The Sign of Four

A pearl arrives in the post for Miss Mary Morstan every year, sent by an unknown benefactor, along with a note asking to meet. When she finally does, at Sherlock Holmes's side, the trail leads to a stolen treasure, a wooden-legged man, a tiny poisoned dart, and a secret buried in the mutiny-torn India of years past. Holmes indulges his taste for cocaine between flashes of brilliant deduction, Watson falls hopelessly in love, and a thrilling boat chase down the Thames brings the whole conspiracy crashing to its climax. Doyle's second Holmes novel is tighter, darker, and more romantic than the first.