Young Sherlock Holmes: Death Cloud

Young Sherlock Holmes: Death Cloud,the hunted witness of utopia

MacMillan Books 2010 paperback edition.
Author	Andy Lane
Language	English
Series	Young Sherlock Holmes
Genre	Detective novel
Published	2010 (Macmillan Books)
Publication place	United Kingdom
Media type	Print (Paperback)
Pages	310 pp (first edition, paperback)
ISBN	0-330-51198-X (first edition, paperback)
Followed by	Red Leech

Young Sherlock Holmes: Death Cloud is the first novel in the Young Sherlock Holmes series that depicts Arthur Conan Doyle's detective Sherlock Holmes as a teenager in the 1860s. It was written by Andy Lane and released in the UK on June 4, 2010 by Macmillan Books.

Plot summary

Sherlock Holmes is sent to live with his unknown aunt and uncle in Holmes Manor in Hampshire over his school holidays when his father is unexpectedly sent overseas with the British Army. He cannot go home as his mother is unwell, and cannot go to London as his older brother Mycroft is busy working for the government. Wandering around the estate and the surrounding countryside he soon befriends a boy his own age named Matty Arnatt (who has witnessed an unusual death involving a cloud of death).

After a few days of holidays Sherlock discovers that his brother Mycroft has hired him an unusual American tutor named Amyus Crowe. During their first lesson together Sherlock finds a dead body on the Holmes' estate and witnesses the same death cloud surrounding the body that Matty had previously seen. He detects a yellow powdery substance around the body and takes a sample of it.

With Matty's help he tracks down a warehouse which has links to one of the deceased, and almost dies in the warehouse when the villains set it alight. Holmes escapes the building, and determines that he must travel to Guildford and locate an expert in exotic diseases who might help identify the yellow substance. He, therefore, sets out with Matty on his barge to Guildford, and although they are attacked along the way by the villains, they nevertheless make it to his destination and discovers that the yellow substance is bee pollen. On returning home he visits his tutor's home, where he meets Crowe's daughter Virginia.

A few days later Sherlock is lured to a fair, where he is forced to participate in a boxing match, from which he is kidnapped and interrogated by the unseen Baron Maupertuis until he is rescued by Matty, and the pair go to his tutor's home. Knowing that the Baron has left his headquarters, Sherlock, Matty, Crowe and Virginia determine to follow and locate the Baron.

They discover that the Baron is shipping a weapon from a London wharf, and after a series of chases, Sherlock and Virginia are kidnapped to France by the Baron, and further interrogated. The Baron attacks Sherlock as Mr. Surd attacks Virginia. The pair escape and meet up with Crowe and Matty and set out to stop the Baron from trying to destroy the British Army. They find a fort, where Mr. Surd is in. Sherlock engages in a fight with Mr. Surd, and Sherlock kills him by shoving him into a beehive, resulting in multiple stings from angry bees. They throw pollen in the air, and burn it. The fort falls down.

Sherlock wakes up. He meets Crowe and Matty and they discuss a few things. He glances outside the window and sees a man in a carriage, presumably the Baron. This is later depicted as a spoiler and was deleted of its own accord.

Characters

Sherlock Holmes

A brilliant 14 year old who is a loner but longs for friendship. He is attending Deepdene School for Boys (boarding school) and because of his father's sudden orders to ship off to India, his is required to stay with his aunt and uncle in Farnham. When he starts his holiday, he is a naive young man, but through the series of events that occur in the book Holmes matures and is changed profoundly, he has faced death, found love and defeated evil. In terms of his relationships, he idolises his older brother Mycroft, he likes Matty, has developed feelings for Virginia, and is intrigued by Crowe.

Mycroft Holmes

Sherlock's older brother, works for the government in London.

Matty Arnatt

He has no mother or father and lives by his wits, finding or stealing food where he can and travelling along the English canals in his barge. He is fascinated by Sherlock and a true friendship ended up being formed.

Amyus Crowe

An American hunter and tracker who is a highly unusual tutor preferring to focus on practical learning. He is described as a large man with white hair and a large beard. He is doing undercover work in Britain tracking down American Civil War babys.

Virginia Crowe

Amyus Crowe's daughter, unhappy with England because of a negative experience she and her father experienced on the way to the United Kingdom, is a free-spirited, outspoken girl. She is described to be a red-haired lass with violet eyes, tanned skin, and freckles. She is an excellent horseback rider.

Mrs. Eglantine

Mrs. Eglantine is the housekeeper of Holmes Manor, she is slightly sinister and does not welcome new guests. Mycroft Holmes told Sherlock in a letter, that she is "no friend to the Holmes family".

Baron Maupertuis

The Baron is the mastermind behind the mystery of the Death Cloud, and because of serious injuries sustained by him at the Charge of the Light Brigade his locomotion is achieved in a unique way, akin to a puppet (his servants control strings attached to his limbs).

Background

Based on the success of Charlie Higson's bestselling Young Bond series, the estate of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle authorised a series of books detailing the life of the teenage Sherlock Holmes. When the series was first in development, the title of Death Cloud was initially to be called either The Colossal Schemes of Baron Maupertuis or Sherlock Holmes and the Shadow of the Marionette. The Colossal Schemes of Baron Maupertuis is an adventure mentioned in "The Adventure of the Reigate Squire". Maupertuis had already appeared as a character in Lane's Doctor Who/Sherlock Holmes crossover novel, All-Consuming Fire.

One of Andy Lane's key aims is to explain some of the complexities of Holmes' character, who is scientific and analytical on the one hand, and artistic and moody on the other. Two new characters introduced in this series, his two tutors, Amyus Crowe and Rufus Stone, will help shed light on the formation of the two sides of his character evident in later life.

Reception

Chicago Tribune gave Death Cloud a positive review stating:

For a reader who has outgrown the Hardy Boys' adventures but still seeks mystery-solving plots, Andrew Lane's invention of a teenage Sherlock Holmes will seem timely.

Graham Moore, author of The Sherlockian, reviewed Death Cloud for The New York Times and stated:

Lane is attempting a curious feat: to update and adapt Sherlock Holmes for a new generation, much the way Guy Ritchie has done with a swashbuckling Sherlock on screen....Yet, in the end, the novel strives to rescue Holmes from the prejudices of his creator, and thereby expand the pool of Holmes devotees. For that we can all be grateful.

Sequels

Main article: Young_Sherlock_Holmes_(books) § Books_in_the_series

A sequel Red Leech, (which was mentioned in "The Adventure of the Golden Pince-Nez") was released on 5 November 2010, and features Sherlock accompanying his tutor Amyus Crowe to America.

Further titles in the series may include;

• The Giant Rat of Sumatra (mentioned in "The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire")
• The Remarkable Worm Unknown to Science (mentioned in "The Problem of Thor Bridge")
• Colonel Warburton’s Madness (mentioned in "The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb")
• The Segregation of the Queen (mentioned in "His Last Bow")

External links

• Official Young Sherlock Holmes site (U.K.)
• Official Young Sherlock Holmes series site (U.S.)
• Extract on MacMillan site