Publisher's Weekly Review
Abdul-Jabbar and Waterhouse's intriguing sequel to 2015's bestselling Mycroft Holmes again places Sherlock Holmes's older brother in the lead. In 1872, 26-year-old Mycroft's acumen has landed him a senior position in the War Office in London, and even brought him to the attention of Queen Victoria, who seeks his help in averting tensions with Scotland over a football match. Mycroft also serves in loco parentis for his 18-year-old younger sibling, whose interest in crime has manifested itself by an appetite for newspaper reports on the subject. The brothers join forces with Mycroft's close friend from Trinidad, philanthropist Cyrus Douglas, to investigate a number of mysteries, including a series of bizarre killings dubbed the Savage Gardens murders after the name of the small street where they occurred. The murderer has claimed seven victims, six of them Chinese, who were all sliced into quarters and left to bleed out. Although the authors' active Mycroft is a far cry from the canon's sedentary genius, their depiction of what he was like as a young man works as a plausible backstory. Agent: Deborah Morales, Iconomy. (Oct.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
The year 1872 finds Mycroft Holmes, not yet known as Sherlock Holmes' smarter brother, pulled into a drug-tinged series of murders that, against all odds, entangles his younger brother too in a piquant case of sibling rivalry.As London is devastated by the Savage Gardens Murders, whose victims are the owners or habitus of opium dens, Mycroft, recently promoted to the position of special counsel to Queen Victoria, looks forward eagerly to hands-on involvement in international intrigue at the highest level. Instead, he finds himself mired in family problems. A ship belonging to his old friend and Trinidad native Cyrus Douglas has been wrecked, and in order to take part in its salvaging, Cyrus must absent himself from Nickolus House, the residential school he runs for orphaned boys in memory of his own dead son. Could 18-year-old Sherlock possibly take a few days off from his studies at Downing College, Cambridge, to teach the boys some elementary principles of mathematics in Douglas' absence? Sherlock's first response is splenetic refusal, but once he settles into the job, his unorthodox instructional methods endear him as much to his temporary charges as they horrify Mycroft, and the fatal overdose of one of them makes him determined to investigate. Although Mycroft announces, "Unless that poor boy's death has implications for Queen and country, it is no matter for me," his own chance meeting with medical student Ai Lin, whose brother, Dai en-Lai, is a schoolmate of Sherlock's, leads him to both the same mystery and, even more unlikely, to a promise of romance.The mystery, as so often in Conan Doyle, is less interesting than the Holmes-ian byplay. But fans will want to read this sturdy pastiche if only for the deathless query: "Do we bring Sherlock in? Or leave him in relative ignorance until after his exams?" Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
*Starred Review* Mycroft Holmes, a rising star in the British government, sees signs that the British economy of 1872 is on the precipice of a severe recession. The queen listens to his concerns but dismisses them. In the meantime, Mycroft must decide what to do with his precocious, often-irritating, and always-cocksure younger brother, Sherlock. He decides that the nearly 19-year-old would do well as a teacher in a home for disadvantaged boys. Tragedy strikes when one of the boys is spirited away and murdered, motive unknown. Mycroft and Sherlock, along with Cyrus Douglas, Mycroft's best friend and a native of Trinidad, set about finding the killers. They learn that the victim may have been involved in London's burgeoning opium trade, if only as a delivery boy. Also in the mix is a beautiful Asian woman to whom Mycroft is attracted but who may also have a connection to the opium trade. The game, as Sherlock would later say, is afoot! In a sequel that takes place two years following the events detailed in the authors' outstanding Mycroft Holmes (2015), Abdul-Jabbar and Waterhouse again nail the historical ambience, the dialogue, and the plotting, effectively paying tribute to Arthur Conan Doyle but also adding large dollops of humor and romance. This is a wonderful mystery in what one hopes will be a long-running series.--Wes Lukowsky Copyright 2018 Booklist
Library Journal Review
When six Chinese males are found dead-quartered and mutilated-on London streets in 1872, 26-year-old Mycroft Holmes investigates. He is special consul to the secretary of state for war and already a major force behind government officialdom. His best friend, Cyrus Douglas, older and from Trinidad, sponsors a home for orphaned boys, one of whom dies of a drug overdose. Mycroft's younger brother Sherlock, 18 and at Cambridge, delves into the drug connection while Mycroft pursues the Chinese mystery. Each withholds vital information from the other. Sherlock plunges into many physical scrapes, but Mycroft prefers that others follow his intellectual guidance. It takes both to solve this mystery, neither fully willing to credit the other. VERDICT Basketball legend -Abdul-Jabbar is also a pro writer, having done memoirs, nonfiction, essays, children's books and, with Waterhouse, Mycroft Holmes, the precursor to this novel. Fans of Conan Doyle will appreciate the period accuracy, but a much wider audience will enjoy the intelligent treatment of race and social standing as part of a well--plotted, intriguing mystery.-Roland Person, formerly with Southern Illinois Univ. Lib., Carbondale © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
