Publishers Weekly
09/06/2021
In 1910, tuberculosis threatens the life of Dr. Watson’s wife, Juliet, in bestseller Meyer’s disappointing fifth Sherlock Holmes pastiche (after 2019’s The Adventure of the Peculiar Protocols). Following medical advice, the Watsons travel to Cairo so that Juliet can be treated at a sanitorium in a drier climate. During a visit to a bar, Watson encounters Holmes, who’s in the city investigating the disappearance of the Duke of Uxbridge. The nobleman, an Egyptologist in search of treasure stored in a pharaoh’s unopened tomb, hasn’t been in contact with his wife for months, and there’s no sign of him at the hotel where he normally stays during his annual visits to Cairo. The ensuing inquiry, which the doctor eagerly joins in, soon becomes a murder investigation. The routine plot culminates in an action-packed climax out of an Indiana Jones movie, the mystery element is minimal, and Meyer touches on no larger themes as he’s done in the past. Fans of the author’s creative reimaginings of Conan Doyle’s characters will hope for a return to form next time. Agent: Charlotte Sheedy, Charlotte Sheedy Literary. (Nov.)
From the Publisher
"A witty, elegant puzzle." —Minneapolis Star-Tribune
"This is not only another great mystery to solve but a grand adventure." —Bookreporter
"Fast-paced...a fun and delightful addition to the canon." —Library Journal
"Reading a good Holmes and Watson story, whether the real thing or a pastiche, is like reuniting with old friends, and this is certainly a good one. Meyer’s writing is impeccable. Top-drawer entertainment." —Booklist
"A rousing adventure." —Kirkus Reviews
“We are indeed fortunate that Nicholas Meyer keeps Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson alive and well, and writes them better than anybody else. Set in Egypt in 1910, in his witty and thoroughly delightful Return of the Pharaoh, the pair confront tomb robbers, and treacherous English aristocrats in Cairo, Luxor, and The Valley of the Kings. This latest escapade is as tight and suspenseful as any contemporary thriller." —Michael Elias, Author of You Can Go Home Now
”Once again Nicholas Meyer has brought Holmes and Watson vividly back to life, this time pitting them against an array of dangerous characters in a colorful, well-researched Egypt during the Edwardian era. A great read!” —Dennis Palumbo, author of the Daniel Rinaldi mysteries
“Nicholas Meyer’s newest combines a thrilling adventure of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson with profound observations of the changing age to which they must adapt. Meyer has now been divulging stories of the duo for 5 years longer than Watson himself did—please keep them coming, sir!” —Leslie S. Klinger, editor, New Annotated Sherlock Holmes
“Holmes and Watson belong to the Ages, to Conan Doyle, and to the astounding appropriation-artist-magician-storyteller Nicholas Meyer. No knock on the Ages or Conan Doyle, but only one of these three is still generating dangerously absorbing new adventures for breath-held fans like myself. I hope he never quits.” —Jonathan Lethem, author of Motherless Brooklyn and The Fortress of Solitude
"There is no living novelist – – perhaps no novelist since Doyle – – to write Sherlock Holmes with such style, wit, and cleverness. The Return of the Pharaoh is another proud feather in Nicholas Meyer’s deerstalker.” —J. J. Abrams, producer/director of Star Wars, Star Trek, and Mission Impossible
“I’ve loved Nicholas Meyer’s Holmes novels since boyhood and his latest takes me right back there. A dazzling blend of perfect period detail, Egyptology, murder, spies, treasure, mummies, spot on Holmesian banter and one of the best action sequences I’ve read in a long time makes for another incredibly satisfying read.” —Paul Giamatti, actor
"Anyone who dares to write a Sherlock Holmes story must possess not only a thorough knowledge of the canon but also an inquisitive, devouring intelligence, not unlike the great detective’s own. Nicholas Meyer established his credentials triumphantly in his classic novels The Seven-Per-Cent Solution and The West End Horror. His latest entry sends Holmes into spooky realms of Edwardian Egyptology — a sophisticated joy from start to finish." —Alex Ross, author of The Rest is Noise
"The Return of the Pharaoh entertains and delights in this fascinatingly rich and exciting terrain." —Juliana Maio, author of City of the Sun
“With his characteristic quick wit, Watsonian eloquence, and a lightly postmodern touch, Meyer’s The Return of the Pharaoh extends what he began with The Seven Per-Cent Solution and subsequent Holmes novels, bringing literature’s greatest detective and his world effortlessly to life in a way that thrills, astounds and utterly delights." —Matthew Spektor, author of American Dream Machine
Library Journal
10/22/2021
Meyer once again delivers a fast-paced mystery that faithfully re-creates the dynamic between Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson (a follow-up to The Adventure of the Peculiar Protocols). The premise of Meyer's Holmes pastiche is that it's a previously unreleased manuscript by Watson, telling the tale of a missing noble, an undiscovered pharaoh's tomb, and plenty of murder. In 1910 Watson travels to a sanitarium in Egypt to provide his ailing wife comfort and an atmosphere to speed her healing process. Juliet Watson has a full schedule of rest, mud baths, and tonics that leave much of her husband's time free to explore. He is surprised and excited when he bumps into a disguised Sherlock Holmes, who immediately folds Watson into the case. A duke has gone missing, leaving a trail of unpaid bills and his wife searching for him. Holmes discovers that the duke was in Cairo, searching for gold in the undiscovered tomb of Tuthmose. When three other treasure seekers die under suspicious circumstances, Holmes and Watson, aided by Howard Carter, are in a race to either save or capture the duke and his accomplices. VERDICT Readers who enjoy detective fiction in the vein of Agatha Christie and Arthur Conan Doyle will find Meyer's fifth Holmes pastiche a fun and delightful addition to the canon.
Kirkus Reviews
2021-07-28
Sherlock Holmes goes to Egypt.
Or, more accurately, Dr. Watson goes to Egypt in 1911 in hopes that the desert air will chase away his wife Juliet’s tuberculosis, and the Col. Arbuthnot he bumps into turns out to be Holmes in disguise. The Great Detective’s client is Brazilian-born Lizabetta del Maurepas, Duchess of Uxbridge, whose husband, impoverished Duke Michael Uxbridge, an Egyptologist, has vanished after purloining a map purporting to show the location of a never-opened pharaonic tomb from Ohlsson, a Swede who’s been murdered. The duke is supposed to be staying in Suite 718 of Shepheard’s Hotel, but there is no such suite—the first of many mysteries Holmes is called upon to solve in the company of his old friend, who promptly leaves his wife in her sanitarium and follows his leader. Instead of finding the duke, the pair find a trail of corpses (three Egyptologists and a waiter, with more to come) of much more recent vintage than Tuthmose V, the pharaoh who so bedazzled the duke. Holmes learns that his quarry has been traveling in the company of Fatima Gassim, an exotic dancer who’s almost certainly a spy. A titanic battle between the fearsome khamsin and the Star of Egypt will leave more people dead. Holmes and Watson will narrowly avoid being entombed alive. In fact, Meyer keeps the pot boiling so furiously that the climactic revelation of the murderer will catch some readers sheepishly admitting that they’d forgotten there was a mystery to be solved.
A rousing adventure that has little in common with the Holmes canon except for some proper names.
