The book we read is called «The Sign of Four» The Author of this book is named Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930). He was a Scottish author most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes and the Adventures of Professor Challenger.
The genre is detective/police novel. The main conflict at first is to know where Miss Morstan’s father, who disappeared ten years ago. The conflict is solved when, with Sherlock and Watson’s help, Miss Morstan goes to talk to Major Sholto’s son and he tells her that his father is dead. He died after having an argument with Major Sholto, because his father didnt want to share the treasure or Agra with him. Then the second main conflict is to find out who killed Bartholomew Sholto and to find the treasure. The conflict is solved when Sherlock Holmes tracks the killer and finds out that the murderer was Jonathan Small, the one who had told Sholto and Morstan where the treasure was. Even though they catch Small, the tresure is lost in the depths of the river.
It can be said that this book is about mystery because the main characters are the whole story discovering things -such as Miss Morstans fathers whereabouts, finding out who killed Major Sholtos son or what «The sign of four» is. The book is also about a litte love, because Watson falls in love with Miss Morstan.
This book is called «The sign of four» because there are four men who are soldiers of the British Army, that find the Agra treasure and decide to share it just between the four of them, so they become the sign of four.
The protagonists of the book are both Sherlock and Watson. Sherlock Holmes is a very clever man, the most famous private detective in London. He enjoys solving mysteries, hes a world lover. Watson is a Doctor, who worked in the British Army and has travelled a lot. He is a kind person and Sherlocks best friendo.The antagonist is Jonathan Small, a man with a horrid face, black beard, cruel eyes and black curly hair. He is about fifty years old and has a wooden leg.
The narrator is in first person, and the point of view is told by Watson, from his point of view, however, there is a lengthy «story within a story» which is told from the point of view of Small. Example: “The dog licked my hand and wagged its tail”.
We personally liked this book because it mixes differents themes without leaving the mystery. The stories of Sherlock Holmes and Watson are always interesting.
