The Scottish Ploy (Mycroft Holmes Novels) [Hardcover]

Quinn Fawcett (Author)

Book Description

Series: Mycroft Holmes Novels | Publication Date: November 1, 2000

The Brotherhood is trying once again to throw Europe into chaos, but Mycroft Holmes has a bigger problem on his hands. Actor Edmund Sutton has been kidnapped, probably by someone who mistook him for Mycroft. Mycroft must double for his double as the lead in Macbeth while Guthrie and the enigmatic Pauline Gatspy scour London for the missing actor.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

International intrigue, phrenology and the theater (the title puns on the historical euphemism for Macbeth, i.e. "the Scottish play") concern Mycroft Holmes, Sherlock's older, smarter brother, in his fourth adventure in Fawcett's popular series (The Flying Scotsman, etc.). Once again Patterson Guthrie, Mycroft's secretary, serves as the Watson-like narrator. Unfortunately, for all the excitementDa threat to the government, marriage difficulties among the aristocracy, poisonings, disappearances and chasesDmany details jar. In a key plot development the "portly" Mycroft engages his friend, actor Edmund Sutton, who's playing the lead in Macbeth, to be his body double, yet Sutton is described as "lanky." There are more gunshots in central London than you might expect in Victorian times, while the official force oddly keeps a low profile. Dr. Watson can dress the wound of an admiralty runner shot on Mycroft's doorstep, then commit the unlucky man to the hospital with no fuss from the public or the police. Any mystery requires the reader to suspend disbelief to some extent, but this one at times requires a suspension apparatus that could support London Bridge. You can't help wondering why Mycroft didn't do the really smart thing and let Sherlock handle the case and Watson write about it. (Dec. 6) Forecast: Holmes purists have tended to look down their noses at this series, authorized by the late dame Jean Conan Doyle, but fans should welcome this as enthusiastically as Fawcett's previous Mycroft Holmes titles.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

In Victorian London, Mycroft Holmes and secretary Patterson Guthrie are looking for a missing Turkish man and negotiating the reconciliation of a blustering Scottish knight and his German wife. After an Admiralty courier is shot at Holmes' Pall Mall flat, he realizes the seemingly unrelated events are the opening gambit of the shadowy Brotherhood's plans to conquer England. This fourth Mycroft Holmes novel is longer and slower than Conan Doyle's original Sherlock Holmes stories, but it's not without some pleasures of its own. Fawcett nicely develops some of the series' supporting characters, and he offers a rousing finish, with much gunfire and an exciting rescue from a dark asylum. When the villains are unmasked, their identities are a surprise. If Fawcett could write more concisely and with a bit more verve, this series could become one of the better latter-day variations on the Holmes theme. John Rowen
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Forge; 1st edition (November 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312872828
• ISBN-13: 978-0312872823
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.8 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,820,855 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Oh What a Tangled Web They Weave, April 25, 2001

By 

Marc Ruby™ "The Noh Hare™" (Warren, MI USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Scottish Ploy (Mycroft Holmes Novels) (Hardcover)

"The Scottish Ploy" is the fourth volume in Quinn Fawcett's successful Mycroft Holmes series. In this tale Mycroft and his secretary Paterson Guthrie once again confront the secretive Brotherhood in their effort to infiltrate England and destroy world peace. Holmes is determined to prevent the entry of two of the Brotherhood's top men under the guise of uncles facilitating the reconciliation of Sir Cameron MacMillian and his estranged German wife. This involves complex diplomatic negotiations that seem to be frustrated at every turn.

In fact, Mycroft Holmes is confronted with a mare's nest of problems including a Turk's missing brother, a famous phrenologist, and perpetually being pursued and shot at. It is all that Mycroft and Guthrie can do to find the common threads and come to grips with a plot that makes devilish use of what are normally Holmes strengths.

This series has a great deal of charm to it. While I wouldn't say that Mycroft Holme's personality is exactly true to Conan Doyle, he is certainly in character for an intelligent man of his position during the 1890's in London. Paterson Guthrie is perfectly typecast as a gentleman of breeding. Paterson is certainly younger and brighter than Watson is, but he is cut from the same cloth. Sometimes he is so stuffy you just want to kick him.

Greatly increasing Guthrie's stuffiness quotient is the reappearance of Penelope Gatspy, the indomitable agent of the Golden Lodge. The Lodge is a secret organization of mysterious goals, which, on occasion, coincide with those of Mycroft Holmes. Miss Gatspy, who can outshoot, out think, out race and out last just about any English gentleman, is the undoing of Guthrie. Of course, the only person who doesn't know that Paterson Guthrie is in love with Penelope is Guthrie himself. He has, unfortunately, no idea how to deal with a `modern' woman and this provides much of the humorous by-play in "The Scottish Ploy."

The book is very well written. Aficionados should know that most of the key bit players also put in their appearances. By the fourth volume though, I have finally realized that, while there is a great deal of deduction and adventure in these books, Holmes and Guthrie are often dry and humorless to a fault. Penelope does her best, but it is too much to ask of even such an incredibly talented woman to completely humanize two such paragons of British propriety.

Oh well, just because they never seem to laugh at anything doesn't meant that we can't, and there as enough humor and mystery and suspense to keep the story from ever flagging. I would, however, suggest reading one or more of the earlier volumes before taking up "The Scottish Ploy." Much history is carried forth from previous volumes and Fawcett is not one to offer extensive explanations. Have no fear, once you start reading them you will never regret the decision.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best of the series!, August 14, 2001

By A Customer

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This review is from: The Scottish Ploy (Mycroft Holmes Novels) (Hardcover)

The Mycroft series reaches a new peak with this one. Amidst a dazzlingly complex plot, Holmes and Guthrie must overcome the disappearance of his actor/double, Sutton. The duress requires Mycroft to take Sutton's place on stage in MACBETH, the "scottish play" (ahem).

The period treatment here is simply superb, by far the best of any of the many Holmes pastiches I have encountered. In this installment, we also receive a number of tantalyzing clues about the relationship of Mycroft and Tyers, his manservant, to the noxious Brotherhood.

This is a book that leaves one in eager anticipation of the next one in the series. Here's hoping there are many more books to come in this series!

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great storytelling, November 11, 2000

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Scottish Ploy (Mycroft Holmes Novels) (Hardcover)

The Brotherhood is an international organization consisting of powerful and clever individuals who want to overthrow the governments of Europe. Once they achieve that first step, they plan to follow up by taking charge and becoming a global force. The targeted governments know the goal of the Brotherhood and try to counter their enemy's moves through dedicated people working behind the scenes.

No one detests the Brotherhood more than Mycroft Holmes, the older brother of the famous private detective, does. He recently learns the Brotherhood, which has been absent from England for quite a while, has set in motion a scheme to gain entrance on English soil. At a time that Mycroft needs to remain at full alert, he is beset by conflicting problems that pull him into different directions. He knows in his gut that the Brotherhood is responsible for his troubles an also he must stop them if he can.

Quinn Fawcett turns his hero into a mysterious person with complex depths and an incisive intelligence. Mycroft is James Bond turned M, a spymaster operating in the deepest shadows. THE SCOTTISH PLOY includes an excellent mystery filled with numerous twists and red herrings that continually fool readers who never know what will happen next. The novel provides insight into Mycroft's psyche that in turns allows the audience to understand his patriotic fervor. This is a great entry in fantastic series.

Harriet Klausner