The Sign of Four

Arthur Conan Doyle

Sept 2011 · Penguin UK

About this eBook

'You are a wronged woman and shall have justice. Do not bring police. If you do, all will be in vain. Your unknown friend.'

When a beautiful young woman is sent a letter inviting her to a sinister assignation, she immediately seeks the advice of the consulting detective Sherlock Holmes.

For this is not the first mysterious item Mary Marston has received in the post. Every year for the last six years an anonymous benefactor has sent her a large lustrous pearl. Now it appears the sender of the pearls would like to meet her to right a wrong.

But when Sherlock Holmes and his faithful sidekick Watson, aiding Miss Marston, attend the assignation, they embark on a dark and mysterious adventure involving a one-legged ruffian, some hidden treasure, deadly poison darts and a thrilling race along the River Thames.

About the author

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) started to write as a doctor, whilst waiting for patients to arrive. Sherlock Holmes first appeared in A Study in Scarlet (1887). The Holmes stories soon attracted such a following that Conan Doyle felt the character overshadowed his other work. In The Final Problem (1893) Conan Doyle killed him off, but was obliged by public demand to restore the detective to life.