Death Cloud

Death Cloud (June 2010) is the first installment in the Young Sherlock Holmes series by British author Andrew Lane. Lane had previously written multiple novels based on popular television shows such as Dr. Who and Torchwood before he tackled the task of creating a series centered on the adolescent Sherlock Holmes. In doing so, he wanted to remain true to the Conan Doyle chronology in which Holmes doesn’t meet his biographer and friend, Dr. John Watson, until the first novel in the canon, A Study in Scarlet. Lane’s treatment differs from a movie entitled Young Sherlock Holmes (1985), which pairs Holmes and Watson as teenage crime fighters.

In contrast, Lane’s series concentrates on Holmes as a “loner” at age 14 and describes his adventures, friends, and mentors during this stage of his life. To date, there are eight books in the series. Titles following Death Cloud are Rebel Fire (2010), Black Ice (2011), Fire Storm (2011), Snake Bite (2012), Knife Edge (2013), Stone Cold (2014), and Night Break (2015). Unlike many other authors who have taken Holmes as their inspiration, Lane’s series has been fully authorized and endorsed by the estate of Arthur Conan Doyle.

Death Cloud is intended for readers aged 12-18 and above. It falls into the categories of Teen & Young Adult Historical Mysteries and Thrillers and Children’s Detective Books. This study guide and all its page citations are based on the Kindle edition of the novel.

Content Warning: Because the story is set during the Victorian era, the novel depicts the harsh living conditions of poverty and the casual cruelty directed toward children. In addition, Sherlock and his 14-year-old friends are repeatedly exposed to torture and life-threatening conditions.

Plot Summary

The novel covers the first mystery that the teenage Sherlock Holmes will solve. It is set in the summer of 1868 near the small British town of Farnham, which is located approximately 36 miles southwest of London. Additional locations visited in the novel include Guildford, London, and Cherbourg, France. The story uses a limited third-person narration technique. The Prologue is told from the point of view of a 14-year-old orphan named Matty, while events in the rest of the novel are described from Sherlock’s perspective. As Sherlock and Matty try to solve the mystery of a black cloud that leaves dead bodies in its wake, the novel examines the themes of Becoming Holmes, False Perceptions, and The Value of Allies.

Sherlock Holmes attends boarding school and looks forward to returning home for his summer vacation in 1868. Unfortunately, his hopes are dashed when his brother Mycroft arrives to inform him that he must spend the summer with relatives he has never met. Sherlock’s father has been ordered to India with the British Army. His brother is working in London, and his mother and sister are ill. Unwillingly, Sherlock travels to the small town of Farnham to meet his Uncle Sherrinford and Aunt Anna. Their housekeeper, Mrs. Eglantine, seems to immediately dislike the boy, and Mycroft warns his brother to be wary of her.

Shortly after his arrival, Sherlock makes the acquaintance of a 14-year-old orphan named Matty, who lives by his wits on the streets of Farnham. He tells Sherlock that he saw a black cloud emerging from the window of a house and that it behaved as if it had a mind of its own. Shortly afterward, he heard screams coming from inside and later saw the corpse of a man being removed, his face and arms covered in red boils. Sherlock agrees to help Matty investigate this odd occurrence, but he doesn’t really believe the boy’s story until he becomes the eyewitness to a similar death.

While out in the woods, he sees a black cloud rising from a body lying on the ground whose face is covered in red boils. Sherlock enlists the aid of his new tutor, an American named Amyus Crowe. Together, they bring the body back to the Holmes estate, and a local doctor says that it may be evidence of an outbreak of bubonic plague. Unable to accept this conclusion, Sherlock gathers a sample of yellow dust from near the body and learns from an expert in tropical diseases that it is pollen dust. He also learns that some species of aggressive foreign bees can appear like clouds of black smoke when they are swarming.

With the help of Matty, Crowe, and the tutor’s daughter, Virginia, Sherlock is able to connect the killer bees to a garment factory in Farnham owned by a French baron named Maupertuis. The baron has a contract to provide uniforms to the British Army, and he intends to bring down the empire by sending contaminated uniforms to British troops stationed around the globe. The scent of the contaminant will cause the bees to kill anyone wearing the uniforms. After multiple attacks on his life, Sherlock foils the baron’s plan, though the villain escapes to cause trouble at some future point. Solving the mystery of the death cloud teaches Sherlock many investigative methods that will one day make him the most legendary consulting detective in the world.