The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - The Peerless Peer

Wold Newton #3

by Philip José Farmer, Win Scott Eckert (Afterword)

Holmes partners with Tarzan on a quest to catch a nefarious German spy and his weapon of dread in this “glorious” sci-fi mystery from a Hugo Award–winning SFWA Grand Master ( Locus )
 
A night sky aerial engagement with a deadly Fokker aircraft nearly claims three brilliant lives . . . Meanwhile, Baker Street’s enigmatic mystery-solver, Sherlock Holmes, forms a historic alliance with Greystoke—the noble savage, peer of the realm, and lord of the jungle—bring down the hellish spy Von Bork!

This edition also contains a brand new afterword by Win Scott Eckert and a bonus preview of Kim Newman’s novel, The Hound of the D'Urbervilles .

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Science Fiction, Adventure, Fantasy, Pulp, Crime

139 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1974

About the author

Philip José Farmer was an American author, principally known for his science fiction and fantasy novels and short stories. He was born in Terre Haute, Indiana, but spent much of his life in Peoria, Illinois.

Farmer is best known for his Riverworld series and the earlier World of Tiers series. He is noted for his use of sexual and religious themes in his work, his fascination for and reworking of the lore of legendary pulp heroes, and occasional tongue-in-cheek pseudonymous works written as if by fictional characters.

Reviews

[Golshad · Rating 1 out of 5]

بی سر و ته! یک توهين به آرتور کانن دویل و آثارش! هلمز توی این داستان یک احمق به تمام معنی بود! این کتاب نه به عنوانِ داستانی از هلمز که حتی یک کتاب جنایی هم ارزشی نداره!

[Marvin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Holmes & Watson meet Tarzan aka Lord Greystoke.

"Lord Greystoke is living with an ape?" I said. "A female ape, I trust."

"Oh yes." Mycroft said. "There's nothing queer about Greystoke, you know."

I am afraid Philip Jose Farmer couldn't resist hauling out that old joke. Yet The Adventure of the Peerless Peer is a clever and entertaining parody of the Holmes stories that has Holmes and Watson allying with the king of the jungle. Farmer's Holmes seems a bit more of a bungler than I'm used to but the great detective is in his late sixties and not used to the new technology of World War I, especially airplanes. Overall, it's pleasant fluff that should amuse the fans of both Sherlock Holmes and Tarzan.

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was conflicted about this short novel in which Holmes and Watson go to Africa and meet Tarzan. It's partly pastiche and partly parody; sometimes it seems to be good-humored amusement, and at others a bad-tempered mockery. It's a part of Farmer's Wold-Newton sequence, which seemed to attempt to incorporate every fictional pop-culture character (honestly, I always found it to be too recursive and convoluted to get a good handle on it), but it's fast and easy to read and understand on its own. It's a fast-paced story that's engaging and interesting most of the time, but sometimes it gets too silly to stand. It's not a book that I'd re-read; Doyle and Burroughs might have chuckled a time or two, but overall, I doubt they'd approve.

[Anthony · Rating 4 out of 5]

From the beginning of Titan Books' series of reissues of classic Holmes pastiches and crossovers, I'd been wondering if they would manage to secure the rights to finally reprint Farmer's 1974 classic teaming Holmes and Tarzan. Granted, the original story penned by Farmer is relatively slim at 128 pages. As compared to most of Titans' reissues it's more novella than novel. Still, it's good to see the story back in print in a widely-available format that doesn't require fans to scour used bookstores or pick up pricier limited edition anthologies from specialty presses.

For fans of Farmer and his "Wold Newton" concept, this book is pure gold. Any Wold-Newton-connected story, whether by Farmer or Win Eckert or anyone else, is a treasure-hunt: how many casual references to other fictional characters can you find? As expected from the man who built the original Wold-Newton Family Tree, Farmer drops plenty of names in these pages. He also carefully closes the connection between Holmes and Greystoke that he first outlined in his Tarzan Alive: that Holmes' "Adventure of the Priory School" involves the Greystokes, with Watson changing the family's name to Holdernesse in the published version to protect the family name and prevent public scandal.

For fans of fast-moving pulp fiction, the book is pure gold as well. Even when the main characters are completely at rest (for instance, during long hours of air travel), the book still zips along. There are no long drawn-out descriptive passages (except, curiously, when Watson is describing the aircraft they are riding in). Holmes' mission is to stop Von Bork; the encounter with Tarzan only helps move that mission along. There aren't any secondary stories or side-trips; the longest lull in the action is the short breather towards the end where the Holmes-Tarzan connection is spelled out by the Great Detective.

As far as the "extras" in this edition go: Win Scott Eckert is perhaps THE torch-bearer for the Wold-Newton concept now that Farmer has passed away; along with folks like Christopher Paul Carey, Eckert has been completing unfinished Farmer novels and writing stories that fill in "missing pieces" of the Wold-Newton family tree. Eckert's essay "puts the pieces together" for those who are not as well-versed in the published careers of Tarzan and Holmes, explaining most of Farmer's off-hand references to other characters and clarifying things like "the succession of ducal titles" that is so important to the Greystoke/"Holdernesse" line of succession. Eckert also explains the connection between PEER and "The Adventure of the Three Madmen," and nods to Dennis E. Powers' great essay reconciling the two stories. For anyone interested in knowing more about Wold-Newton scholarship, Eckert's Afterword to PEER is a great place to start.

My only regret is that Titan didn't include "Three Madmen" in this volume. Rounding out the book with Farmer's alternate take on the story, and Powers' essay, would really have made it a complete package.

So there you have it: a rollickin' good adventure that doesn't take very long to read, and a great essay to follow it up? What's not to love?

[Paul Holden · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 This was a slightly odd Sherlock Holmes story. It sees the famous detective and his trusty sidekick Dr Watson spending a lot of time on rickety planes and then they’re traipsing through the East African jungle. They’ve been sent to find an old foe who has stolen plans for some germ warfare, this being set during WW1, but that becomes a subplot as the main focus is on the central duo and a white, feral apeman, who may or may not be a peer of the realm. Like I said, a little out there. And I was rather disturbed by the notion of Watson and Holmes clutching each other in terror as something emerged through the foliage. The Holmes I know wouldn’t dream of reacting like that. Perhaps I’ve just become used to by Laurie R Kings version of Holmes who is almost horizontal with calm and guile. But this was a short read and quite enjoyable, despite its faults.

[Kieran McAndrew · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mycroft Holmes calls once more on his brother and Doctor Watson to track down and capture the German spy, Von Bork, who has killed a British Agent to steal a genetically enhanced bacteria which could devastate food supplies.

In the course of their pursuit, Holmes and Watson's plane goes down over the jungles of Africa, where they are rescued by Lord Greystoke, who aids in their mission.

If it swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, it is safe to presume that it's a duck. Sadly, this novelette does not feel Holmesian (or indeed Tarzan-like). Farmer's progression of his Wold Newton Family is at the expense of better works.

[Eli Roy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite the concept of the “Wold Newton Universe” being right up my alley, the execution always feels a little off. I think in Farmer’s attempt to make all the lineages’, “real world” vs fictional histories, and copyrights match up he puts too much legwork into explaining everything. I love the concept of a shared universe of pulp heroes and classic adventure protagonists but I could do without all the constant justifying that comes along with Farmer’s concept.

The book itself is enjoyable with its mile a minute cameos and pulpy story but I also think it teeters a bit too far into the realm of parody and meta commentary to be a truly awesome crossover.

[Alvaro Zinos-Amaro · Rating 4 out of 5]

A step up from The Other Log of Phileas Fogg.

[Ronald · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked how he connected famous fictional characters by having them in the story, which concerns a deadly bacillus which could be unleashed. Short but fun.

[Jon Arnold · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love the sort of metafictional games Farmer’s playing here; blending the stories of pulp icons into one world decades before postmodernism and Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill turned it into an art form. I’ve more of a problem with how it’s done – the Wold Newton meteor strike mysteriously empowering the villagers and their descendants to create some kind of variation on Marvel’s mutants. It’s a little dismissive of the human ideal of bettering yourself through wit and hard work; no you just wait for special powers to drop from the sky. It’s particularly unsuited to Holmes, an example of self-improvement via monomania if ever there was one.

The Peerless Peer is essentially the equivalent of a big soiree for late nineteenth and early twentieth century fiction. Farmer crams in as many names as he can in the framework of a nearly non-existent story (admittedly with some lovely gags, including the plot’s McGuffin) but it’s essentially a case of waiting to see who Holmes will bump into next. If you get a thrill from these sort of fictional interactions then you’ll probably love it but if you’re reading it post the likes of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Doctor Who’s celebrity historicals or the City of the Saved series (or indeed the author’s own Riverworld series) you’ll have seen it done with more eloquence and finesse. Farmer may have popularised metafictionality but, as with other genres, others have taken those ideas and refined them to the point of stealing the life from originals such as this.

[Thom · Rating 2 out of 5]

Two stars on goodreads means "it was okay" and that's an apt description of this. It has fun elements (Holmes and Watson and Greystoke) and silliness (from page 4, a bacillus modified by chemical means to only eat sauerkraut). It also plays fast and loose with the characters, which are mostly caricatures in this short novel / long story / novella.

This is a reissue of an earlier work by Philip José Farmer, with some additional framing elements and comments for the series. The author collects many pulp characters and stars under the umbrella of the Wold Newton meteorite. In service of that mythos, many names are dropped in the story - far more than reasonable. That plus writing which isn't really up to snuff brings the overall rating down.

[Margaret · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sherlock Holmes and John Watson are sent to Africa in WWI on a mission for Mycroft Holmes to aid against the war against Germany. On the way they meet up with the villain from "His Last Bow" - Baron Von Bork, and assorted characters from popular culture & literature, including Lord Greystoke aka Tarzan, the 'peerless peer' of the book's title.

The problem with the "Peerless Peer" for me was that it was impossible to tell whether I was reading pastiche or parody. I felt Holmes and Watson were caricatures, rather than interpretations of the the characters. Both felt horribly wrong to me.

I'm afraid I was deeply disappointed with this book.

[Christopher Rush · Rating 2 out of 5]

You know something? This isn't really all that good, no. But if you wish Alan Moore wrote more name-dropping, allusion-filled novels with very little substance, this is right up your alley. Mr. Farmer peppers the book with late-Holmes-era British fighter-hero-guys, most of whom were probably more readily recognizable when the book came out fifty-some years ago. As you know, people aren't allowed to know about things that happened before this morning, so you might be really confused by this book.

Very little actually happens in this book. Mr. Farmer expects you to know a decent amount of Holmes facts, which, again, may have been a more reasonable expectation in the 1970s, but that knowledge neither helps nor hinders your experience of this book. I don't want to overwhelm you with scientific profundity, but over 87% of this book is Old Holmes and Old Watson getting places, and as soon as they get to that place, they have to get to another place. Inexplicably, Old Holmes and Old Watson are jumping out of airplanes, hiking through jungles, swimming across rivers, climbing up mountains, and, frankly, even for a work of fiction comprised of imaginary characters, it's a load of codswallop. Mr. Farmer emphasizes throughout the book Holmes and Watson are very, very old (even older than forty ... like, tremendously old), yet he has them do thing not even the X-Men could reasonably do.

You might suspect from the cover and the title and the author that Holmes and Watson would quickly meet Tarzan (or Mowgli in other versions, because he's less ... offensive?), and the three of them investigate Tarzany mysteries and solve Tarzany problems. You would be completely and totally wrong.

Ancient Holmes and Ancient Watson don't even meet Tarzan until 60% through the adventure (if "adventure" meant "going from place to place, hilariously watching Super Old Holmes vomit because of air travel for pages at a time). Then, when they finally meet Tarzan, Mr. Farmer spends a boggling amount of time trying to convince us this isn't even the "real" Tarzan, but some sort of homicidal imposter. It's very, very confusing.

Tarzan has nothing to do with the covert plot, which is something about the World War 1-era Germans have created the Stereotype Killer (not its actual name, nor is it a socially-helpful destroyer of stereotypes, but a "this will make ethnic groups sad because it ruins the stereotypical thing they love nonstop all the time" sort of awkward thingamabob). Painfully Not Young Holmes flips a coin toward the end of solves the mystery ... I dunno ... it was really confusing, especially the part of Mega-Ancient Holmes coaxing Tarzan/Fake Tarzan into paying him a bajillion pounds (he has a checkbook handy in his leopard skin trousers, or something - I can't remember) for helping him ... stop the ... wait ... fight the .... Actually, I'm not sure what Tarzan is doing in this book. He's in it for less time than you-know-who in The Third Man, except he doesn't really contribute other than killing a lot of World War 1-era Germans, though he sort of rescues Cripplingly Moribund Holmes and Watson from a tribe of More Stereotype Tribesmen. Fortunately, this gives Ancestral Watson the opportunity to kidnap-rescue a woman and trick her into marrying him (I think her name is Anna Nicole, but I could be remembering that incorrectly).

It's hard to remember most of this book correctly, because it's not that memorable. But it does have Not Really Young At All Holmes dressing up as a bee to talk to bees while dressed as a bee, because bees think a six-foot-tall Walking Skeleton Of A Man is a large bee if painted the right colors. So there is that.

You may want to skip this one, unless you are the World's Hugest Sherlock Holmes Completionist in the History of Mankind.

[Bev · Rating 1 out of 5]

It is 1916 and Holmes and Watson are called upon once again to save Britain. This time they must track down Von Bork before he can unleash a dreaded plague upon the world--bacteria that can devour a good Englishman's favorite food, boiled beef and potatoes. Forced to fly for the very first time (and they both hate it), they track the evil villain to darkest Africa where they form an uneasy alliance with the Lord of Jungle. Will they escape the African tribe bent on making them sacrifices? Will they escape the venomous cobra? Will they discover where Von Bork has hidden the secret formula? Will Watson get married for a fourth time? Will these adventures be enough to keep the reader interested....?

I thought The Veiled Detective by David Stuart Davies was the worst Holmes pastiche out there. I would be wrong. When I found this book by Farmer, I thought it looked like a fun mash-up between Holmes and Tarzan (Lord Greystoke). I've enjoyed several short stories and novels by Farmer in the past and expected a rollicking good adventure if nothing else. What I got was one of most incredibly awful parodies of Holmes and Watson and Tarzan possible (though I'm less solid on Tarzan--having not read much by Burroughs). I'm quite sure Farmer thought he was being hilarious with what passes for humor herein and maybe in the 1970s it was. But reading this at my age in 2021--the "humor" is sophomoric at best and insulting to the Holmes and Watson characters (and the reader) at worst. The only reason I give this one star instead of none is that I did enjoy playing "spot the character" for other fictional characters who pop up along the way. John Dickson Carr's Dr. Fell and Henry Merrivale, H. Rider Haggard's Allan Quartermain, and others make appearances or are mentioned in the narrative. There is even a reference to the world of Dorothy L. Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey when the Duke of Denver is discussed.

First posted on my blog My Reader's Block.

[Ashley T · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this up in a used bookshop because the title was ridiculous, opened it because the cover was ridiculous, then bought it because the plot was ridiculous. The idea is that Sherlock Holmes and John Watson get involved in a case during World War I (when they are thoroughly old men) that brings them to Africa where they meet Tarzan. The bad guy’s evil plot is to drop sauerkraut-eating bacteria on Germany to starve the population. If that plot interests you then the book will meet your criteria because that’s pretty much all that happens. It’s a fun parody with some silly one-liners, as you might expect, but I still would have liked for it to be more consistently silly.

[Frank Vasquez · Rating 2 out of 5]

Really wanted to like this more than I wound up not liking it. Alas, this adventure, if it may be called that amidst exposition, antiquated and vulgar descriptions hinging on xenophobia and white supremacy (truly, maybe, not deliberately, but certainly very striking. I was never totally certain Farmer wasn’t being satirical, but the fact is I was put off more often than I was amused.), and not much sleuthing in what kicked off as and sputtered to a long-winded conclusion as a pulp noir jungle adventure drama with less sleuthing than the Holmes banterings with Watson would have led you to believe, was not… my cup of anything. “Not unreadable” is all I really should or could say of this.

[David Grossman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very entertaining. Altho I'm deluged with 'homework', I'm trying to cram for Philip Jose Farmer's upcoming Centennial Con.
Clearly tongue in cheek. Really enjoy these crossovers. Sherlock has gotten irritable & foul-mouthed in his old age, but he's still sharp as a tack. Unlike him, I have a hard time keeping the names of royal families straight (I'd have to work VERY hard to become Sir Hillary Bray), and I confess I haven't read the Burroughs source material yet.
Fun mix of reimagined classics/fantasy/scifi/alternative historical fiction.

[The other John · Rating 1 out of 5]

'Twas a mediocre book--certainly Mr. Farmer has written better. It's a tale of Holmes & Watson, called out of retirement during World War I, to undertake a mission for the crown. Circumstances take them to Africa, where they encounter Lord Greystoke, the King of the Jungle.As a Holmesian tale, there's not much mystery. As a Tarzan tale, it's not all that adventurous. Nor was it funny enough to tell if the entire story was supposed to be a parody or simply a light hearted homage. It will serve as waiting room material, but I wouldn't really recommend it.

[Kenneth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Farmer was able to tie most of these different elements together in an enjoyable and readable book. I'm sure that writing more like stories would have him hone his mystery skills. Many of the most enjoyable and 'different' Holmes mysteries incorporate real-life characters and events. When new twists, on people and events, we already know are used and 'work' we know we have a good read ahead.kapm.

[Stefan Grieve · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's mostly fun and light, but more like a parody than a literary cross-over. It does get rather silly.

I did laugh out loud once (a line regarding Holmes and his cocaine habits) and was at some points enthralled, but there was too much exposition and things that seemed weirdly out of place, like the asterisk-covered swearing for just one example.
A foreshadowing that paid off later was something I appreciated.

At the moment, nothing further to write.

[Jools · Rating 2 out of 5]

Honestly I found the story really not interesting, and the structure too complicated for such a small book. Moreover, the constant presence of gigs, rather then being funny, made only look the protagonists dumb idiots. I didn't perceived Watson and especially Holmes as the same personalities you can find in the original works

[Jason Anderson · Rating 2 out of 5]

An adequate story for the short length, however through most of the story the character of Sherlock Holmes is in name only. There are tidbits of his, and Watson’s, character that are on point, but most of the story felt lacking in the personal characteristics Doyle painstakingly created in his works.

[-Curious- · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my favourite of the post-Doyle Sherlock books. Particularly glaring for me was that "The End" appeared at page 124...what followed was narratives that read like sales pitches for other books by Farmer, and a lengthy "Coming Soon" section for other books in the series...glad it's over.

[Jim · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Characterization of Holmes and Watson seemed off. Like the author was trying to play it more as a comedy than anything else. The comedy just did not work for me. I liked all the Wold Newton cross references, but overall, the book was a bit of a disappointment

[Colin Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tarzan meets Holmes, such an irresistible idea. Unfortunately, it's undercut by a really really off characterization of Holmes: greedy, verbally abusive to Watson, and basically doesn't solve any really mystery.

[Bill Doughty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Silly and short, but fun. Farmer was clearly having a good time not only crossing Holmes & Watson over with several of their pulp fictional successors (predominantly Tarzan, but lots of others make cameos or are name dropped), but judging them.

[Fraser Merricks · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sherlock Holmes teaming up with the king of the jungle. At first I was intrigued to see how this would work out and yet I was a bit disappointed as I was expecting a better connection to both fictional characters. Worth the read.

[David Macpherson · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was readable. I will give that; But there was not much to it. A mash up having sherlock holmes meet Tarzan in the hidden kingdom from the novel She. It should have been so much more fun than it was. The character of Holmes was very unpleasant and think that was the majoy problem.

[E · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don’t understand what’s going on, so I couldn’t finish this. Maybe if it wasn’t Sherlock Holmes I could have processed it better - I think the contrast between the usual stories and this premise are just too far apart for my poor brain to tackle. I kept getting so confused that I gave up.

[Gus Scholtz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read several of the Sherlock Holmes meets ( out in a fictional character) someone. Never really enjoy them that much. However this was light hearted enough to keep it interesting.
Holmes ands up in the jungle and him and Tarzan have an adventure.
Amusing