Sherlock Sunday: The Sign of Four

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Challenge #9

In your own space, create a fanwork.

This is my Sherlock Sunday entry #2 for 2025.

The Sign of Four is the second of four Sherlock Holmes novels written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Interesting fact: Oscar Wilde and Doyle attended a party in 1899 sponsored by Lippincott Publishing and both ended up with book deals by the end of it. The Wilde book was The Picture of Dorian Grey and Doyle's was The Sign of Four

I listened to an audiobook version of The Sign of Four with David Timson as narrator who does a solid job. And I made a collage. (a physical collage made with sticker and paper in a notebook and scanned).

The Sign of Four is where Watson gets a wife and we see Holmes' cocaine addiction. We meet the Baker Street Irregulars and a certain dog named...?

The dog in the collage is the only dog sticker I had. He doesn't look like that in the book! I included 6 pearls for the ones Mary receives from an anonymous benefactor and a map of the Andaman Islands. It's unlikely that kind of shaped bottle would hold cocaine but the other ones were less likely.



One of the best parts of The Sign of Four is that we get the Watch deduction which BBC Sherlock riffed on in the first episode of that series. And the scene in the cab of Sherlock explaining the clues from John's phone has to be one of my very favorite scenes in all of fandom.

Watch on YouTube

And a drabble I did inspired by the phrase 'neat Moroccan case' which we get in The Sign of Four

Title: Neat Moroccan case
Fandom: Sherlock Holmes (ACD)
Rating: Gen
Length: 100
Prompt: confused
Notes: Angst. set during Hiatus (when Holmes is 'dead')
Summary: Watson tries to find a cause for his bad mood.


The day’s mood confused me. I swung between the poles of querulous and melancholic, a most illogical, to employ a word often used by my late friend Sherlock Holmes, state. If Mary noticed my temper, she did not remark upon it. That evening, I reflected upon the day’s happenings, seeking a cause.

And then I hit upon it.

My calls had taken me by a market, and my gaze had been caught by a Maghrebi rug of the same pattern of Holmes’ loathsome ‘neat Moroccan case.’

Thus, explained, the mystery ceased to be, but the grief, new and old, remained.

Comments

[smallhobbit]

I like the connection.

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

☺️

[prisca]

This is such a great collage.

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Thank you!!

[barbaratp]

Como sempre apaixonadíssima pelas suas colagens. Eu já falei que amo isso???

As deduções por visualização das coisas por Sherlock no primeiro episódio dentro do táxi me deixam fascinada.

Interessante que Wilde e Doyle estivessem na mesma festa e tenham assinado contratos ao fim delas e que um dos livros seja Dorian Grey (amor ao filme bem gay, ódio a nova série muito cringe).

Mary ganhando pérolas de um admirador secreto, sendo apresentada pela primeira vez e Holmes e seu vício em coca... Esse livro parece incrível. E detalhe, que tipo de cachorrinho está nele???

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Thank you.

Yes. The first episode of BBC Sherlock was what got me into fandom.

Mary is getting pearls from the son of the man (after that man dies) who feels guilty because he deprived Mary of her father's share of the Agra treasure. Not admiration but (begrudging, second-generation) guilt.

The sticker is not representative of Toby (the dog in the book). The real Toby is a long-haired, brown and white, and lop-eared and some kind of hound (because he is employed in tracking the scent of creosote). But all I had was a sticker of a short-eared, black and white dog of a herding breed.

I watched O Xangô De Baker Street last night. I did not like it, but I was glad I watched it. The most interesting part for me was the end. The idea that Brazil exported Jack the Ripper to England is interesting.

[barbaratp]

Que bom que assistiu, lamento você não ter gostado. Eu mesma ainda não vi o filme, o conheço porque seu idealizador/criador é muito conhecido e querido aqui.

Oh Toby parece fofinho, consigo imaginar ele mentalmente, já vi muitas cenas de cães de caça em filmes antigos para entender o que você quer dizer quanto a sua aparência.

Oh não sabia sobre essas questões quanto a Mary, como disse não conheço quase nada do original de ACD. Eu gosto de Sherlock porque o conheci ao longo dos anos em outras obras que faziam referência a ele. Sua imagem (promocional com cachimbo e chapéu) que mesmo não sendo cânone é a mais famosa que trazia alegria.

Eu já havia visto os filmes com Downey Jr e Law. Tive um pequeno contato com um filme de Sherlock na infância. Mas nunca li nada original de Doyle, só as adaptações. Quando lançou o da BBC não vi na época porque não chegou aqui diretamente, foi sendo dublado e legendado depois.

Tive a sorte de ter na época um notebook e conseguir baixar de forma ilegal (confesso, vivia por meio de torrents) os episódios aos quais decorei rapidamente. Não conclui a série na época porque meu notebook quebrou.

Anos depois vi na televisão a série, sem também concluir, sempre faltando alguma parte. Recentemente consegui um streaming e assisti a série completa. Foi mágico.

[hamsterwoman]

Interesting fact: Oscar Wilde and Doyle attended a party in 1899 sponsored by Lippincott Publishing and both ended up with book deals by the end of it. The Wilde book was The Picture of Dorian Grey and Doyle's was The Sign of Four

That is a very cool fact!

And I love the idea of a fannish collage! and how neat your Sherlock Holmes one came out

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

It is, isn't it? When things link up like that.

Thank you, thank you!

[debriswoman]

Very apt collage.
I like that scene a lot too…so much promise for the series😊
And yes…nice drabble…poor John

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Thank you!

[greetingsfrommaars]

I like the little visual references in the collage. the only Sherlock Holmes dog I could think of was Pompey, which was the wrong dog, alas.

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Maybe he is closer to Pompey! 🤣