The Scottish Ploy: A Mycroft Holmes Novel - Softcover

Fawcett, Quinn

3.82

71 ratings by Goodreads

9780312876289: The Scottish Ploy: A Mycroft Holmes Novel

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0312876289 ISBN 13: 9780312876289

Publisher: Forge Books, 2001

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Featuring the most intriguing sleuth to come along since Sherlock Holmes, and a supporting cast whose loyalty and intelligence are matched only by their humor and quick reaction times, the Mycroft Holmes novels appeal to new readers and to fans of all things Holmesian.

In The Scottish Ploy, seemingly unconnected events pull Mycroft in several directions at once. To prevent the leaders of an anarchist group from reaching England's shores, Mycroft must, much to his dismay, become part of the intended reconciliation of a husband and wife. To do so he has spy networks to monitor and men of influence to, well, influence.

Then there are the minor puzzles: Why is a gentleman who claims to be Turkish seeking his supposedly kidnapped brother in London? Why does an eminent phrenologist urgently want Mycroft's opinion on the inhabitants of his asylum? Who has been following Mycroft and his estimable secretary, the amiable Paterson Guthrie, through foggy streets? What motivated the attempted assassination of an Admiralty courier on Mycroft's own doorstep? When the lovely Penelope Gatspy saves Guthrie's life, is it because of the attraction between them, or on orders of the mysterious "lodge" she serves?

But, most important to Mycroft-what is behind the kidnapping of his old friend, the actor Edmund Sutton, who was in the midst of a triumphant run as Macbeth?

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About the Author:

A Knight Templar of the Scottish Order, QUINN FAWCETT has been interested in all things Holmesian since he can remember, and considers it a rare honor to write with Dame Jean Conan Doyle’s permission. Against the Brotherhood and Embassy Row were his first two novels. Fawcett currently lives in the Caribbean.

From Publishers Weekly:

International intrigue, phrenology and the theater (the title puns on the historical euphemism for Macbeth, i.e. "the Scottish play") concern Mycroft Holmes, Sherlock's older, smarter brother, in his fourth adventure in Fawcett's popular series (The Flying Scotsman, etc.). Once again Patterson Guthrie, Mycroft's secretary, serves as the Watson-like narrator. Unfortunately, for all the excitementDa threat to the government, marriage difficulties among the aristocracy, poisonings, disappearances and chasesDmany details jar. In a key plot development the "portly" Mycroft engages his friend, actor Edmund Sutton, who's playing the lead in Macbeth, to be his body double, yet Sutton is described as "lanky." There are more gunshots in central London than you might expect in Victorian times, while the official force oddly keeps a low profile. Dr. Watson can dress the wound of an admiralty runner shot on Mycroft's doorstep, then commit the unlucky man to the hospital with no fuss from the public or the police. Any mystery requires the reader to suspend disbelief to some extent, but this one at times requires a suspension apparatus that could support London Bridge. You can't help wondering why Mycroft didn't do the really smart thing and let Sherlock handle the case and Watson write about it. (Dec. 6) Forecast: Holmes purists have tended to look down their noses at this series, authorized by the late dame Jean Conan Doyle, but fans should welcome this as enthusiastically as Fawcett's previous Mycroft Holmes titles.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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