the protocols in question are the infamous Protocols of the Elders of Zion. And if you know that name, you’ll know from the outset that this is the tale of one of Holmes’s failures. You’ll know that Holmes could not possibly have won this fight. You’ll perhaps question whether it’s a completely Quixotic mission that he and Watson are embarked on. But you won’t question their desperate need to attempt the impossible.
The story begins rather Jason Bourne-like. A British secret agent is found drowned, with a terrible document in her possession, which purports to be a plot by a cabal of Jews to take over the world. Holmes is tasked by brother Mycroft to find out whether it’s truth or fiction. Needless to say, they’re soon satisfied on that score. But Holmes wants to take things further, to trace the lie back to its source, to expose the perpetrators, to remove its potency forever.
This will involve our heroes in a dangerous journey to the heart of tsarist Russia, to the site of a deadly pogrom, dogged at every step by Russian secret police who will stop at nothing to protect the source of the protocols from exposure. And the journey back will prove eve more dangerous than the journey there. Journey with Holmes and Watson (and a lovely femme fatale) across Europe on the fabulous Orient Express, by milk train and hayrick and in coffins, tilting with windmills all the way.
If you’re familiar with the Protocols, you’ll want to read this. If you’re not, you must read this one.