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46 pages 1 hour read

Andrew Lane

Death Cloud

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2010

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Character Analysis

Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes is a 14-year-old boy living in Britain in 1868. He hasn’t yet grown into the famous detective he will one day become. The novel presents him as an inquisitive, intelligent boy who is only beginning to develop his powers of observation. He doesn’t yet demonstrate any of the traits that will become part of his legend. As the story begins, he seems more like a tabula rasa than anything else.

Sherlock feels alienated from the other boys at his boarding school and spends most of his time alone. With his father in India, his elder brother working in London, and a sickly mother and sister, Sherlock has no one to act as his confidante. This situation changes once he goes to spend the summer with his aunt and uncle. In quick succession, he meets Matty, Crowe, and Virginia, who all work together to solve a baffling mystery involving black smoke that kills. Largely through his innate intellect and Crowe’s tutelage in observational techniques, Sherlock begins to demonstrate the tenacity and brain power that will serve him as a professional consulting detective. He also learns the value of having a circle of friends on whom he can rely.

Matthew Arnatt (Matty)

Matthew Arnatt, or Matty, is a 14-year-old orphan boy who lives by his wits on the streets of Farnham. He is unkempt, with long, straggly hair and dirty clothing. Matty finds a way to keep himself fed by stealing from local merchants in the town market. He managed to acquire a boat and a horse to move him from place to place. After Matty witnesses the lethal black smoke cloud, he enlists Sherlock’s help in getting to the bottom of the mystery.

Matty’s resourcefulness proves useful on multiple occasions when Sherlock finds himself cornered and in need of help. The orphan also provides a boat and bicycles when the boys want to extend their investigation beyond the borders of the town. While Matty is suspicious of Sherlock’s tutor, he eventually comes to trust Crowe and Virginia. The novel ends with the suggestion that Matty will continue to assist Sherlock in his future adventures.

Amyus Crowe

Amyus Crowe is an older man who shows vitality that belies his white hair and wrinkled skin. In America after the Civil War, he tracked down criminals and renegade Confederates to bring them to justice, and he came to England in search of some of these war criminals with the cooperation and support of the British government. He is a friend of Mycroft, who arranges for him to act as Sherlock’s tutor. Crowe offers valuable guidance that will help form the young detective’s techniques for solving crimes in later years.

While Crowe is troubled by his daughter’s sense of alienation, he involves her in the sleuthing adventure of the black smoke. Despite his repeated attempts to protect her from harm, she manages to assert her independence. Crowe encourages this trait in all three of his young charges. His connection to the government proves useful in exposing the activities of the novel’s villain. The story ends with the suggestion that Crowe will continue to mentor Sherlock for some time to come.

Mycroft Holmes

Mycroft Holmes is Sherlock’s older brother. While the Conan Doyle canon suggests that Mycroft is physically indolent, the novel doesn’t depict him this way. He is just starting his career with the Foreign Office and is acting as the head of the family while his father is stationed in India. Mycroft is concerned for his younger brother’s welfare and seems to know a great deal more than he tells. He may already be involved in covert work for the government since he advises Sherlock to burn his letters and be wary of Mrs. Eglantine.

Though physically absent for most of the story, Mycroft plays a pivotal role at the novel’s conclusion. He arranges for a naval vessel to shut down the bee operation at the French fort and countermands the order to distribute contaminated uniforms to British troops. Like Crowe, Mycroft will likely continue to play an important role in his younger brother’s future adventures.

Baron Maupertuis

The baron is a member of the French aristocracy and a soldier who was assigned to help the British during the Crimean War. He was caught on the battlefield during the Charge of the Light Brigade and was trampled by horses, breaking all the bones in his body. This experience left the baron embittered against British colonial ambitions. He now seeks to demolish the country’s foreign influence and concocts a scheme to destroy its army.

The baron is described as elderly, with white hair and red eyes. He is physically dependent on his attendants to move his body in a frame controlled by ropes and pulleys. Essentially, the baron is a puppet, but his brain is sharp, and his thirst for revenge is boundless. At the novel’s end, Sherlock foils the baron’s plans, but the nobleman escapes to wreak havoc elsewhere with his co-conspirators in the Paradol Chamber.

Virginia Crowe

Virginia Crowe is Crowe’s 14-year-old daughter. She has a brash and forthright temperament that Sherlock finds attractive. Virginia resents coming to England because the trip cost her mother her life. The girl’s only consolation is riding her horse around the countryside near Farnham. Not content to sit on the sidelines, Virginia actively participates in solving the mystery of the deadly smoke. She is eventually captured and taken to France with Sherlock. At a pivotal moment, she proves to be more than a damsel in distress and dispatches the evil Mr. Surd while Sherlock is busy fighting the baron. The novel’s conclusion suggests that Virginia may continue to help the young detective in his future adventure.

Mrs. Eglantine

Mrs. Eglantine is the middle-aged housekeeper at Holmes Manor. She has a sour disposition and shows her active dislike of Sherlock. In a letter, Mycroft warns Sherlock that Mrs. Eglantine may be dangerous. She spends much of her time lurking in the shadows and watching Sherlock’s movements. She may also have opened his private correspondence to find out what it contained. Mrs. Eglantine seems somehow connected to the baron’s plot or possibly other schemes involving the Paradol Chamber, but these facts aren’t explicitly stated. By the end of the novel, she continues in her role of managing the Holmes household.

Sherrinford Holmes

Sherrinford Holmes is Sherlock’s elderly uncle. He is pious and generally distracted, reading at meals rather than conversing with his family. Sherrinford writes religious tracts and sermons, spending most of his time in the manor’s library. He isn’t unkind to Sherlock but seems oblivious to much of what is going on around him. The novel ends with Uncle Sherrinford no wiser about the evil plot that his nephew foiled.

Mr. Surd

Mr. Surd is Baron Maupertuis’s right-hand man. He is physically large and wields the whip that injures Sherlock. Surd is very pragmatic about his duties. He does whatever the baron tells him to do and doesn’t recoil from the idea of killing Sherlock or his friends. He is stopped by Virginia when he tries to kill her and later is stung to death by a swarm of killer bees.

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