Return of the Pharaoh: from the reminiscences of John H. Watson, M.D.

In this fourth of Nicholas Meyers' Sherlock Holmes pastiches, Watson learns his second wife has tuberculosis and he arranges to take her to stay at a sanitarium in Egypt. He hasn’t seen Holmes for some time and is surprised to meet the man in a Cairo bar...in disguise.

Audio Owl review

 

Holmes has been tasked with finding an English duke whose usual winter archeological season in Egypt is not unfolding as it should. The Duke, you see, has not been seen in Egypt for nearly 3 months. Not since he left England at the usual time last fall. 

 

From the initial investigation through to the first foray into the desert, the story gets more steadily adventurous, very much in the spirit of Professor Challenger or the newer adventure of Indiana Jones, although neither Holmes nor Watson breaks character to the extent of carrying a bullwhip or engaging in bar brawls.

A review in the Associated Press praised the print novel, saying it “blends old with new, giving readers familiar stories with parallels to and hints of more modern takes.“

That very much sums up my assessment of the audiobook version as well, which I received courtesy of NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The vocal style for Dr. Watson, by David Robb (Downton Abbey) feels correct for the era - pre-WW1 – and the great detective's few pronouncements (Nicholas Meyer, the author) seem quite in keeping with the original. It is a combination that works marvelously well in audio. The production details are excellent, with musical cues and generally unobtrusive effects that make this feel more like listening to a radio play than a novel.

 

Both the print and the spoken versions deliver a narrative that has a freshness and immediacy nowadays lacking in the original Holmes stories. This is due not so much to modernization of story tropes but to modern reader expectations of character, offering us a better picture of John Watson as a man, as a husband, as a war veteran. Modern readers' engagement with the goals and wellbeing of a key character is an essential element in their willingness to follow a tale to the end, and this Holmes story delivers a Watson whose essential humanness is easy to identify with.

All in all a most enjoyable 8 hours.

This ARC was sent to J.E Barnard by NetGalley in exchange for honest review.

See reviewer Barnard's books (both the grim and the gleeful)

#novel #desert #murder #Egypt #NicholasMeyer #SherlockHolmes #DrWatson #StMartinsPress #adventure #NetGalley #Minotaur