Staffer Elliott says - another smart adaptation of the Holmes stories. Abul-Jabbar gives us the Holmes brothers, beginning when Sherlock is a teenager, operating with a world that is multi-cultural and also just as racist as the Victorian world was. Mycroft, an operative for Queen and Country, is joined by his best friend Cyrus Douglas, a Black merchant from Trinidad who is forced to hire white employees to navigate through England. The mysteries are engaging, based on thorough research and historic detail, the characters are deep and nuanced, and the action is thrilling.

Basketball legend Abdul-Jabbar (Black Profiles in Courage) makes his triumphant adult fiction debut with an action yarn that fills in the backstory of Sherlock Holmes's older and smarter brother, Mycroft. In 1870, the 23-year-old Mycroft, who has a reputation as a daredevil, is serving as a secretary at the War Office when word reaches London of a series of unusual deaths in Trinidad. Someone, or some thing, has been killing children and draining their blood. The locals believe the culprits are supernatural beings known as lougarou, who drain children of their blood, and douen, who leave highly unusual footprints near their victims. The tragic news stuns Mycroft's fiancée, Georgiana Sutton, who immediately sails home to Trinidad. Disobeying her request to stay behind, Mycroft follows Georgiana to Trinidad, where he must exercise his intellect and his innate diplomatic skills to solve the crimes and remain alive. Sherlockians who relish the screen adventures of Cumberbatch and Downey will be particularly entertained. - Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Abdul-Jabbar, a Holmesian since his college days, joins forces with Waterhouse to offer a rousing mystery starring Sherlock's older (and smarter) brother, Mycroft, a rising star in the British government. The action begins in 1870 London but quickly moves to Trinidad, where Mycroft's closest friend, Cyrus Douglas, a native of the island, must travel to investigate what some believe is an infestation of douen--tiny supernatural characters who lead children into the clutches of werewolf-like lougarou. Mycroft joins his friend for the trip, and what the two find on arrival--after a near-fatal ocean crossing--isn't supernatural but far more harrowing... The authors hit all the right notes here, combining fascinating historical detail with rousing adventure, including some cleverly choreographed fight scenes and a pair of protagonists whose rich biracial friendship, while presented realistically, given the era (Douglas must sometimes pose as a butler), is the highlight of the book. Yes, Douglas is a sort-of Watson, but a much brighter, more physical, more bantering version, an equal not a foil. Mystery fans will be eager to hear more from this terrific duo, who may well develop into a gaslit version of Robert B. Parker's Spenser and Hawk. -Booklist (starred review)

The central conceit is audacious; Mycroft's sense of moral outrage is nicely reflective of the era; the historical detail is solid; and the period decorum is well-maintained throughout. - Kirkus Reviews

Clear space on your new fiction shelf for this slam-dunk of a debut novel. Cowritten by NBA all-star and author Abdul-Jabbar (What Color Is My World?) and screenwriter and producer ­Waterhouse, the team behind the NAACP and Telly Award-winning documentary On the Shoulders of Giants, this latest collaboration brings a fresh voice and broadened scope to the Holmes canon. Historical fiction and mystery fans will be the first to demand this title, but its mass appeal is undeniable. - Library Journal (starred review)

The erudite Jabbar has managed to weave elements of his far flung interests into a fascinating mystery narrative. The briskly written book has a delicate woven plot that brings together such diverse elements as Trinidadian culture and folklore, the tobacco importation business in London, and the usual Holmesian array of brightly obtuse knowledge and libertine philosophy that Sherlock fans enjoy-- not to mention a plot that involves an elaborate scheme to bring slavery back to the Caribbean. By far the star of the novel is Holmes' able accomplice Douglas--as compared to Watson, Douglas is portrayed as an equal instead of a foil. The careful dance of the friendship between the two men of different races, complicated by the laws and conventions of the era, is fascinating. -- Mike Sager, Esquire