Mycroft and Sherlock: The Empty Birdcage (Mycroft Holmes 3) - Hardcover

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar; Anna Waterhouse

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1785659308 ISBN 13: 9781785659300

Publisher: Titan Books (UK), 2019

Synopsis

The new novel by NBA All-Star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, starring brothers Mycroft and Sherlock Holmes.

It is 1873, and as the economies of Europe threaten to crumble, Mycroft Holmes finds himself 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, only a mysterious calling card. Meanwhile, Sherlock has already taken it upon himself to solve the case, as his interest in the criminal mind grows into an obsession.

Mycroft begrudgingly allows Sherlock to investigate, as Ai Lin - the woman he is still in love with - needs his aid. Her fiancé has been kidnapped, and the only man who might know his fate is a ruthless arms dealer with a reputation for killing those who cross him. Mycroft persuades his friend Cyrus Douglas to help find the young man, but Douglas himself is put in harm's way.

As Sherlock travels the country on the hunt for the Fire Four Eleven murderer, both he and Mycroft will discover that the greed of others is at the root of the evil they are trying to unearth...

About this title

Review:

"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

"The third book in this superb series again provides an elegant writing style with a captivating mystery. Don't you love abstruse clues left by a serial killer that only geniuses like the Holmes brothers could decipher?" -Otto Penzler, editor of The Big Book of Sherlock Holmes Stories

"Could one have ever imagined Sherlock Holmes without Watson? There is a new partnership afoot, of the pre-Watson, young and energetic Holmes brothers. This volume continues the initial pairing of Mycroft and Sherlock to our complete delight." ---Michael F. Whelan, president of The Baker Street Irregulars

"Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Anna Waterhouse's crackling international intrigue Mycroft & Sherlock - The Empty Birdcage re-animates Conan Doyle's world and makes it their own. Their portrait of Mycroft Holmes, his best friend Cyrus Douglas, the Trinidad born tobacco merchant whose race means he is in a kind of perennial disguise, and Mycroft's younger brother Sherlock broadens the lens through which the world of crime is seen. Through a parallel series of mysteries that stretch from the quiet English countryside to the London docks, the landing stage for a world in violent transition, KAJ and AW bring to the foreground the voices of those whose stories have too long been footnotes and now take their place in the complex, historically vibrant page-turner. " - --Walter Mosley, NY Times Best-Selling Author & Edgar Award Grandmaster Recipient

About the Author:

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.

About this edition

• Publisher: Titan Books (UK)
• Publication date: 2019
• ISBN 10: 1785659308
• ISBN 13: 9781785659300
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 336