Peter Brown wrote "Anyone having any knowledge or experience of actual intelligence work could not help a gasp of horror at what Sherlock Holmes is doing in 'His Last Bow'. Having by patient hard work established his credentials with the Germans and being in a perfect position to go on feeding them false information for the rest of the war, Holmes for no reason whatsoever blows his own cover and destroys everything. Why, for God's sake? Why? How I wish I could reach into that room and shout at Holmes: 'Stop! What are you doing? Are you crazy?'. Alas, this story with its monumental blunder must remain forever as it is. Conan Doyle had a wide knowledge of many subjects - evidently, intelligence work was not one of them. There were in 1916 England some people he could have profitably consulted on the subject."