Further Summaries and a Discussion of Setting

When I posted about my reading before, I was in the process of reading A Study in Scarlet; I have since finished it (I only had about twenty pages left at the time). The ending was good and left no loose ends, which I guess is all you can really ask of a mystery. Moving forward, I have begun reading The Sign of the Four and have found myself enjoying it much more than the first. I will admit that I am slightly biased towards the first story as a watcher of the BBC’s Sherlock, but I found myself pleasantly surprised at the originality of The Sign of the Four.  It begins with some time having past since A Study in Scarlet. John Watson and Sherlock Holmes still live together in 221B Baker Street and their characters begin developing almost immediately. We are introduced to Holmes’ addiction to opiates and Watson’s strong disapproval of his partner’s usage of these mind-altering methods of escape from the boredom of life. Without giving too much away, we are introduced to Sherlock’s newest client, Mary Morstan. After agreeing to help solve a series of recent, mysterious happenings, Holmes and Watson find themselves embroiled in a vicious hunt involving a secret society and at least two dead bodies. Their chase takes them to various locations, like a mansion in the English countryside as well as a six mile trek across that countryside. And that is about where I stopped reading. Oh, there is also a slightly racist-ly described pygmy savage. So, you know, if that’s your thing then you should definitely read The Sign of the Four, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

I will now describe the setting chosen by author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, as well as the impact it has on the characters involved in his stories. I am totally not doing this as part of a homework assignment. Why would you even think that? Anyway, to get back to the assignmen—I mean personal and completely voluntary blog. The setting of these stories is, for those of you who didn’t already know, London. At the time the stories are set in (late 1800s to early 1900s), London was a time of polluted air and distinct classes. The over-use of coal resulted in a thick smog consuming the air and making breathing difficult. The rich lived in large mansions along the sprawling countryside, while the poor remained stuffed into slums. Holmes and Watson would have been considered middle class, likely upper-middle class. They had a business and were able to afford a relatively nice flat. But apart from their place of living, the setting also impacts the way they go about their adventures. Mostly by cab, or as I mentioned before, by foot, Holmes and Watson navigate their way through the ever-expanding city, solving the unsolvable and making detectives everywhere feel inferior.