Arthur Conan DOYLE : The sign of four - Sherlock Holmes #2

As a dense yellow fog swirls through the streets of London, a deep melancholy has descended on Sherlock Holmes, who sits in a cocaine-induced haze at 221B Baker Street. His mood is only lifted by a visit from a beautiful but distressed young woman - Mary Morstan, whose father vanished ten years before. Four years later she began to receive an exquisite gift every year : a large, lustrous pearl. Now she has had an intriguing invitation to meet her unknown benefactor and urges Holmes and Watson to accompany her. And in the ensuing investigation - which involves a wronged woman, a stolen hoard of Indian treasure, a wooden-legged ruffian, a helpful dog and a love affair - even the jaded Holmes is moved to exclaim, 'Isn't it gorgeous !'

Thoroughly enjoyable, complete with a cold scientific Holmes, a love-stricken Watson, a one-legged man, a treasure (hello, Long John !), a "different" enemy with particular eating tastes, exotic adventures and a chase on the Thames !

Clearly Doyle wasn't great at writing love stories, but just to read Holmes' groaning reaction to Watson's announcement, it was worth it.

The adventurous part was much better, with clear racism though. Given the period when the story was written, a different attitude would have been surprising but it is still repellent to our XXIst century eyes, hence the 4 stars rating instead of 5 (even if in The Moonstone, written in 1868, I thought the British troups in Indian were unfavourably portrayed at the beginning).

Still, I always enjoy very much reading Arthur Conan Doyle's writing style. It's humorous, energetic, as the man seems to have been, and very cleverly done (at the end, the circle is complete - those who read it will understand me). I also adore Sherlock Holmes' cold, clear-eyed approach of the world, it's hard to love him as a man but he's such a great character, with his flaws, his manipulative talks, his addictive personality yet his understanding of human nature. Watson is his perfect counterpart, thinking with his heart, prim and proper yet always ready for action.

I always read the introduction of a classic novel after finishing the book and the origin of this novel was previously unknown to me and very interesting (it includes Oscar Wilde !).

This 1987 episode of the tv adaptation with the great Jeremy Brett (and John Thaw) is mostly faithful to the book, with a... erm... weird Tonga... Edward Hardwicke looks old enough to be Jenny Seagrove's father !