37 things from this book went into her brain. Here are the first 6.
In The Sign of the Four, Arthur Conan Doyle has Holmes insist that detection should be an exact science, treated with cold, unemotional judgement rather than romance.
In The Sign of the Four, Doyle has Holmes name three things a good detective needs: observation, deduction and knowledge, with knowledge the part that can be learned over time.
In The Sign of the Four, Holmes works by eliminating every other explanation, so that whatever remains must be the truth.
In The Sign of the Four, Doyle has Holmes say he never guesses, since guessing damages the logical mind, and that small visible facts can carry large inferences.
In The Sign of the Four, Holmes warns that personal charm or dislike can bias judgement, since the most winning person may be guilty and the most repellent may be kind.
In The Sign of the Four, Holmes lays out the chain of events in order and asks for any other theory that fits every fact, a useful test for any plan.
In The Sign of the Four, the dying Major Sholto confesses that greed kept him from sharing what was rightly another's, and that avarice is blind and foolish.
In The Sign of the Four, Thaddeus Sholto quietly sends Miss Morstan a pearl each year so she is never left destitute, a kindness he can manage even though his brother will not share.
In The Sign of the Four, Watson admits that a friend's sudden good fortune makes him feel selfish, and he owns the feeling rather than hiding it, which is a useful kind of honesty.
In The Sign of the Four, Miss Morstan steadies a frightened housekeeper with a few kind words, and the fear drains from the room, showing how small comfort can calm a crisis.
In The Sign of the Four, Holmes says a confusing case clears with every instant, because he only needs a few missing links to see the whole picture.
In The Sign of the Four, Holmes warns that a detective must not err on the side of over-confidence, because a simple case can still hide something deeper.
In The Sign of the Four, Athelney Jones bends every fact to fit the suspect he already prefers, which Holmes points out before the full facts are in.
In The Sign of the Four, Watson holds back his feelings for Miss Morstan because she is vulnerable and may soon be rich, judging that it would be unfair to press them on her.
In The Sign of the Four, Holmes shows that the useful clue is often the one detail that differs from the ordinary, here the toes of a footprint that are not cramped together.
In The Sign of the Four, Holmes rebuilds the crime by standing in the criminal's shoes, asking what the man wanted, feared and could not do at each step.
In The Sign of the Four, Holmes quotes Jean Paul that the chief proof of greatness is a person's awareness of their own smallness, a sign of real nobility.
In The Sign of the Four, when the trail goes wrong, Holmes and Watson work out that there were two trails, return to the fork and take the true one rather than pressing on.
In The Sign of the Four, Holmes advises that people clam up if they think their information matters to you, so listen as if it hardly matters and you will learn more.
In The Sign of the Four, Holmes reads the footprints and darts as evidence, drops his first guess when the facts do not fit, and tests each idea against what he can see.
In The Sign of the Four, Mary Morstan cares more about clearing an innocent man than about her own fortune, a sign of the loyalty that matters most.
In The Sign of the Four, Watson worries that even the keenest reasoner can go wrong by preferring a subtle, clever explanation to a plainer one lying ready to hand.
In The Sign of the Four, Athelney Jones admits his theory has collapsed and asks for help, a plain humility that Watson meets with a simple, generous reply.
In The Sign of the Four, Holmes clears his stuck problem by switching to a different task, then comes back to it with fresh eyes and reasons it through again.
In The Sign of the Four, Holmes reasons from the hour a boat was taken and the need to get home before daylight, weighing what is most probable rather than what is merely possible.
In The Sign of the Four, Holmes solves the case by putting himself in the criminal's shoes and asking what he himself would do, a useful habit for anyone trying to predict a rival.
In The Sign of the Four, Holmes warns that the simple things are the ones most easily overlooked, so it pays to check the plain explanation before the clever one.
In The Sign of the Four, Holmes quotes Winwood Reade: a single person is hard to predict, but across many people the averages hold steady, which is worth remembering when judging a crowd.
In The Sign of the Four, Holmes tells the captured Small that a full and honest account is the best way to get any help, a plain lesson that candour usually serves a person better than evasion.
In The Sign of the Four, Jonathan Small looks back on the Agra treasure as a curse that brought murder, fear and ruin to everyone who held it, showing how greed tends to cost more than it gives.
In The Sign of the Four, Athelney Jones says that being quick to catch someone does not mean being quick to condemn them, a fair principle for anyone who judges others.
In The Sign of the Four, Watson admits that the treasure had weighed on him, and that he felt both selfish and relieved when it vanished, an honest look at his own motives.
In The Sign of the Four, Holmes refuses to judge Jonathan Small until he has heard the whole story, reminding everyone that justice may have been on the other side at the start.
In The Sign of the Four, Jonathan Small confesses that his pity softened and then hardened again at the thought of treasure, a clear picture of how greed can quiet a conscience.
In The Sign of the Four, Small stays patient and stubborn through years of hardship while he waits for his chance, a portrait of endurance that the story then points toward a bad end.
In The Sign of the Four, a card game slowly ruins Major Sholto, who chases each loss and drinks more to cope, a warning about how gambling feeds on itself.
In The Sign of the Four, Small shows how a grudge can harden into an all-consuming passion that comes to matter more than the treasure itself, and how it can quietly take over a whole life.
