mystery so exotic it stretches to the very ends of the British Empire
After months without a case, the world’s greatest detective is aimless, his only stimulation the daily injection of his drug of choice. “Which is it to-day?” asks a disapproving Watson—“morphine or cocaine?” For a mind as finely tuned as Holmes’s, the dull routine of existence will not suffice.
Thankfully for Holmes’s health and Watson’s anxiety levels, a beautiful young woman soon calls at 221B Baker Street. Ten years ago, Mary Morstan’s father, a captain of the 34th Bombay Infantry, disappeared from a London hotel. Four years thereafter, Mary began to receive large, lustrous pearls in the mail—one per year, always delivered on May 4. Now, six pearls later, Mary is finally about to meet her anonymous benefactor and asks Holmes and Watson to accompany her for safety’s sake. The crime they uncover—in which a royal treasure, a diabolical double cross, and a man-eating crocodile all play a part—is one of the most thrilling tales Arthur Conan Doyle ever wrote, and a crucial chapter in the Sherlock Holmes saga.
This ebook features a new introduction by Otto Penzler and has been professionally proofread to ensure accuracy and readability on all devices.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Adaptations of Doyle's Sherlock Holmes adventures have been mounted in virtually every medium short of nude interpretive dance and have varied widely in quality, but this version of the second Holmes novel is outstanding. Reuniting the creative team that previously adapted The Hound of the Baskervilles and A Study in Scarlet, this volume features all of the hallmarks of the original prose. and the visual translation is rich with Victorian period atmosphere. Culbard's animation background is evident in the clean and deceptively simple artwork. The adaptation also does justice to the complicated plot involving a secret born during the Indian Rebellion in 1857.The narrative is also notable in the Holmes oeuvre for featuring Watson confronting Holmes about the detective's cocaine habit (which Holmes claims keeps his mind sharp when his daily life becomes a bore), and the introduction of Mary Morstan, a client who comes to mean a great deal to Dr. Watson. A real treat in every way.
