The Sign of Four: The greatest detective of them all

by Arthur Conan Doyle (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  2007

  $3.50

  The greatest detective of them all is back...'Down the Strand the lamps were but misty splotches of diffused light which threw a feeble circular glimmer upon the slimy pavement'. Whilst the seamy streets of London drown in a sea of smog Sherlock Holmes sinks into a cocaine-induced melancholy, until Miss Mary Morstan presents him with a most intriguing case, leading Holmes into an epic pursuit of the truth...

• Used

  Paperback
  1994

  $16.44

  Miss Mary Marstan receives through the post once a year a large pearl without any clue as to the sender. When her mysterious correspondent requests a meeting, Holmes and Watson start out on a case. A terrible death and vanishing treasure lead to an epic pursuit through the dawn streets and later along the River Thames. The cast of characters include the unfortunate Sholto twins, the mongrel Toby, and the wooden-legged man, as the fire and blood of Mutiny-torn India throw gigantic, distorted silhouettes across late Victorian London.

• Used

  Hardcover
  1993

  $4.41

  When a woman who has received mysterious pearls in the mail is asked to meet her correspondent, Holmes and Watson are called in on the case. A terrible death and vanishing treasure lead to an epic chase through the dawn streets and along the River Thames in this spellbinding mystery.

• New

  Paperback
  2010

  $14.30

  Gripping and ingeniously plotted, this Sherlock Holmes novel is also an important document of late-Victorian imperialism. Arthur Conan Doyle's second Sherlock Holmes novel is both a detective story and an imperial romance. Ostensibly the story of Mary Morstan, a beautiful young woman enlisting the help of Holmes to find her vanished father and solve the mystery of her receipt of a perfect pearl on the same date each year, it gradually uncovers a tale of treachery and human greed. The action audaciously ranges from penal settlements on the Andaman Islands to the suburban comfort of South London, and from the opium-fuelled violence of Agra Fort during the Indian 'Mutiny' to the cocaine-induced contemplation of Holmes' own Baker Street. This edition places Doyle's tale in the cultural, political, and social contexts of late nineteenth-century colonialism and imperialism. The appendices provide a wealth of relevant extracts from hard-to-find sources, ranging from official reports to memoirs, and newspaper editorials to anthropological studies.