Chapter 1088: Four Signature Cases
The third day of the Lunar New Year, also February 14, is Valentine's Day in the West.
It was on this festive and sweet day that "Sherlock Holmes Complete Works (2): Four Signatures" was officially released.
It was still the readers of the Eastern Hemisphere who were the first to get the books, and who made the Western Hemisphere a day late.
The specific process of grabbing the book will not be repeated here, in short, as long as the readers who get the "Four Signatures" are also engaged in reading it for the first time.
Compared with "A Study of Scarlet Letters", "Four Signatures" can actually be regarded as Conan Doyle's entry into the house.
After all, when Conan Doyle released "A Study of Scarlet Letters", he was not already a very well-known writer like "Qin Chuan", and "A Study of Scarlet Words" is most talked about for the appearance of Sherlock Holmes.
"Four Signatures" is very different, not to mention its complex structure and interesting storyline, just by virtue of its reappearance of the "basic deduction", it is enough to shock a large number of readers.
Yes.
In this book, the "basic deduction method" is the real brilliance.
The beginning of "Four Signatures" is a chat between Watson and Sherlock Holmes.
In the conversation between the two, Watson specifically mentioned that he had written an article called "A Study in Scarlet Letters" based on the experience of Sherlock Holmes.
This kind of linkage and ridicule in the book makes many readers who have just opened the book smile.
However, the following content made many readers smile strangely.
Sherlock Holmes in the book did not comment highly on Watson's "A Study in Scarlet Letters", arguing that detective art was an exact science that should be studied in the same dispassionate rather than emotional way.
Sherlock Holmes thought Watson had painted it up with a layer of color, and the result was as if he had mixed a love story into the theorems of geometry.
As for Holmes's comment, Watson expressed his grievances, and he said this in the original text:
[I wrote that short article in the original hope to get his favor, but I didn't expect to be criticized instead, and I was very unhappy. 】
Readers have commented on this paragraph.
"The official lock is locked, Holmes and Watson are a couple!"
"I'm going to die of laughter, I deserve to be a detective in the Dahu District, this is all an ancestral craft."
"No, no, it's too sweet."
"I already have a picture in my head."
"Officially, 666!"
“……”
Of course, this paragraph can only be regarded as a small episode at best, and then in the chat between the two, Holmes shows off his basic deduction again.
Holmes said he had discovered by mere inference that Watson had been to the post office this morning and had sent a telegram.
The reason for Holmes' reasoning is that:
He observed a small patch of red mud on Watson's vamp, and the only place near him was the door of the post office where the road was being built. Sherlock Holmes sat across from Watson all morning, with a whole stack of stamps and a bundle of postcards on Watson's desk, and Watson had not written any letter that morning.
Therefore, he had no second option but to go to the post office to send a telegram.
Holmes was right, of course, but Watson was not convinced.
He thought it was a good reasoning, so he was going to teach Holmes a lesson.
Watson took out a pocket watch and asked Holmes to judge the character and habits of the owner of the watch.
Watson and his readers are looking forward to Sherlock Holmes's answer to this question, which can be called difficult, because it is too nonsense.
But Holmes, who had nothing to do, seemed excited.
After carefully studying every little detail of the pocket watch, he swore that he spoke:
[I think this watch belongs to your brother, and it was left to him by your father.] According to custom, everything such as jewelry is passed on to the eldest son, who often uses his father's name. If my memory is good, your father has been dead for many years, so I conclude that this watch is in your brother's possession. 】
[Your brother is a dissolute man. At the beginning, he had a bright future, but he let go of all the good opportunities, so he often lived a miserable life, and occasionally had a good situation, and finally died because of good wine. 】
Watson couldn't help but jump up from his chair after hearing Holmes' reasoning, believing that Holmes had already investigated his brother.
Because Holmes not only told the identity, personality and habits of the previous owner of this pocket watch, but even judged his entire life experience.
Watson was naturally incredulous.
And when Holmes had finished explaining the basis of his reasoning, the readers who were reading jumped up from their chairs.
This is the basic deduction of Sherlock Holmes, and this is the true strength of the detective within the detective.
And "Four Signatures" has just begun.
After the first two chapters of relaxed and leisurely reasoning, as someone came to the door for help, the case finally came.
The plot of this "Four Signatures" officially begins, and the specific story is as follows:
A young lady named Mostan, whose father, an officer in charge of the prison in the Andaman Islands, had disappeared ten years earlier, and his father's friend, Colonel Schulto, had disappeared for help.
Six years ago, someone was looking for Miss Morstein in the newspaper, and after Miss Morstein responded to the address, she received a beautiful large pearl every year.
Just today, he received a letter saying that he wanted to administer justice for him, please bring his two friends with him, and do not inform the police. Holmes and Watson said they would go together in the evening.
That night, Miss Morstein brought with her a relic of her father, a mysterious note with a mysterious symbol in the left corner of the note, like four crosses connected to the left and right.
Scribbled next to the symbol are the signatures of four people, which is also the source of the name "Four Signatures".
After the appointment, the suspicion was quickly solved by Major Shulto's youngest son. It turned out that Major Shulto and Captain Morstein accidentally got a box of jewels worth half a million, but there was a dispute over how to arrange it.
As a result, Captain Mostein fell and died unexpectedly, and Schulto, fearing that he would get into trouble, buried quietly with his servants. The pearls sent each year are to compensate Miss Morstein.
However, the truth of the matter is more than that, the first to get this ill-gotten wealth were the four people who signed the contract with their names on the note, and the four of them agreed to divide the treasure together.
Later, the four of them were imprisoned and told Shulto and Mostan, who were serving as prison guards, about the jewelry, and the two escaped back to Dahu, but they lived in terror after hearing that one of the four had escaped.
Little Shuerto, who was going to take Miss Morstein to divide the jewels equally, arrived home to find that his brother, who was waiting at home, had been poisoned and stabbed to death in the head, leaving the words "four signatures" at the scene.
Sherlock Holmes followed the clues at the scene and found traces of two people. Later, Holmes tracked down the fleeing killer through the hounds, and then Holmes and Watson seized the treasure chest and handed the prisoner over to the police.
However, the final ending of this depressing story is light.
The treasure chest was already empty, and the prisoners, who had already prepared to be arrested, preferred to throw away the jewels rather than let anyone else get them.
Miss Morstein did not receive the jewels, but she received Watson's love, which was a surprise.
Of course, although this ending is very happy, there is a part of it that is not happy.
The Huafu CP that was just locked up was broken again?!
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