The Scottish Ploy: A Mycroft Holmes Novel [Paperback]

The period treatment here is simply superb, by far the best of any of the many Holmes pastiches I have encountered. In this installment, we also receive a number of tantalyzing clues about the relationship of Mycroft and Tyers, his manservant, to the noxious Brotherhood.

This is a book that leaves one in eager anticipation of the next one in the series. Here's hoping there are many more books to come in this series!

In fact, Mycroft Holmes is confronted with a mare's nest of problems including a Turk's missing brother, a famous phrenologist, and perpetually being pursued and shot at. It is all that Mycroft and Guthrie can do to find the common threads and come to grips with a plot that makes devilish use of what are normally Holmes strengths.

This series has a great deal of charm to it. While I wouldn't say that Mycroft Holme's personality is exactly true to Conan Doyle, he is certainly in character for an intelligent man of his position during the 1890's in London. Paterson Guthrie is perfectly typecast as a gentleman of breeding. Paterson is certainly younger and brighter than Watson is, but he is cut from the same cloth. Sometimes he is so stuffy you just want to kick him.

Greatly increasing Guthrie's stuffiness quotient is the reappearance of Penelope Gatspy, the indomitable agent of the Golden Lodge. The Lodge is a secret organization of mysterious goals, which, on occasion, coincide with those of Mycroft Holmes. Miss Gatspy, who can outshoot, out think, out race and out last just about any English gentleman, is the undoing of Guthrie. Of course, the only person who doesn't know that Paterson Guthrie is in love with Penelope is Guthrie himself. He has, unfortunately, no idea how to deal with a 'modern' woman and this provides much of the humorous by-play in "The Scottish Ploy."

The book is very well written. Aficionados should know that most of the key bit players also put in their appearances. By the fourth volume though, I have finally realized that, while there is a great deal of deduction and adventure in these books, Holmes and Guthrie are often dry and humorless to a fault. Penelope does her best, but it is too much to ask of even such an incredibly talented woman to completely humanize two such paragons of British propriety.

Oh well, just because they never seem to laugh at anything doesn't meant that we can't, and there as enough humor and mystery and suspense to keep the story from ever flagging. I would, however, suggest reading one or more of the earlier volumes before taking up "The Scottish Ploy." Much history is carried forth from previous volumes and Fawcett is not one to offer extensive explanations. Have no fear, once you start reading them you will never regret the decision.

No one detests the Brotherhood more than Mycroft Holmes, the older brother of the famous private detective, does. He recently learns the Brotherhood, which has been absent from England for quite a while, has set in motion a scheme to gain entrance on English soil. At a time that Mycroft needs to remain at full alert, he is beset by conflicting problems that pull him into different directions. He knows in his gut that the Brotherhood is responsible for his troubles an also he must stop them if he can.

Quinn Fawcett turns his hero into a mysterious person with complex depths and an incisive intelligence. Mycroft is James Bond turned M, a spymaster operating in the deepest shadows. THE SCOTTISH PLOY includes an excellent mystery filled with numerous twists and red herrings that continually fool readers who never know what will happen next. The novel provides insight into Mycroft's psyche that in turns allows the audience to understand his patriotic fervor. This is a great entry in fantastic series.

Harriet Klausner