BASIC PLOT
The TARDIS brings the Doctor and Martha to Balmoral in 1902. Here they meet Captain Harry Carruthers - friend of the new king, Edward VII. Together they head for the castle to see the king - only to find that Balmoral Castle is gone, leaving just a hole in the ground.

DOCTOR
Tenth.

COMPANIONS
Martha Jones.

MATERIALISATION CIRCUIT
Pg 6 On a scottish hillside, 1902.

Pg 26 Picadilly Circus.

Pg 39 On top of a sand dune, in the Arabian desert (pg 35).

Pg 83 Just outside Balmoral Castle (now returned to its rightful location).

Pg 99 In the laboratory of the Cosmic Peacemakers, Black Horse Lane (but see Continuity Cock-ups).

PREPARATORY READING
It helps a tiny bit to be familiar with Smith and Jones.

CONTINUITY REFERENCES
Pg 7 "Queen Victoria loved this bit of countryside/ Called it her Highland paradise." Tooth and Claw.

Pg 10 "'My heart's in the Highlands, my heart is not here,' sang the Doctor in a surprisingly good Scots accent." Reference to David Tennant's natural Scottish accent, which we hear in Tooth and Claw.

Pg 15 "The hospital where Martha had been a medical student had been whisked away to the moon by the Judoon." Smith and Jones.

Pg 22 About Arthur Conan Doyle: "I met him once." Evolution.

Pg 60 "We are the Peacemakers." It's not actually a reference to Peacemaker, the immediately prior book, but the aliens there were also named Peacemakers (see page 146 of that book).

Pg 65 "Queen Victoria thought I was a bad influence..." Tooth and Claw.

Pg 68 "And the Daleks brought out a new Master Plan every week." The Daleks' Master Plan et al.

Pg 98 "I shall recruit other soldiers - warriors from Schlangi, or Ogrons perhaps." The Ogrons first appeared in Day of the Daleks.

OLD FRIENDS AND OLD ENEMIES
The Judoon, who first appeared in Smith and Jones.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who previously appeared in Evolution.

NEW FRIENDS AND NEW ENEMIES
King Edward, Harry Carruthers.

CONTINUITY COCK-UPS

1. Pg 36 "'Typical gin mill, drunk for tuppence, dead drunk for sixpence.' [...] 'And here's the old clothes shop,' she said. 'So the steps should be just a little further on.'" Except on page 32, Conan Doyle said "You reach it by a steep flight of steps between a gin palace and an old clothes shop."
2. Pg 97 "This time it showed a map of London's Dockyards - Black Horse Lane" doesn't square with page 32: "'They have a laboratory,' said Doyle. It is in Black Dog Lane".

PLUGGING THE HOLES [Fan-wank theorizing of how to fix continuity cock-ups]

1. Conan Doyle had forgotten the exact geography. A bit like the author, one suspects.
2. Since Conan Doyle is actually a shape-changing Peacemaker when he gives out this information, these slip-ups are not the result of lazy writing but are, in fact, clever and subtle clues as to what's going on. Even if this second one doesn't occur until about forty pages after the substitution has been revealed.

FEATURED ALIEN RACES
Pg 53 The Judoon.

Pg 60 The Peacemakers, lizard-like aliens who can camouflage themselves as humans.

FEATURED LOCATIONS
Pg 1 Balmoral Castle, 1902 (the back cover).

Pg 26 London.

Pgs 34-35, 39 The Empty Quarter, the Arabian desert.

IN SUMMARY - Robert Smith?
This is more like it! This is nonstop fun from beginning to end. The plot weighs about as much as the book does, but you don't care because you're having a blast. The only downside is the Judoon themselves, who barely appear, as the book's more interested in the Peacemakers; the Judoon pop up briefly in the second half, the Doctor asks them to leave and they just do! But that doesn't matter, because this is so enjoyable. To date, this is Terrance Dicks' final novel. But he really should write one of these Quick Reads a year.