Welcome

Welcome! Like the book of the same name, this blog is an eclectic collection of Sherlockian scribblings based on more than a half-century of reading Sherlock Holmes. Please add your own thoughts. You can also follow me on Twitter @DanAndriacco and on my Facebook fan page at Dan Andriacco Mysteries. You might also be interested in my Amazon Author Page. My books are also available at Barnes & Noble and in all main electronic formats including Kindle, Nook, Kobo and iBooks for the iPad.

Wednesday, October 7, 2015

Mad About Mycroft

There’s been a bit of Sherlockian buzz about the new novel Mycroft Holmes by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Anna Waterhouse. I’ll review it here soon.
Even before I opened the front cover, however, it hit me how fascinating readers – and writers – find the character of Mycroft Holmes. This isn’t the first novel about him. Moreover, he’s probably one of the most popular characters in Holmes pastiches. Why is that?
You may have your own reasons. Here are mine:
·         We don’t know very much about him, so there’s plenty of room to fill in imaginatively. Mycroft only appears in two Canonical short stories, and is mentioned in two others.

·         He’s Sherlock Holmes’s smarter brother, who could have been an even greater detective than Sherlock. That’s endlessly intriguing.

·         Mycroft belongs to the Diogenes Club, the club for the most unsociable of men. At least two other detectives belong to the Diogenes – Solar Pons and Sir Henry Merrivale.

·         He is a lot like Nero Wolfe, except that he doesn’t come with a whole cast of wonderful characters (Archie Goodwin, Fritz Brenner, Saul Panzer, etc.) in orbit around him.
What do you like best about Mycroft Holmes?

2 comments:

  1. I like his idiosyncrasies - especially the ones I happen to share with him. ;-) He loves being alone - I love that too. He's lazy - me too (though I'm trying to battle that laziness unlike Mycroft who's surrendered!).

    I also find it special that despite the generally detached relationship Sherlock and Mycroft share, Mycroft is always there when Sherlock really needs him (in The Final Problem). Similarly, the brothers are not very demonstrative about their affection, but they do confide in each other when it really matters (Eg. after Holmes disappears at the Reichenbach Falls).This shows a subtle depth that's present in their relationship.

    ReplyDelete