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The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sherlock Holmes and the Great War
In a new gripping and immersive adventure Sherlock Holmes investigates collusion and conspiracy in the Belgian trenches of World War One
December 1917. An important visitor arrives at a field hospital not far from the front, who makes sharp deductions about the way the ward is run based on small details that he sees. Sherlock Holmes is apparently only present for a tour, but asks searching questions about a young officer who apparently died in the hospital, but whose records have mysteriously vanished. As Holmes digs deeper, details emerge pertaining to a cover-up that stretches from the trenches to the top of the War Office, and conspiracy on both the British and enemy fronts.
December 1917. An important visitor arrives at a field hospital not far from the front, who makes sharp deductions about the way the ward is run based on small details that he sees. Sherlock Holmes is apparently only present for a tour, but asks searching questions about a young officer who apparently died in the hospital, but whose records have mysteriously vanished. As Holmes digs deeper, details emerge pertaining to a cover-up that stretches from the trenches to the top of the War Office, and conspiracy on both the British and enemy fronts.
295 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 16, 2021
5 people are currently reading
75 people want to read
About the author
Simon Guerrier
168 books60 followersSimon Guerrier is a British science fiction author and dramatist, closely associated with the fictional universe of Doctor Who and its spinoffs. Although he has written three Doctor Who novels, for the BBC Books range, his work has mostly been for Big Finish Productions' audio drama and book ranges.
Guerrier's earliest published fiction appeared in Zodiac, the first of Big Finish's Short Trips range of Doctor Who short story anthologies. To date, his work has appeared in the majority of the Short Trips collections. He has also edited three volumes in the series, The History of Christmas, Time Signature and How The Doctor Changed My Life. The second of these takes as its starting-point Guerrier's short story An Overture Too Early in The Muses. The third anthology featured stories entirely by previously unpublished writers.
After contributing two stories to the anthology Life During Wartime in Big Finish's Bernice Summerfield range of books and audio dramas, Guerrier was invited to edit the subsequent year's short story collection, A Life Worth Living, and the novella collection Parallel Lives. After contributing two audio dramas to the series, Guerrier became the producer of the Bernice Summerfield range of plays and books, a post he held between January 2006 and June 2007.
His other Doctor Who work includes the audio dramas, The Settling and The Judgement of Isskar, in Big Finish's Doctor Who audio range, three Companion Chronicles and a contribution to the UNIT spinoff series. He has also written a play in Big Finish's Sapphire and Steel range.
Guerrier's work is characterised by character-driven humour and by an interest in unifying the continuity of the various Big Finish ranges through multiple references and reappearances of characters. As editor he has been a strong promoter of the work of various script writers from the Seventh Doctor era of the Doctor Who television series
Guerrier's earliest published fiction appeared in Zodiac, the first of Big Finish's Short Trips range of Doctor Who short story anthologies. To date, his work has appeared in the majority of the Short Trips collections. He has also edited three volumes in the series, The History of Christmas, Time Signature and How The Doctor Changed My Life. The second of these takes as its starting-point Guerrier's short story An Overture Too Early in The Muses. The third anthology featured stories entirely by previously unpublished writers.
After contributing two stories to the anthology Life During Wartime in Big Finish's Bernice Summerfield range of books and audio dramas, Guerrier was invited to edit the subsequent year's short story collection, A Life Worth Living, and the novella collection Parallel Lives. After contributing two audio dramas to the series, Guerrier became the producer of the Bernice Summerfield range of plays and books, a post he held between January 2006 and June 2007.
His other Doctor Who work includes the audio dramas, The Settling and The Judgement of Isskar, in Big Finish's Doctor Who audio range, three Companion Chronicles and a contribution to the UNIT spinoff series. He has also written a play in Big Finish's Sapphire and Steel range.
Guerrier's work is characterised by character-driven humour and by an interest in unifying the continuity of the various Big Finish ranges through multiple references and reappearances of characters. As editor he has been a strong promoter of the work of various script writers from the Seventh Doctor era of the Doctor Who television series
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
November 18, 2021
This more spy Thriller set in 1917 Holmes is now in his 60s and their is no Dr Watson but female Miss Watson this at first made me angry but as the story progress through No man's land to the filth bloody mud this one my favorite Holmes of 2021.
WWI was different War from WWII the German army was lot of young farm boys with no skills this comes across in this book. I read this over poppy weak too.
WWI was different War from WWII the German army was lot of young farm boys with no skills this comes across in this book. I read this over poppy weak too.
January 1, 2023
What is the appeal of Sherlock Holmes? For a long time, you might have argued that the Victorian trappings of the original stories were as much a part of its as the detective or his chronicler. TV series Sherlock and Elementary (and a number of novels reimagining the characters or their descendants in different settings) proved you can do Holmes without the costume drama fixtures. Or, indeed, you could move Holmes into other time periods.
That clearly is the lesson at play by Simon Guerrier in this cracking thriller. Moving an elder detective beyond the Doyle canon and into the mud and mire of the First World War, Guerrier presents a tale of "conspiracy in the trenches," to quote the blurb, with the aim of changing the outcome of the war. The result is an immensely readable tale, putting the great detective into a spy thriller with large-scale historical stakes. It certainly works better than Eric Brown's The Martian Menace from the same Titan strand of Further Adventures, which I read earlier in 2022, in putting Holmes into a different setting.
It's also an intriguing read for its narrator. Moving beyond the Victorian period and the Conan Doyle canon means Guerrier can employ a narrator that isn't Watson. Or, at least, not A Watson that we know. It's something that becomes clear within The Great War's opening chapter, and with which Guerrier has some fun by pairing the great detective with someone with a younger generation all too aware of his past actions and views. While a tad overplayed at times, it certainly adds to the novel's charm for those not wedded to a Holmes story replicating the canon with utter faithfulness.
And, as such, The Great War makes for a heck of a Holmesian thriller.
That clearly is the lesson at play by Simon Guerrier in this cracking thriller. Moving an elder detective beyond the Doyle canon and into the mud and mire of the First World War, Guerrier presents a tale of "conspiracy in the trenches," to quote the blurb, with the aim of changing the outcome of the war. The result is an immensely readable tale, putting the great detective into a spy thriller with large-scale historical stakes. It certainly works better than Eric Brown's The Martian Menace from the same Titan strand of Further Adventures, which I read earlier in 2022, in putting Holmes into a different setting.
It's also an intriguing read for its narrator. Moving beyond the Victorian period and the Conan Doyle canon means Guerrier can employ a narrator that isn't Watson. Or, at least, not A Watson that we know. It's something that becomes clear within The Great War's opening chapter, and with which Guerrier has some fun by pairing the great detective with someone with a younger generation all too aware of his past actions and views. While a tad overplayed at times, it certainly adds to the novel's charm for those not wedded to a Holmes story replicating the canon with utter faithfulness.
And, as such, The Great War makes for a heck of a Holmesian thriller.
Read
November 9, 2022DNF
I love the Further Adventures series, but I could not get into this one. I did try, got to page 86 but nothing much was going on.
I love the Further Adventures series, but I could not get into this one. I did try, got to page 86 but nothing much was going on.
Read
February 5, 2025Guerrier, aptly named, takes the great detective away from the Imperial Britain with which he's most associated, and where all the other Titan continuations I've read take place, instead showing us some of the wartime service into which Mycroft eventually prodded him. Whose canonical iteration, I confess, I don't know that well, because if I want Conan Doyle Holmes I generally go for the hits; as such, I couldn't tell you how well this clicks into place, but certainly, and with one weird exception early on where it's suggested that sergeants are officers, I got the impression that Guerrier had done nearly as much research for this as on his exhaustive David Whitaker biography, even down to little things like the differences between British and German trenches.
If The Great War has a fault, it's this determination to show us the Western Front entire, rather than imply the whole from a particular angle. This is most pronounced in the field hospital scenes which, especially in Holmes' absence, can occasionally threaten to drag in the same way Study In Scarlet did. Fortunately, he's never too far away, and the interludes do give us more chance to get to know the narrator, who is Watson – but probably not the one you're expecting. Augusta Watson is a frustrated volunteer assisting medical staff jealous of the distinctions between their roles, and while being enlisted to help out the visiting Holmes is a break from gruelling routine, at first she's not too impressed by him either. I wasn't initially sold on her reasons – it mainly comes down to a few remarks from A Scandal In Bohemia, from which she, holding Suffragette sympathies, deems him a terrible chauvinist. By the standards of the men she's dealing with all the time, though? And wasn't Holmes frequently just as damning of the mass of men? Still, there's more to it, and by the end I was convinced. Similarly, most of the time when Guerrier looks like he's about to put his foot in it, it's a feint. He has more taste than to minimise the real horror of the trenches by attributing it all to fictional villains, but also more sense than to buy into the silly stereotypes of hidebound generals heedlessly throwing men's lives away. And especially now, four terrible years after the book came out, with Europe having decided to get back into the trench warfare business, there's something very satisfying about the real plot once it's eventually revealed*.
The most important thing in a Sherlock Holmes story, though, isn't the plot – it's Holmes. Especially when he's operating outside his regular double act. Like Augusta, Guerrier can give the impression of being a little less impressed with Holmes than his regular chroniclers; there are times when his at-a-glance detection masterclasses are played as uncomfortably close to cold reading, and one hilarious bit of business with an improvised disguise. I was also very impressed with the scene where Augusta can't follow what is being said, but can still recognise the dynamics of the scene anyway; it's not a million miles away from what Stewart Lee is getting at when he talks about speaking in a joke rhythm. But with the possible exception of a reference to Proust from a man with "knowledge of literature – nil", he always felt very much like Holmes, which is what I'm after. Specifically, 90% of the time I could hear Jeremy Brett delivering the line or the gesture, and when I couldn't it was Cushing, the only wholly acceptable alternative.
*SPOILER: the word isn't used anywhere here, and I doubt many of the characters bar maybe the villains would even recognise it anyway, but I enjoyed how once the goal of the scheme is explained to them, and unlike so many people nowadays, every character here recognises accelerationists as absolute arseholes.
If The Great War has a fault, it's this determination to show us the Western Front entire, rather than imply the whole from a particular angle. This is most pronounced in the field hospital scenes which, especially in Holmes' absence, can occasionally threaten to drag in the same way Study In Scarlet did. Fortunately, he's never too far away, and the interludes do give us more chance to get to know the narrator, who is Watson – but probably not the one you're expecting. Augusta Watson is a frustrated volunteer assisting medical staff jealous of the distinctions between their roles, and while being enlisted to help out the visiting Holmes is a break from gruelling routine, at first she's not too impressed by him either. I wasn't initially sold on her reasons – it mainly comes down to a few remarks from A Scandal In Bohemia, from which she, holding Suffragette sympathies, deems him a terrible chauvinist. By the standards of the men she's dealing with all the time, though? And wasn't Holmes frequently just as damning of the mass of men? Still, there's more to it, and by the end I was convinced. Similarly, most of the time when Guerrier looks like he's about to put his foot in it, it's a feint. He has more taste than to minimise the real horror of the trenches by attributing it all to fictional villains, but also more sense than to buy into the silly stereotypes of hidebound generals heedlessly throwing men's lives away. And especially now, four terrible years after the book came out, with Europe having decided to get back into the trench warfare business, there's something very satisfying about the real plot once it's eventually revealed*.
The most important thing in a Sherlock Holmes story, though, isn't the plot – it's Holmes. Especially when he's operating outside his regular double act. Like Augusta, Guerrier can give the impression of being a little less impressed with Holmes than his regular chroniclers; there are times when his at-a-glance detection masterclasses are played as uncomfortably close to cold reading, and one hilarious bit of business with an improvised disguise. I was also very impressed with the scene where Augusta can't follow what is being said, but can still recognise the dynamics of the scene anyway; it's not a million miles away from what Stewart Lee is getting at when he talks about speaking in a joke rhythm. But with the possible exception of a reference to Proust from a man with "knowledge of literature – nil", he always felt very much like Holmes, which is what I'm after. Specifically, 90% of the time I could hear Jeremy Brett delivering the line or the gesture, and when I couldn't it was Cushing, the only wholly acceptable alternative.
*SPOILER: the word isn't used anywhere here, and I doubt many of the characters bar maybe the villains would even recognise it anyway, but I enjoyed how once the goal of the scheme is explained to them, and unlike so many people nowadays, every character here recognises accelerationists as absolute arseholes.
June 21, 2022
Sherlock Holmes meets World War One, through the eyes of a feminist nurse. There was so much I loved about this book!
To be honest, I picked this up and read it purely because of Holmes--I never usually seek out fiction set during the world wars; I prefer my history a bit older. :) But this book was very well done--the history felt very realistic and very respectful, and scary without ever being *too* terribly awful (I'm a wimp, so that was important, haha). The narrator was pretty awesome, and though her colleagues at the hospital were kind of the worst, I did like the way things came together in that regard.
The only reason I didn't give this five stars--THIS IS A SLIGHT SPOILER: the mystery itself was pretty straightforward. It was satisfying, but I was able to call the one big twist, and the characters themselves repeatedly said "hum, what if it's xxx?" and then they ended up being right/very close to right, without any other real suspect having been provided.
But that said, I did still enjoy the book! :)
To be honest, I picked this up and read it purely because of Holmes--I never usually seek out fiction set during the world wars; I prefer my history a bit older. :) But this book was very well done--the history felt very realistic and very respectful, and scary without ever being *too* terribly awful (I'm a wimp, so that was important, haha). The narrator was pretty awesome, and though her colleagues at the hospital were kind of the worst, I did like the way things came together in that regard.
The only reason I didn't give this five stars--THIS IS A SLIGHT SPOILER: the mystery itself was pretty straightforward. It was satisfying, but I was able to call the one big twist, and the characters themselves repeatedly said "hum, what if it's xxx?" and then they ended up being right/very close to right, without any other real suspect having been provided.
But that said, I did still enjoy the book! :)
March 18, 2025
This book is written from the perspective of a volunteer orderly, Augusta Watson (no relation to Dr. John Watson, working in a front-line British hospital. She’s independent and not enamored of the aging Holmes, who she labels a misogynist. She changes her perspective during the adventure and begins to exercise her own powers of observation in recognition and imitation of Holmes.
I found the voice of Miss Watson to be refreshing and entertaining. There’s a hint of a potential sequel at the end of the story and I wish there were one. I would like to see Augusta Watson exercising her own powers.
I found the voice of Miss Watson to be refreshing and entertaining. There’s a hint of a potential sequel at the end of the story and I wish there were one. I would like to see Augusta Watson exercising her own powers.
September 27, 2023
This was an entertaining and involving story in the Further Adventures series, set in December 1917 and narrated by young suffragette, VAD Watson.
Holmes is a well-portrayed 60+ year-old investigating, for his brother, an eventually revealed conspiracy impacting the British and the Germans. Young volunteer Watson, in a hospital, becomes the reluctant driver of Holmes which soon involves her taking considerable risks and facing the ever-present danger of observing clues near and on the front line. Well-written, with a convincing Holmes and a good WWI setting.
Holmes is a well-portrayed 60+ year-old investigating, for his brother, an eventually revealed conspiracy impacting the British and the Germans. Young volunteer Watson, in a hospital, becomes the reluctant driver of Holmes which soon involves her taking considerable risks and facing the ever-present danger of observing clues near and on the front line. Well-written, with a convincing Holmes and a good WWI setting.
April 17, 2022
I love Sherlock no matter where he lands, this is no exception to the rule. An older unsure of himself Sherlock that shows the human machine is indeed human and an old stubborn man can learn new way of thinking even begrudgingly.
I can not say thank you enough for this joyful read.
I can not say thank you enough for this joyful read.
January 22, 2022
I totally loved this one.
As good as a SH pastiche gets.
A sequel is hinted at in the end and hopefully Guerrier has it out soon :)
As good as a SH pastiche gets.
A sequel is hinted at in the end and hopefully Guerrier has it out soon :)
April 4, 2022
Good attempt to have more of a female perspective.
March 5, 2022
As I've mentioned in numerous reviews, I'm a huge fan of Sherlock Holmes - both the original Arthur Conan Doyle canon and the numerous pastiches that have been written by other authors over the years. That includes the Titan Books "Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" series, of which this is one.
The reality is that some of the pastiches I read are so good they easily could pass as one of Conan Doyle's creations. Others, however, just don't capture the voice, feel, plot, setting, etc. of the original canon works.
This effort by Simon Guerrier falls closer to the latter. First, it is set during WWI, which naturally requires that the great detective is now an elderly man. So, he is not the same character that we follow throughout the canon (with the possible exception of "His Last Bow").
More importantly, Holmes' Boswell - Dr. John Watson - is not the narrator. Instead, it is a strong-willed female war volunteer named Augusta Watson, who actually bears a grudge against Holmes and Watson because the stories of his exploits in The Strand magazine made her childhood miserable, due to teasing and bullying by classmates who seized on her last name.
Despite this animosity toward Holmes, she ends up fulfilling Watson's role most admirably. So, it's not a problem that John Watson is not in this pastiche. On the contrary, some of my favorite entries in this Titan series are by Sam Siciliano, whose works are narrated by Holmes' French cousin Dr. Henry Vernier.
The real problems with this effort are plot and pacing. I was thoroughly enjoying this pastiche through about half of it. Then the plot began to drag, and I found my attention starting to drift. Then when the action did pick up, I thought it was extremely unbelievable, asking the reader for a herculean effort to suspend his or her disbelief. (Perhaps because the author is best known for his more fantastical Dr. Who works?)
As you know, I never go into plot details in these reviews to avoid spoilers. Consequently, I won't say anything more about it. But the plot and pacing were the main reasons I went from thinking I would give this book five stars early on - to ultimately debating between two and three stars for this review. It was an okay read...but just that.
The reality is that some of the pastiches I read are so good they easily could pass as one of Conan Doyle's creations. Others, however, just don't capture the voice, feel, plot, setting, etc. of the original canon works.
This effort by Simon Guerrier falls closer to the latter. First, it is set during WWI, which naturally requires that the great detective is now an elderly man. So, he is not the same character that we follow throughout the canon (with the possible exception of "His Last Bow").
More importantly, Holmes' Boswell - Dr. John Watson - is not the narrator. Instead, it is a strong-willed female war volunteer named Augusta Watson, who actually bears a grudge against Holmes and Watson because the stories of his exploits in The Strand magazine made her childhood miserable, due to teasing and bullying by classmates who seized on her last name.
Despite this animosity toward Holmes, she ends up fulfilling Watson's role most admirably. So, it's not a problem that John Watson is not in this pastiche. On the contrary, some of my favorite entries in this Titan series are by Sam Siciliano, whose works are narrated by Holmes' French cousin Dr. Henry Vernier.
The real problems with this effort are plot and pacing. I was thoroughly enjoying this pastiche through about half of it. Then the plot began to drag, and I found my attention starting to drift. Then when the action did pick up, I thought it was extremely unbelievable, asking the reader for a herculean effort to suspend his or her disbelief. (Perhaps because the author is best known for his more fantastical Dr. Who works?)
As you know, I never go into plot details in these reviews to avoid spoilers. Consequently, I won't say anything more about it. But the plot and pacing were the main reasons I went from thinking I would give this book five stars early on - to ultimately debating between two and three stars for this review. It was an okay read...but just that.
November 9, 2022
Fun little pastiche about Sherlock Holmes and his participation in World War I. Neat little device in this book, the story is told in first person by Watson – however, not by Dr. Watson, but rather by Miss Augusta Watson, a not-quite-nurse serving near the front lines in France in December, 1917.
Another one of those books I wish I could’ve stretched out longer, I figured it would take me at least 10 days, more likely two weeks to read this, but I was done in seven days.
Another one of those books I wish I could’ve stretched out longer, I figured it would take me at least 10 days, more likely two weeks to read this, but I was done in seven days.
June 9, 2023
Not your typical Holmes pastiche, and not your typical Watson. Another story m8ght be in order
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews