by Andrew Lane
It would be wrong of me not to mention, by the way, the Sherlock Holmes novel written by American author Caleb Carr entitled The Italian Secretary: A Further Adventure of Sherlock Holmes (Little, Brown, 2005). It takes place largely around Edinburgh. Carr is an excellent writer, and his version of Sherlock Holmes is perhaps as close to Arthur Conan Doyle’s as anyone has managed since Doyle’s death in 1931.
The story that Amyus Crowe tells about Colonel John Chivington and the appalling attack he mounted on the Native American tribe led by Chief Black Kettle is, tragically, true. I grew up watching Western movies in which the Native Americans (or Red Indians as they were known then) were the bad guys and the noble white soldiers were the good guys. Those movies were lies, and I still feel a sense of betrayal that Hollywood convinced so many people otherwise. There is, of course, no record of Chivington having a second in command named Bryce Scobell, but there is no record that he didn’t either.
The bizarre fact that rabbits are immune to the poisons contained in the stalk and leaves of the foxglove is something I first discovered in The Wordsworth Guide to Poisons and Antidotes by Carol Turkington (Wordsworth Editions, 1997). Having done some checking around I have since found that opinion is divided on the subject. Maybe they are; maybe they aren’t. At any rate, Sherlock Holmes believes it to be true.
Bear-baiting was a well-known ‘sport’ in England for hundreds of years, until it was made illegal in 1835. It usually took the form of a bear being tied to a stake and dogs set on it. Either the bear would kill the dogs or the dogs would kill the bear. It was rare that a bear and a man were set to fight, although not unknown. For some reason (possibly a surplus of bears) Russia was better known for its bear-versus-man contests. I had originally intended to have Amyus Crowe face off against a bear in Black Ice, but I couldn’t find a place where it made sense to slot that scene in. For some reason it made more sense in this one – probably because Crowe didn’t have a lot to do in Black Ice, but in Fire Storm he pretty much finds himself pushed to the limit.
The material concerning the Mormon Church’s belief that the word of God was handed down to their prophet Joseph Smith Jr in 1823 on golden plates is also true (by which I mean that the story as I describe it is more or less what the Mormon Church claim – not that the story is actually true. That’s not for me to say).
So, Sherlock has finally confronted the evil Mrs Eglantine and had her banished from the Holmes household. He has also grown up now to the point where he can stand on his own two feet and rescue his brother and his surrogate fathers (Amyus Crowe and Rufus Stone) from trouble, rather than rely on them to rescue him. What next for Sherlock? Well, according to Arthur Conan Doyle, who wrote the original fifty-six short stories and four novels about a grown-up Sherlock Holmes, his character was an expert at martial arts. Where, I wondered, would he learn those martial arts? China perhaps, or Japan. Time, and the prevailing winds and currents, will tell.
Also by Andrew Lane
Young Sherlock Holmes: Death Cloud
Young Sherlock Holmes: Red Leech
Young Sherlock Holmes: Black Ice
First published 2011 by Macmillan Children’s Books
This electronic edition published 2011 by Macmillan Children’s Books
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ISBN 978-1-4472-0845-7 EPUB
Copyright © Andrew Lane 2011
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A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
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