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A Study In Statecraft: The Memoirs of Mycroft Holmes
Unearthed after being lost for nearly a century, at last the memoirs of Mycroft Holmes are available to the general public.
Students and followers of his brother, the Great Baker Street detective, Sherlock Holmes, have to date only been offered two stories in which Mycroft Holmes appears and two in which he is mentioned. This publication of the memoirs of Mycroft Holmes after their sensational discovery in the summer of 2023 transforms our understanding of Sherlock Holmes's more intelligent elder brother.
In this volume we see what it is when one extraordinarily talented person is the British Government as Mycroft Holmes applies his skills in statecraft to tax evasion, royal honours, Partygate, the 1918 Armistice, and the Abdication crisis of 1936.
Mycroft Holmes was at his apogee in the time covered by these memoirs.
Is it just chance that this time constituted the zenith of Britain's powers?
Students and followers of his brother, the Great Baker Street detective, Sherlock Holmes, have to date only been offered two stories in which Mycroft Holmes appears and two in which he is mentioned. This publication of the memoirs of Mycroft Holmes after their sensational discovery in the summer of 2023 transforms our understanding of Sherlock Holmes's more intelligent elder brother.
In this volume we see what it is when one extraordinarily talented person is the British Government as Mycroft Holmes applies his skills in statecraft to tax evasion, royal honours, Partygate, the 1918 Armistice, and the Abdication crisis of 1936.
Mycroft Holmes was at his apogee in the time covered by these memoirs.
Is it just chance that this time constituted the zenith of Britain's powers?
180 pages, Hardcover
Published November 11, 2023
2 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
April 2, 2024
Study in Statecraft
A Holmes Mystery from Mycroft's Perspective
As Sherlock Holmes characters find their own voices in many series, this is #2 in Orlando Pearson's efforts to give Mycroft center stage. I jumped in at this book, #2 in the series, and found the intro a bit confusing; but, overall...an enjoyable mystery, perfectly in keeping with the style and verbal tone of Doyle
A Holmes Mystery from Mycroft's Perspective
As Sherlock Holmes characters find their own voices in many series, this is #2 in Orlando Pearson's efforts to give Mycroft center stage. I jumped in at this book, #2 in the series, and found the intro a bit confusing; but, overall...an enjoyable mystery, perfectly in keeping with the style and verbal tone of Doyle
August 15, 2025
We’ve not heard much about the older brother of the famous Baker Street detective. Mycroft is mentioned in only two of Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories, where it is said that he ‘is the British government’.
His specialism, he says in these memoirs, is not in the ‘minutiae’, ‘the forensic area of crime’ or in ‘lying on my face with a lens to my eye’ like his famous brother, but rather in statecraft—‘getting people to agree to what they might not otherwise agree to’. Another difference is that brother Sherlock often acted a judge as well as detective, personally exonerating some criminals he considered worthy. Mycroft doesn’t make the decisions—he advises.
Intending to leave behind a textbook on the art of diplomacy, Mycroft chronicles how he manoeuvred the belligerent nations into signing the Armistice after WWI, how he convinced Edward VIII to abdicate.
Many of the stories are narrated by Sherlock’s biographer and crime-solving partner Dr Watson, keeping the familiar format. The flowery, verbose prose style of the time is somewhat replicated, through which the modern reader struggles, yet it does achieve a feel for the period. Despite the wordiness, the episodes are interesting, although the resolutions aren’t spectacular. The ‘episodes’ weave the fictional diplomacies around real historical people, making the stories credible.
Some are follow-ons from previous cases. The first case ‘An Individual of High Net Worth’ is a sequel to ‘The Beryl Coronet’. So, it assumes some familiarity with the Conan Doyle stories.
There are little nods to present day circumstances. Mycroft uncovers evidence of ‘jollifications’ at Number 10 during the Spanish Flu pandemic. He advises the Prime Minister on the ramifications of the King marrying a divorcée. The connections to our modern day are spelled out in ‘afterword’s’, which I would have preferred to instead remain inferred.
His specialism, he says in these memoirs, is not in the ‘minutiae’, ‘the forensic area of crime’ or in ‘lying on my face with a lens to my eye’ like his famous brother, but rather in statecraft—‘getting people to agree to what they might not otherwise agree to’. Another difference is that brother Sherlock often acted a judge as well as detective, personally exonerating some criminals he considered worthy. Mycroft doesn’t make the decisions—he advises.
Intending to leave behind a textbook on the art of diplomacy, Mycroft chronicles how he manoeuvred the belligerent nations into signing the Armistice after WWI, how he convinced Edward VIII to abdicate.
Many of the stories are narrated by Sherlock’s biographer and crime-solving partner Dr Watson, keeping the familiar format. The flowery, verbose prose style of the time is somewhat replicated, through which the modern reader struggles, yet it does achieve a feel for the period. Despite the wordiness, the episodes are interesting, although the resolutions aren’t spectacular. The ‘episodes’ weave the fictional diplomacies around real historical people, making the stories credible.
Some are follow-ons from previous cases. The first case ‘An Individual of High Net Worth’ is a sequel to ‘The Beryl Coronet’. So, it assumes some familiarity with the Conan Doyle stories.
There are little nods to present day circumstances. Mycroft uncovers evidence of ‘jollifications’ at Number 10 during the Spanish Flu pandemic. He advises the Prime Minister on the ramifications of the King marrying a divorcée. The connections to our modern day are spelled out in ‘afterword’s’, which I would have preferred to instead remain inferred.
January 7, 2024
Followers of the canon has been always intrigued by the characters whom Doyle had presented as if they are perpetually in shadow. Foremost among them is Mycroft Holmes. Exactly how had this person— Sherlock's smarter brother— acted as 'The British Government'? How did he react during the Great Hiatus? Was he the first 'M' that England had?
Kim Newman, Alan Moore, and so many other gifted authors have given us terrific tales where he has played secret but stellar roles that are sometimes white, occasionally black, and mostly grey.
But this one?
Alas!
Five tales presented here as 'Episode'-s are as interesting as paint drying. They are full of talks as tasty as sawdust, with enough name-dropping to rival a Telephone Directory. Apart from consuming pages they do nothing either in terms of storytelling or Mycroft.
Not recommended, honestly.
Kim Newman, Alan Moore, and so many other gifted authors have given us terrific tales where he has played secret but stellar roles that are sometimes white, occasionally black, and mostly grey.
But this one?
Alas!
Five tales presented here as 'Episode'-s are as interesting as paint drying. They are full of talks as tasty as sawdust, with enough name-dropping to rival a Telephone Directory. Apart from consuming pages they do nothing either in terms of storytelling or Mycroft.
Not recommended, honestly.
July 23, 2025
enjoyed the history and the mistakes that are still made, and how ego and ambition can sometimes get in the way.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews