The Sign of Four

(Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The events of this book happen on London, England. First, in an

apartment whose adress is 221B Baker Street, in the center of the city.
Other places are the houses of the Sholto brothers, of Mary Morstan, and
of Mordecai Smith. Also, the streets of London and the river. These
circumstances occur in November of 1987. The time throughout the
novel is three days.
Well, I'm going to talk about the main characters.
Sherlock Holmes is the most espectacular private detective of the world.
Why? because he can know everything about whatever that you can
think. He only needs an object or the figure of a person to develop that.
He doesn't have many friends. Only Watson is his confident man -and it's
because they live together-. He says that his brain needs very difficult
cases because without that, he may be depressed for a long time.
Watson is the partner of Holmes, and the narrator of this story. He was a
medical soldier who had fought in Afghanistan. But one day he was shot
in the shoulder. Since then, he live with his dear friend Holmes, and he
accompanies him to their strange and exciting adventures.
Mary Morstan is a beautiful lady who needs the help of the detective
Holmes. She is young and not very tall, with blonde hair and blue eyes.
She doesn't have a lot of money, but she looks clear and tidy.
It all begins when Mary Morstan requires the help of Holmes and Watson.
She tell them that her father disappeared strangely many years ago.
Also she is receiving since six years ago one pearl each year. So, that
afternoon she goes with their to the house of Thaddeus Sholto because
he had the treasure that belongs his father and her father too. Then,
when they go to the secret room where is the treasure, it was stolen for
a man with a wooden leg and a tiny indian man who killed the brother of
Thaddeus. Holmes and Watson follow their footprints with their
intelligence and a particular dog. They managed to decipher where is
the hiding place of the robber and the murder. Holmes calls to the police,
specially to the inspector Jones, because in this case they need the force
of the police officers. So, they go to hunt the criminals.
Finally, they catch the criminal who was Jonathan Small, one of The Sign
of Four. The persecution was amazing, it was at the river with launches.
When they capture Jonathan, first they asked him why, his partner and

him, killed the people who had the treasure. Jonathan said "that's not
important already, I threw it all to the bottom of the river".
I have to recognize that I really like this type of books. Actually, the
crime fiction is one of the genre that I love the most. Particularly, the
methodology of Sherlock Holmes to analyze and deduce the case with
many objects. I think that it's a competition of the reader and the
protagonist. So, that can entertain a lot.
Maybe, the things that I didn't like were the minimum dialogue of the
protagonists. In the majority of cases, most of Holmes, they talk about
how insignificant objects are important and why of that. Other thing that
I didn't like is the description of the personality of the secondary
characters. It was very poor.
When I finished this book I realize that the money is not the final goal,
because if your goal was this you can convert to a selfish person, and
you could commit many crimes to make more money.
I would recommend this book because many people should learn a lot of
the adventures of Sherlock Holmes and his methodology to resolve the
cases. Especially to people who like the crime fiction and the stories with
police officers, detectives and strange cases.
Stiff.- Not easily bent or changed in shape; rigid.
The photos are in JPG format for easy printing and pasting onto stif
cardboard.
Creosote.- A dark brown oil containing various phenols and other
organic compounds, distilled from coal tar and used as a wood
preservative.
However, the chemical often used to preserve the wood, coal tar
creosote, can present some problems.
Handkerchief.- A square of cotton or other finely woven material
intended
for
wiping
ones
nose.
I blew my nose in a napkin and blew my nose again on his handkerchief.
Window sill.- A ledge or sill forming the bottom part of a window.

Keep a bucket of soapy water and a second sponge to clean the exterior
window sill.
Hire.- Obtain the temporary use of (something) for an agreed payment.
I wanted to hire the steam launch to me and my two pretty daughters.

Alberto Daniel Calixtro Quirhuayo