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
Jack Spratt (fictional detective) fabricated. It is revealed that early on in Spratt's career, his ambitious and self-obsessed partner Friedland Chymes stole most of the credit for their greatest cases, thereby rising to the top to become one of the most popular detectives in England. Jack, being totally honest and unwilling to cater the media's demand for glamorous hero detectives, was unable or unwilling to stand up for himself; Friedland and Jack have been enemies since. However, as the story progresses it becomes clear that Jack is not only honest, but highly intelligent and a much better detective than Chymes. Spratt is a Detective