The Sign of the Four

London, 1888. A Ms. Mary Morstan arrives at 221B Baker Street with a case for Sherlock Holmes and his companion, Dr. John Watson. Some ten years prior, her father, Captain Arthur Morstan, returned to London while on leave from his post in India—only to go missing. Adding another layer to the mystery are six pearls in her possession, having received one per year since 1882. The sixth and most recently received pearl was accompanied by a letter asking for a meeting, claiming Ms. Morstan is a wronged woman. Holmes and Watson's deductive skills are put to the test in a thrilling adventure involving a map of a fortress bearing four names, poison darts, and high-speed boat chases. The second of the four Sherlock Holmes novels, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Sign of the Four follows Holmes and Watson's debut in A Study In Scarlet. Originally commissioned by Lippincott's Monthly, the novel was published in the magazine in 1890. In the summer of 2024, Doyle's original handwritten manuscript sold for over $900,000 at auction.