Mercado 1 Selena Mercado

Writing 37

Haas

13 February 2014

Missing Pieces

In any detective fiction the missing clues are what the entire plot surrounds. It is the minute clues that are the most important. The evidence is what keeps the reader on the edge of their seat. This is exactly what Arthur Conan Doyle executed precisely in his second book, The Sign of the Four. The story is wrapped around a young woman, Mary Morstan seeking the help of Sherlock Holmes for the disappearance of her father. Major Morstan had been missing for the past ten years and since then she has received a pearl on the same date for the past six years since Major Morstans disappearance. Her father and Major Sholto had planned to split a treasure they had found, but following both their fathers death, Thaddeadous Sholto, felt it was rightful that Mary Morstan have her half of the treasure. Following the treasure to Bartholomew an unprecedented robbery of the treasure and the murder of Bartholomew throws them off. From the clues, Holmes eventually catches up with the thief, Jonathan Smalls, who explains and reveals to Holmes that he felt that the treasure should have been in part his as well because of betrayal on Major Sholtos part. The clues and evidence that are shared with the reader are a critical part of the mystery genre. Clues and evidence are seen throughout the plot, which ultimately led Sherlock Holmes to finding Jonathan Smalls, the person behind the

Mercado 2 stealing of the treasure.

The evidence and clues play a critical part in the mystery genre because they allow the reader to play the part of a detective and try to piece the entire mystery together. In The Sign of the Four Miss Morstan tells Holmes and Watson, Since then very year upon the same date there has always appeared a similar box, containing a similar pearl(11). This is the first important piece if evidence that is shared, the pearls that Miss Morstan receives are significant because the reader does not know where they are coming from and it sets us up to jump to a conclusion. Such conclusion could be that it is her father sending her the pearls. This evidence lets the reader have different views and explanations over the situation. The mystery genre should allow for that when evidence and clues are introduced. When they arrive at the scene of Bartholomews death Holmes analyzes any footprints that might have been left and finds something peculiar. It is the impression of a wooden stump. You see here on the sill is the boot-mark, a heavy boot with the broad metal heel, and beside it is the mark of the timber-toe. At first they are unsure how this was important or what this meant, but they quickly discovered that it was a woodenlegged man that had stood there. This makes more sense due to the clue given before, that Sholto was terrified by wooden-legged men earlier on. It is the smaller details that give the biggest clues to guide not only the detective but the reader as well into finding who is responsible

Holmes is notorious for looking past what meets the eye. His keen eye and observation skills assist him in finding the smallest pieces of evidence. These smaller

Mercado 3 pieces of evidence are more often than not the most important. My lens discloses more than one blood-mark, especially towards the end of the rope(37). We later find at the crime scene of Bartholomew Sholtos murder the rope that was used to climb down from, had blood on it. Holmes deducted that someone had slipped from the rope leaving his blood on it. The smallest observations on his part help the reader infer the scene and play off of what is described to have their own deduction and opinion.

It is the looking further into any piece of evidence that makes Holmes extraordinary. The way he gathers everything in his head and all of a sudden makes sense of it all. Now, do consider the data. Diminutive footmarks, toes never fettered by boots, naked feet, stone-headed wooden mace, great agility, small poisoned darts(62). This is when everything is put out there and the detective must make sense of all the evidence and clues given. In this case Holmes managed find the responsible party and the hunt to track them down began.

Clues and evidence are crucial to the mystery genre. They are of high importance because they are the life of the entire genre. They keep the reader on the edge of their seat. By allowing the reader to have something to figure out as the plot carries out and piece the pieces together, they are already that much more into the novel than having it otherwise. In The sign of the Four, there are numerous encounters with different types of evidence and clues that ultimately led to Jonathan Smalls.

Mercado 4 Works Cited

"Characteristics of Good Mystery Literature." Education.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Feb. 2014.

"Detective Fiction." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 31 Jan. 2014. Web. 03 Feb. 2014.

Doyle, Arthur Conan, and Christopher Roden. The Sign of the Four. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1993. Print.