Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #687599 in Books
• Published on: 1994-06-16
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

Synopsis
In Victorian England, the secret library of St John the Beheaded has been robbed. Only one team can be trusted to solve the crime: Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson. As the investigation leads them to the dark underside of London, they meet the time-travelling Doctor.

Customer Reviews

Elementary my dear Doctor
If Sir Arthur Conan Doyle had ever written a Sci-fi novel this would be it! I loved it from start to finish. The author has gone for authenticity; narrated by Doctor Watson himself, the story revolves around Sherlock Holmes' attempts to get to the bottom of another 19th Century mystery whilst simultaneously dealing with the excitable Doctor and his unusual lady-friend Berniece.
The titular fire is in fact spontaneous combustion; what is the link between this and Holmes' brother? The enigmatic Moriarty also makes an appearance whilst Watson quickly falls for the charms of Ace and The Doctor enjoys frustrating the great detective with his uncanny knowledge of past and future events. So good this should have kick started its own series.

Review of All Consuming Fire
I enjoyed this book, and would rank it fairly highly in the New Adventures range. It was a good story with some violent and horrific elements, but also often amusing. I liked the format of Doctor Watson's diary being used as the main narrative tool, something familiar and yet different, and the Victorian world and viewpoint provide a good contrast to the futuristic characters and events. Of course despite many references and nods to Arthur Conan Doyle's work, as this is a modern Doctor Who novel, it is inevitable that the format was tinkered with. For example, a lot of the language used whilst sometimes being drawn almost directly from the short stories, is often quite different. In a novel like this the characters are also of necessity fleshed out more, which sometimes contradicts the source material. All of that I can live with, but what really grated with me was the characterisation of Sherlock Holmes. At first, he simply seemed to be based more on Jeremy Brett's interpretation than Arthur Conan Doyle's, but as the story progresses it becomes more and more obvious that the character is being treated ungenerously. He is portrayed as being pompous, supercilious and deluded (& Watson by extension blinkered and overly enamoured with him). True, the real hero was always going to have to be the doctor, but surely Holmes doesn't need to be mocked in this way to make the doctor look better and provide more humour; he could have been better used. Still great for Doctor Who & Benny fans but slightly disappointing for Sherlock Holmes fans.