Mycroft and Sherlock: The Empty Birdcage

Description

The new novel by NBA All-Star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, starring brothers Mycroft and Sherlock Holmes. It is 1873, and Mycroft Holmes is in service to the Crown once again. A distant relative of Queen Victoria has been slain by the Fire Four Eleven killer, a serial murderer who leaves no mark upon his victims. Mycroft allows Sherlock to take the case, as he has been asked to find a missing person - the fiance of the woman he loves. As Sherlock travels the country on the hunt for a murderer, both he and Mycroft will discover that the greed of others is at the root of the evil they are trying to unearth...

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is a huge Holmesian--7'2" tall, basketball's all-time leading scorer, and a U.S. cultural ambassador. He's written extensively, including What Color is My World (children's), Brothers in Arms (military history), and On the Shoulders of Giants (black history). His novel Mycroft Holmes, starring Sherlock Holmes lesser well known but far more talented older brother, was published in 2015. Anna Waterhouse has sold and/or optioned several scripts, consulted on a feature-length doc for HBO, was supervising producer/co-writer of Netflix/Showtime's On the Shoulders of Giants which won an NAACP Image Award for best documentary, has taught screenwriting at both Chapman University and at U.S.C., and is currently working on a limited series with acclaimed writer Robert Towne.

"Abdul-Jabbar and Waterhouse's third pastiche (after 2018's Mycroft and Sherlock), their best yet, provides intriguing challenges for both Mycroft and Sherlock Holmes while continuing to present plausible backstories for the brothers....The authors do a stellar job of illuminating the siblings' developing relationship while concocting a clever and twisty plot. Sherlockians will be enthralled." -Publishers Weekly Starred Review "All the usual pleasures--blood and thunder, sibling rivalry, historical walk-ons..." -Kirkus Reviews