Sherlock Holmes Book Review - Deep State More Extracts From The Memoirs of Mycroft Holmes

Tom Turley (Sherlockian Author)

While our favorite Great Detective appears in five of these eight stories, his role is relatively minor, and his deductions (thanks to the machinations of his elder brother) miss more often than they hit. For it is Mycroft Holmes who dominates this volume, intent as always on pursuing British interests, and never more single-mindedly than here. New readers who come to Pearson from the Canon must adjust to several facts. 

First, his stories carry on into the 1940s, with the Holmes brothers and Watson (whatever Baring-Gould may say) solving cases in their nineties. More importantly, Mycroft—who, as we recall, often IS the British government—employs a ruthlessness that would horrify his Victorian creator. ANYONE is potentially expendable in his Machiavellian pursuit of statecraft. On occasion, Pearson may strain credulity too far, but usually his readers must admit the necessity of Mycroft’s actions, deplorable though they may be. In return for this concession, Deep State offers both historical instruction and a lot of fun.

There are riffs upon the Canon (another high-stakes bank robbery, the Bruce-Partington what?) and sly depictions of villains from our own day (“Geoffrey Ebstein”). We discover the peccadillos of British monarchs and Nazi generals, learn of Sherlock’s role in the creation of atonal music, and meet a Caribbean cricketer who revolutionizes British law. Three of the best stories are set in World War I; my own favorite is Pearson’s moving account of the fate of Nurse Cavell.

He also has an eye for memorable quotations. One, although delightful, is unprintable here. Another is Winston Churchill’s definition of diplomacy as “the art of telling people to go to hell in such a way that they ask for directions on how to get there.” As a modus operandi, it would have done equally well for Mycroft Holmes.

Deep State: More Extracts From The Memoirs of Mycroft Holmes is currently running on Kickstarter.

The other Redacted Sherlock Holmes titles are on the Sherlockian Author Profile Orlando Pearson page.