Which famous fictional detective has a brother named Mycroft?

Could anyone outstrip the powers of deduction and intuition of the great Sherlock Holmes? Well - actually, yes, or at least according to his creator Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) who tells us that Mycroft, the older brother by 7 years, exceeds Sherlock when it comes to mental capacity, but has limited physical prowess and patience.

Sometimes, Sherlock is dismissive of his brother and frustrated by his lack of application and energy, but at one point he confides in his associate Dr Watson that Mycroft leads a double life working for the British government, indeed, that "Occasionally, he IS the British government!"

Not surprisingly, he is a rather stout and indolent man, and spends much of his time in the Diogenes club, which he founded.

He has been portrayed by such noteworthy actors as Stephen Fry and Val Gielgud (whose brother, John, in a nice life/art twist, played Sherlock in the same film!)

Like so many secondary characters in fiction, he has taken on a life of his own and been adopted by other writers, including Jasper Fforde and Laurie King.

Agatha Christie playfully offered a variant on the theme by giving her own superior sleuth, Hercule Poirot, an apparent brother called Achille, but it turned out that he and Poirot were the same person!