Arthur Conan Doyle wrote many different series of stories. It wasn't all Sherlock Holmes, although the Great Detective is predominantly what he is remembered for, as the writer feared might happen. There were also historical novels, the Professor Challenger stories, a host of one-off stories, and these Brigadier Gerard stories. The Gerard stories were and the historical novels are the black hole of my knowledge of Doyle, but at least that hole is slightly smaller now.
The titular Etienne Gerard was a fictitious French cavalry officer during the Napoleonic wars, who was excessively vain of his abilities on the battlefield and with the ladies, and of course of his looks. It's an impressive set of seventeen stories, clearly from the prime of Doyle's creativity, and it manages to maintain a delicate lightness of tone even in the stories around Waterloo and the downfall of the Emperor. Yes, it's a light satire of the French but it's also that for the British, effectively neutralising any offence taken by those who may have missed the very affectionate prose. There is no hatred toward anyone in the Gerard stories.
It's definitely refreshing to be reminded that Doyle was a master storyteller. He had it all. He wrote some of the best detective stories ever made, he did a dinosaur adventure in 'The Lost World', he wrote historical novels set in the middle ages, he created short stories in practically every genre, and these Brigadier Gerard stories as well. He had a twinkle in his prose, an eye for context, and a disregard for the punctilious maintenance of continuity.
The Gerard stories cover twenty-one years of history, and are all fascinating. My expectation was that boredom would seep in at some point, but Doyle did well and maintained variety and focused more on adventure than the horrors of war. Having said that, the horror of Waterloo is not glossed over, even as Gerard himself races through it in a mad dash to save Napoleon from his pursuers. In many ways, these are the stories that I really wished the Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe stories could have been. There is humour, stunning construction, excellent prose, and a smooth flow from story to story which makes it easy to read all the stories consecutively. There is also a far amount of globetrotting, which you might not expect and some little examination of the aftermath and consequences of the fall of the Emperor.
Yes, it's a recommended set of stories. If you fancy reading them, then get the illustrated collection, which has pictures which are easily the equal of those done for the Sherlock Holmes stories.
O.
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