Book Review: Sherlock Holmes And The Telegram From Hell by Nicholas Meyer

Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson cross the Atlantic at the height of World War I in pursuit of a mysterious coded telegram in this new mystery from the author of The Return of the Pharaoh. Read on for Doreen Sheridan's review!

The genre of Sherlock Holmes pastiche novels has only grown by leaps and bounds since the turn of the 21st century. While very few works can recapture the ingenious spark of the originals without feeling like cheap imitations, I’ve almost uniformly enjoyed the ones that set Holmes and his loyal companion Dr. John Watson in an alternate history. Or, as Nicholas Meyer does with this brilliantly written book, in an all-too-real history, as our fictional heroes rub shoulders with actual historic personages while seeking to put an end to World War I.

It’s 1916 and an aging Dr. Watson is wearily attending to the seemingly endless stream of injured soldiers shipped back to London from the increasingly bloody front. When a battered Holmes shows up on his doorstep, Watson is both solicitous and curiously energized, even before Holmes recruits him to help foil a German plan to defeat England and its allies. The Germans allegedly have a diabolical scheme to keep America from entering the hostilities, all revolving around a coded telegram that our heroes must chase across the Atlantic, dodging U-boats and assassins while gathering both information and allies, many of them plucked from real life.

It’s while in Washington DC that Holmes and Watson recruit perhaps my favorite historical cameo of the novel:

Mrs. Longworth stared into space for the better part of a minute. Her silence on this occasion was not another attempt to intimidate the detective but was plainly indicative of her conflicted feelings. There could be no mistaking the disagreeable nature of the mission Holmes was proposing. With automatic gestures, she lit another cigarette and exhaled with something like a sigh. […] For the first time the woman spoke in an unaffected voice.

 

“Count Bernstorff is a decent man.”

 

“His superiors are not.”

 

“He is only following orders.”

 

Holmes’s gray eyes allowed no escape.

 

“Some orders are wrong.”

The intel that our detectives gather in DC spurs them to travel even further west, both to evade the antagonists hot on their trail and to fulfill the political demands of their own spymasters. Will they be able to intercept and decode the mysterious German telegram in time to save countless more lives from falling in battle?

This is an exciting tale of mystery and espionage, as Holmes and Watson find themselves in physical danger more than once in their pursuit of the truth. While Mr. Meyer’s perspective is, of necessity, the Anglophile’s, he very deftly reminds the reader of historical truths that may have become obscured with the passage of time. Even more nimble is his insertion of this legendary pair into events that they definitely were no part of, in a way that yet makes it all feel entirely believable. Were Holmes and Watson real, it’s entirely likely that they would have done as they do in the book, saving the world in the process.

Furthering the believability of the chronicle of events is Watson’s own internal crisis, as age and injury take their toll not only on his self-belief, but on his regard for his best friend:

Yet fascinated as I was by this development, uncharitable thoughts now proceeded to cross my mind in which I found myself wondering just what it was over the years that found me accompanying, observing, and chronicling the adventures and cases dealt with by Sherlock Holmes. In my misery I did not recall Holmes as I had often described him, the best and wisest man I had ever known. Instead I marveled that even when years apart had intervened, I somehow always returned to his side for more. Was Holmes my drug? Was I no less addicted than he had been to cocaine?

For all that Watson’s understandable weaknesses are on display here, his many strengths also come to the fore, as he and Holmes form a true partnership of genius and talent. I always very much prefer the stories where Watson isn’t a blithering idiot fawning over Holmes, and Mr. Meyer delivers that in spades. Not only that, but he’s written a beautiful ode to friendship set against the backdrop of international warfare and espionage, with a subtly elegant structure that perfectly suits his characters and themes. 

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