Written by Orlando Pearson. Audiobook narrated by Keith Spilsbury.
“War, as we have seen in A Modern Odysseus can flare up as if from nowhere, but once men and arms have been staked on a successful outcome, concluding it requires that even the vanquished get something out of the final negotiations, and that even the victors do not get everything they sought.” Mycroft Holmes
Orlando Pearson’s A Study In Statecraft: The Memoirs of Mycroft Holmes is a ballet of strategy. For it is a story about Mycroft, Sherlock’s older brother. He is a high-ranking English official and as Sherlock said to Watson, “Occasionally he is the British Government.” Pearson shows us Mycroft’s ability at supreme diplomacy.
If you are looking for history as seen through the eyes of one who was there, and who had an inordinate, and intelligent part in it, this is the book for you. Orlando Pearson writes history the way no one else has ever written it – through the words of Mycroft Holmes. Pearson has discovered what every Sherlockian and Holmesian Scholar would surely give their eye-teeth to behold: Mycroft’s lost memoirs.
What a fantastic device Mr. Pearson has developed for the telling of his historical novels. And here in audiobook, Keith Spilsbury, a narrator of worth, takes on the novel, while beautifully portraying the pompous and very formal Mycroft Holmes.
Mycroft is a somewhat different gentleman from his more famous brother, Sherlock. He knows the ins and outs of political intrigue and how to win the game. The brother’s Holmes both share genius intelligence, the ability to wear a poker-face in tight situations, and love of the game. Mycroft’s game is to outwit leaders of state for the sake of the Crown. Pearson shows us Mycroft’s ability to carry out a meeting planned to achieve the downfall of Britain’s First World War enemy.
Whereas Sherlock, seven years his junior, is devoted to solving his client’s distinct and unsolvable problems, who lives by his wits, and succeeds as well or almost as well as his brother in his own unique pursuit of justice.
Orlando Pearson has given us a tour de force, that shows us a glimpse inside Mycroft’s incredible mind. Mr. Holmes uses his knowledge like a sculptor’s knife to carve the new world and Britain’s place in it. Bravo, Orlando!
Gretchen Altabef is an award-winning author of new Sherlock Holmes mysteries, sci-fi, historical novels, stories, and plays. Her books brim with imagination and a news reporter’s excitement for the true history of the day. THESE SCATTERED HOUSES brings Holmes to New York during his ‘great hiatus’. REMARKABLE POWER OF STIMULUS follows in London. During the investigation of a gruesome murder, Holmes is given a second chance with The Woman. The trilogy continues with FIVE MILES OF COUNTRY, where Holmes returns to New York to solve a murder in Thomas Edison’s moving picture studio, and Mrs Irene Adler-Holmes takes on Broadway. THE KEYS OF DEATH is a genesis story of the world’s most famous address, 221B Baker Street, and its landlady, Mrs Hudson.
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