Death Cloud

By the time Andrew Lane undertook the Young Sherlock Holmes series, he had already established himself as an author who specialized in expanding storylines that others had originated. Most notably, he wrote novels based on the Dr. Who and Torchwood universe and a series about the young James Bond. In tackling Sherlock Holmes, Lane insisted that his stories remain true to the facts that Conan Doyle presented in the canon rather than taking liberties for the sake of a good plot.

As Lane himself admits in the Afterword to Death Cloud, practically nothing is known about the great detective’s past. When he first appears in A Study in Scarlet, he is approximately 33 years old. Four novels and 56 short stories later, he will retire at the age of 60 to keep bees. His family history is sketchy. The reader only ever learns that he has a brother named Mycroft and that his mother was descended from a French painter named Vernet.

Lane plays with these sparse facts by planting Easter eggs in Death Cloud that refer to them. Mycroft appears early and functions as a surrogate father until the arrival of Amyus Crowe. Sherlock’s maternal connection is indirectly referenced in the Vernet paintings that are displayed on the walls of Holmes Manor. At the end of young Sherlock’s harrowing adventure with killer bees, he concludes, “I learned [...] that bees are fascinating and sorely neglected creatures. I think I want to know more about them” (305). According to Conan Doyle, Holmes will retire from public life one day to become a beekeeper.

Many authors who have tackled Holmes at various stages of his career fail to delve into the man’s character. Rather, their efforts constitute little more than a pastiche of superficial quirks introduced by Conan Doyle. The basis for these traits is never really understood by successive generations of Holmes authors. Lane says of Conan Doyle, “He understood Sherlock from the inside out, while the other writers, for the most part, merely tried to copy the outside” (310). In his series about the adolescent Sherlock, Lane hoped to accomplish more. He wanted to capture the great detective in the process of becoming. He asks questions that no imitator of Conan Doyle ever tackled:

What sort of teenager was he? Where did he go to school, and who were his friends? Where and when did he learn the skills that he displayed later in life—the logical mind, the boxing and sword-fighting, the love of music and of playing the violin? What did he study at university? When (if ever) did he travel abroad? What scared him and whom, if anyone, did he love? (309).

Lane’s respect for Conan Doyle’s original material earned him the support and endorsement of the Holmes estate and the author’s surviving relatives. As much as Lane remains true to the man that Sherlock Holmes would become, he is also aware of the teenager that Sherlock is in this series and gives him the time to evolve and grow into the world’s greatest detective.