Embassy Row: A Mycroft Holmes Novel

Mycroft Holmes returns for a flat and disappointing second adventure following Against the Brotherhood (1997). Sherlock's older and reputedly wiser brother is in the midst of secret and delicate naval negotiations with the Japanese at the Swiss Embassy in late-19th-century London. Many forces oppose the agreement: reactionary British elements and reactionary Japanese factions are against it; Chinese, Russian, Austro-Hungarian and German interests all have reason to sabotage the treaty; in addition, two sinister international organizations, The Brotherhood and The Golden Lodge, might also wish to thwart it. A Japanese prince's clandestine affair with a British woman, should it become known, would scuttle the treaty. Holmes is at the heart of the effort to steer the treaty through these obstacles. He is aided by his secretary, Paterson Erskine Guthrie; the actor Edmund Sutton, who plays his double; and by Philip Tyers, who is housekeeper, cook and nursemaid to them all. Amid the muddled intrigue, attacks are made on Holmes and his allies, and a British diplomat is assassinated with a Japanese dagger. Many readers will undoubtedly prove more astute than Holmes, who seems unable to get ahead of the game and provides little evidence of his reputedly great intellect. (Oct.)