Mycroft Holmes (novel) seek answers. Holmes and Douglas follow her to the island and are confronted with dark mysteries. Having been a fan of the original Sherlock Holmes stories as a child, Abdul-Jabbar specifically chose to write about Mycroft as he felt that there was already an abundance of Sherlock Holmes pastiches. Reading Michael P. Hodel and Sean M. Wright's "Enter the Lion: A Posthumous Memoir of Mycroft Holmes" caused Abdul-Jabbar to realize "more could be done with this ‘older, smarter’ character and his window on to the highest levels of British government – at a time when Britain was the most powerful
Mycroft Holmes (novel) country in the world." In choosing to write about Mycroft, Abdul-Jabbar diverged somewhat from Conan Doyle's version. Christopher Farnsworth writing for "The Los Angeles Times" said "Abdul-Jabbar and Waterhouse have created a smart origin story for Mycroft that slots neatly onto the shelves next to the original canon, but also reveals some harsh truths that Doyle probably never considered. " Mike Sager writing for "Esquire" said "The briskly written book has a delicately woven plot, bringing together such diverse elements as Trinidadian culture and folklore, the tobacco importation business in London, and a villain's elaborate scheme to bring slavery back