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 the short story was adapted from the play, this is the reason that the narrative is told in third person rather than by the traditional narrator Watson. Some claim that the play originally appeared in an early draft of "Sherlock Holmes" (above) and was later removed, with some elements finding their way into "The Adventure of the Empty House" before the entire play was resurrected, some years later, into "The Crown Diamond" and "The Mazarin Stone." Arthur Conan Doyle rarely gave interviews or publicly discussed his character. However, the following is a list of Conan Doyle essays on his character