Even though it’s a Sherlock Holmes tale, this book was not written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. (You can see that in the cover image below.) Nor was it written in the 19th Century, as the cover contains a color photo. So what’s up? Is this one of the untold number of Sherlock Holmes pastiches that arose in the 20th and 21st Centuries?

Got it in one. That’s what it is.

And it’s definitely one of the better ones. As you see, it’s Sherlock Holmes and the Telegram from Hell, by Nicholas Meyer — perhaps best known as the author of The Seven-Per-Cent Solution and The Adventure of the Peculiar Protocols, both of which I recommend. Like the latter, the Telegram from Hell is as much a book of European history as it is a detective novel. While I was reading it I kept on pausing to look up this or that reference to find out whether it was factual or fictional; literally every such situation or character turned out to be factual. The central issue is the role of the Zimmermann telegram in persuading the U.S. — in particular President Wilson — to enter the First World War rather than remain neutral.

That’s probably all you need to know. Now go read the book!

Categories: Books