The Scottish Ploy — Quinn Fawcett

Featuring the most intriguing sleuth to come along since Sherlock Holmes, and a supporting cast whose loyalty and intelligence are matched only by their humor and quick reaction times, the Mycroft Holmes novels appeal to new readers and to fans of all things Holmesian.

In The Scottish Ploy, seemingly unconnected events pull Mycroft in several directions at once. To prevent the leaders of an anarchist group from reaching England's shores, Mycroft must, much to his dismay, become part of the intended reconciliation of a husband and wife. To do so he has spy networks to monitor and men of influence to, well, influence.

Then there are the minor puzzles: Why is a gentleman who claims to be Turkish seeking his supposedly kidnapped brother in London? Why does an eminent phrenologist urgently want Mycroft's opinion on the inhabitants of his asylum? Who has been following Mycroft and his estimable secretary, the amiable Paterson Guthrie, through foggy streets? What motivated the attempted assassination of an Admiralty courier on Mycroft's own doorstep? When the lovely Penelope Gatspy saves Guthrie's life, is it because of the attraction between them, or on orders of the mysterious "lodge" she serves?

But, most important to Mycroft-what is behind the kidnapping of his old friend, the actor Edmund Sutton, who was in the midst of a triumphant run as Macbeth?