Man, this confused me so much when I first grabbed them. I saw 'Mycroft and Sherlock' on the shelf after reading the first one and assumed it was next, only to find out it was a prequel. Felt kinda cheated, like I was waiting for a progression that didn't come. So yeah, definitely do not read them in numerical order if you're looking at the titles.
The core story is really Mycroft and Cyrus's partnership, and that develops directly from 'Mycroft Holmes' into 'The Empty Birdcage'. The middle book focuses more on Sherlock's own case, so it's almost a spin-off featuring Mycroft. If you're deeply invested in the duo from the first book, you might even skip the middle one initially and come back to it later as bonus material. I don't think the series suffers for it. The prequel is good, but it's a different vibe—more of a standard Victorian mystery whereas the first and third have that gothic, almost supernatural edge with the Trinidad setting and the birdcage villain. Your reading order depends on what you're after: pure Mycroft & Cyrus continuity, or a fuller but chronologically messy look at the Holmes brothers.
The best order is simple: start with the first novel, 'Mycroft Holmes'. After that, go to the third book, 'Mycroft and Sherlock: The Empty Birdcage'. Finish with the second book, 'Mycroft and Sherlock'. The second book is a prequel set between the events of the first and third, so reading it last actually works as a satisfying flashback that fills in gaps. Trust me, this way the main mystery plot from book one to book three isn't interrupted.
Okay, so I've seen this pop up a bunch in the subreddit and the consensus always feels a bit muddled. The thing about the Mycroft Holmes series by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Anna Waterhouse isn't that there's a ton of books to juggle, but the chronology gets a little sideways because they wrote a prequel after the main entries. The first book, 'Mycroft Holmes', is the clear starting point—it establishes him and his partner Cyrus Douglas solving a mystery in Trinidad, way before Sherlock becomes the detective we know.
A lot of people then jump straight to the sequel, 'Mycroft and Sherlock', but honestly, I'd tell you to hold off. The third book, 'Mycroft and Sherlock: The Empty Birdcage', is actually the direct narrative sequel to the first novel. The middle one, 'Mycroft and Sherlock', is set earlier, functioning as a flashback. Reading them in publication order feels disjointed; you get character development in 'Birdcage' that references events from the first book, and then the next one you pick up is set before those developments even happened. It's weird.
So my hard recommendation is 1) 'Mycroft Holmes', 2) 'Mycroft and Sherlock: The Empty Birdcage', and then 3) 'Mycroft and Sherlock'. It just flows better, and the emotional through-line for Mycroft and Cyrus makes more sense. The only other thing is the short story 'The Crown Affair'—it’s a fun side piece but not essential for the main arc. Stick to that trilogy order and you're golden.
I gotta respectfully disagree with the strict chronological order some are pushing. I read them in the order they were published—'Mycroft Holmes', then 'Mycroft and Sherlock', then 'The Empty Birdcage'—and I didn't find it confusing at all. If anything, getting that middle book after the first one gave me more background on Sherlock's own early struggles, which colored my reading of 'Birdcage' later. It felt like getting an extended flashback, which is a pretty common narrative technique anyway.
The authors wrote them that way for a reason, and I think it's worth trusting their pacing. Jumping to 'Birdcage' second might spoil some of the character dynamics established in the middle book, which is technically a prequel but thematically sets up the brothers' relationship in a specific light. It's not a massively long series, so experimenting with the order isn't a huge time commitment. But for a first-time reader, I'd say publication order gives you the experience most of us had, and the fan discussions online will match up with your progression.
I'd recommend the order that keeps the character arcs intact: 'Mycroft Holmes', then 'The Empty Birdcage', then the prequel 'Mycroft and Sherlock'. This sequence maintains the suspense built around the main antagonist's schemes and the evolution of Mycroft's relationship with Douglas. Reading the prequel last adds context without disrupting the primary narrative momentum. The short story can be read anytime after the first book.
2026-07-15 20:06:29
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