When Holmes is suggesting titles for Watson's newest tale of their exploits, he suggests "The Monstrous Regiment," an obvious nod to the author Sir Terry Pratchett and his Discworld series. Pratchett in turn took his title from the 1558 polemic by John Knox entitled "The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women", a defense of patriarchy and an attack on what would not for centuries be called "feminism".