The Sign of the Four and play adaptations insure this book: The Sign of the Four was also adapted for radio by Bert Coules in 1989 as part of BBC Radio 4's complete audio Sherlock Holmes, with Clive Merrison as Holmes, Michael Williams as Watson, and featuring Brian Blessed as Jonathan Small. The Sign of the Four The Sign of the Four (1890), also called The Sign of Four, is the second novel featuring Sherlock Holmes written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Doyle wrote four novels and 56 short stories featuring the fictional detective. The story is set in 1888. "The Sign of the Four"
Canon of Sherlock Holmes Canon of Sherlock Holmes Traditionally, the canon of Sherlock Holmes consists of the 56 short stories and four novels written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. In this context, the term "canon" is an attempt to distinguish between Doyle's original works and subsequent works by other authors using the same characters. The traditional canon—usually capitalized by aficionados of the Sherlockian game as "the Canon"—consists of four novels and 56 short stories. The description of these 60 adventures as the Sherlock Holmes canon and the game of applying the methods of "Higher Criticism" to it was started by Ronald Knox as a