Besides fighting Bruce Lee, being named a U.S. cultural ambassador, and scoring something like a kajillion points in the NBA, Renaissance giant Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is also a pretty massive fan of Sherlock Holmes. To that end, Abdul-Jabbar—who’s also a bestselling author of memoirs and historical nonfiction—has written his first novel, centered on the life of Sherlock’s brother, Mycroft. And, in a story all-too-familiar to modern ears, as the celebrity-penned book goes, so too must go the celebrity-read audiobook, with Audible giving us a sneak peek at the Abdul-Jabbar-narrated introduction to the book.
Written with Anna Waterhouse, Abdul-Jabbar’s novel centers on Mycroft as a younger man, before he became the master of deduction whose powers rival even those of his famous brother. (You can hear Abdul-Jabbar talk about his take on the character in a short interview he did with Waterhouse, below.) His affection for the mystery genre, though, is clearly evident in the basketball-playing writer’s introduction, where he warns, “The plot is intricate,” before posing questions for the reader that he’s clearly delighted by, including, helpfully, “Which deadly poison grows on trees?” It’s all just the slightest bit goofy, but in a charming way that suggests the 68-year-old sports star is just really, really excited to nerd out with people about Sherlock Holmes. You can purchase the audiobook here.