The Adventures of Brigadier Gerard

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle may be best known for his Sherlock Holmes stories, but they were not his favorites. He loved the stories that promoted the chivalric ethos, even if they sometimes made fun of their heroes, as here. Gerard is a cavalry officer who is devoted to Napoleon and is incapable of seeing the world through any other lens. Rupert Degas is reliably excellent as the ego-inflated officer who fails to see the differences between French and English values, remaining fully confident through what most of us would consider the most embarrassing situations. But Degas never loses touch with the man's innate courage, grace, and devotion to his principles. D.M.H. (c) AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine

June 15, 2011

After killing off Sherlock Holmes, Conan Doyle wished to concentrate on historical novels and created what would become his second-most popular character, Brigadier Etienne Gerard, a Hussar officer in Napoleon's Grande Armee. Distinguished by his limitless vanity, Gerard tells of his great exploits fighting guerrillas in Spain and Portugal and Cossacks in Russia, among other adventures, in this series of short stories written between 1900 and 1910. Narrator Rupert Degas reads with a French accent, summoning all the bravado, confidence, and joie de vivre that is Etienne Gerard. He quickly draws listeners into these stories of an old soldier who is proud of his service and steadfast loyalty to L'Empereur. This entertaining work is strongly recommended wherever there is a demand for quality historical fiction.--Michael T. Fein, Central Virginia Community Coll. Lib., Lynchburg

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