Sherlock Holmes and the Telegram from Hell: Excerpts from the Diaries of John H. Watson, M. D.
By (Author) Nicholas Meyer
Thorndike Press
Thorndike Press
1st February 2025
Large Print Edition
United States
General
Fiction
Hardback
Width 140mm, Height 216mm
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.
June, 1916. With a world war raging on the continent, exhausted John H. Watson, M.D. is operating on the wounded full-time when his labors are interrupted by a knock on his door, revealing Sherlock Holmes, with a black eye, a missing tooth and a cracked rib. The story he has to tell will set in motion a series of world-changing events in the most consequential case of the detectives career.
Amid rebellion in Ireland and revolution in Russia, Germany has a secret plan to win the war and Sir William Melville of the British Secret Service dispatches the two aging friends to learn what the scheme is before it can be put into effect. In pursuit of a mysterious coded telegram sent from Berlin to an unknown recipient in Mexico, Holmes and Watson must cross the Atlantic, dodge German U-boats and assassination attempts, and evade the intrigues of young J. Edgar Hoover, while enlisting the help of a beautiful, eccentric Washington socialite as they seek to foil the schemes of Holmess nemesis, the escaped German spymaster Von Bork.
Sherlock Holmes and the Telegram from Hell plunges Holmes into a world that eerily resembles our own, where entangling alliances, treaties, and human frailty threaten to create another cataclysm.
"The Sherlockian mystery is solid and delightful on its own, but Meyers portrait of this moment in history adds a surprising and fascinating bonus. . . . Ingenious international froth studded with historical tidbits."
Kirkus
"[Meyer] weaves real people into this fabulous tale, including Alice Roosevelt Longworth and a very young J. Edgar Hoover, all while keeping the game very much afoot. Baker Street Irregulars everywhere will enjoy this."
Library Journal
Nicholas Meyer is the editor of several Watson manuscripts, including The Seven-Per-Cent Solution, which spent forty weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. His screenplay of the film received an Oscar nomination. His film credits include writing and directing Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. He wrote and directed Time After Time, co-created Medici: Masters of Florence, and directed The Day After, about nuclear war that attracted the largest audience ever for a television movie. A native of New York City, he lives in Santa Monica, California.