Mycroft Holmes

A decent Holmes pastiche, with the focus on Mycroft, Sherlock's smarter older brother. Mycroft is 23, out of University, working for the Secretary of War, and engaged to a young woman who was raised in Trinidad and educated in England. When rumors of young children being killed by supernatural forces back in Trinidad reach England, Georgiana, the fiancee, embarks on a trip home, and Mycroft follows her (although she tells him not to).

What follows is an adventure story and a mystery, with murderous thugs, poisonings, corrupt government officials, communities of formerly enslaved and indentured people banding together to help each other, middle of the night break-ins, sword and gun fights, and surprise attacks by sea. Here and there we see catch glimpses of Mycroft using his formidable powers of observation to inform his decisions at life-or-death moments. The story of his fiancee helps us understand why he became the confirmed bachelor we know from the Sherlock Holmes stories. However, this Mycroft is a man of action, and it is unclear what made him become the sedentary Mycroft of Sherlock Holmes fame. I guess I will have to read the next Kareem Abdul-Jabbar book to find out, and I am looking forward to doing so.