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Minotaur Books:  New York
2021 (HC)

In his introduction, author Nicholas Meyer relates the recent re-discovery of a heretofore “lost” manuscript written by John H. Watson, M.D., faithful friend and chronicler of the exploits of the world’s first consulting detective, the inimitable Sherlock Holmes.  And with that, the “plot is afoot” in The Return of the Pharaoh!

Watson’s manuscript opens in November of 1910 when he convinces his second wife, Juliet, to travel with him to Egypt to seek treatment for the tuberculosis that grows more concerning with every passing day in cold, polluted London.  Watson puts his medical practice on hold, and upon their arrival in Cairo Juliet is put under the care of Sikh doctors at the British managed Al Wadi sanitarium for veterans and dependents.  The sanitarium shares the premises with the Khedival Sporting Club on Jardin des Plantes, an island in the Nile River (today called Gezira Island), and it is there that Watson takes up residency to stay in proximity with Juliet as she undergoes treatment.

It is now January of 1911, and Watson, largely separated from Juliet except for brief daily distanced and masked visits, begins to explore the wonders of Cairo, from the Egyptian Museum to the Khan el-Khalili souk, or market.  The plot indeed begins to thicken when Watson, stopping at the Shepheard Hotel’s famed “Long Bar” for a bit of refreshment, bumps into his old compatriot Holmes, disguised as the pompous and stereotypical “Colonel Arbuthnot,” a supposed veteran of the Afghan Wars—right down to wearing Watson’s gravy-stained regimental tie!  To explain his subterfuge, Holmes suggests meeting Watson at the El Fishawy café (an establishment, by the way, that actually opened for business a year before Napoleon invaded Egypt!).  Holmes then explains that he has been hired by Lizabetta del Maurepas, the Brazilian-born Duchess of Uxbridge and wife of Michael, the 11^th Duke of Uxbridge.  The duke, a somewhat notorious rake and (not very accomplished) gambler, had fallen prey to the popular malady of “Egyptomania,” the seeking out of rumored ancient Egyptian treasures. To this end, the profligate nobleman had set out to discover the reportedly unopened tomb of Tuthmose V.  But the Duke has gone missing from his room at Shepheard’s – a room that seems never to have existed—for more than three months.  The Duchess, along with the younger brother of the missing Duke, come to Cairo to urge Holmes on to a more rigorous investigation.

Because Holmes believes he lacks the necessary background in Egyptology, he seeks out the aid of Howard Carter, Chief Inspector of the Egyptian Antiquities Service, and Professor Hassan Tewfik, curator of antiquities at the Egyptian Museum—all the while maintaining his subterfuge as Colonel Arbuthnot.  Holmes’ investigations slowly but surely lead him to the conclusion that the duke, possibly in the company of a shady woman of questionable repute, has concluded that the lost tomb is located in the Valley of the Kings, near Luxor.  But the trail to this rumored Egyptian “El Dorado” seems strewn with dead bodies under suspicious circumstances—including that of a Shepheard’s Hotel waiter, whose dying efforts also appear to point Holmes and company to an undiscovered tomb in the Valley of the Kings.

What follows is a harrowing rail journey to the south of Egypt, as Holmes, Watson, the Duchess and Professor Tewfik race to join Howard Carter, who has ascertained that the missing nobleman had indeed discovered the tomb of Tuthmose V, but has dropped from sight since.  They must hurry to the burial site for the duke is likely in grave danger.  They can scarcely imagine the horror that awaits them as they enter the tomb of the pharaoh.

Nicholas Meyer once again proves himself to be the master Holmes’ re-creator in this imaginative take on the early days of Egyptology.  Authentic history and historical places and persons blend seamlessly into the literary world of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson.  Four enthusiastic trowels for The Return of the Pharaoh!