Book excerpt: The Great Shadow, also known as The Great Shadow and other Napoleonic Tales, is an Action & Adventure novel published by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in 1892. The novel was published in J.W. Arrowsmith's Bristol Library. The novel takes place in the Napoleonic era on the English-Scottish border city called West Inch. The Great Shadow refers to the Napoleon's influence and his reputation that forms a shadow over West Inch.