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4.15 AVERAGE
4.15 AVERAGE
Loved this book. I came back to it after taking a break from this series and it was like visiting an old friend. This is book 8 in the Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes series and with the exception of Book 1, 2 and 4, this book definitely ranks as one of my favorites. It is better written than several of the others. In this book they visit San Francisco to close up the accounts and sell the assets her family owned in the area at the untimely death of her family. Mary has not been to San Francisco since the time of her families death and her survival of the crash at age 14. She spends the book trying to understand the 3 nightmares that are plaguing her dreams. I loved how this book was written both from her viewpoint as she rediscovers her past and also the sections from Holmes voice about what he doing in his own time in San Francisco. It was fun to learn more about Mary's childhood and also how Holmes has become not only her partner in their crime fighting endeavors but also how he is her husband.
adventurous
dark
inspiring
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is an excellent book. Laurie King takes a break from her usual first person narration and allows Holmes to tell the tale in 3rd person narration. It was an interesting look into the psychy of Mary and gives a vey intriguing look into her past which had been previously overlooked. This was a thoroughly enjoyable read.
This is my favorite book in the series, so far. The emotional pull of Russell’s struggle, Holmes’s concern and deceptions, Hammet—all are superb. I’m so happy that I’m nowhere near the end of this series.
The title is playful – the locked room murder is of course a staple of mystery novels, and there is the question throughout the book of whether the locked rooms referred to here, recurring in Russell's nightmares, are real or metaphorical. And the title is about the only thing that is playful about the book (apart from a delightful guest-star turn which I won't spoil beyond saying that it's a real person who is grafted on with the respect and deep knowledge I've come to expect from LRK, and who makes a tremendous temporary partner for Holmes).
A journey to clean up some necessary legal paperwork pertaining to Russell's American real estate and other assets breaks open old wounds and resurrects old ghosts to send Holmes digging – literally, at times – into the past. Chinatown and how its occupants were treated (badly, for the most part), the San Francisco earthquake and subsequent inferno, and Mary Russell's own very personal history are explored in an effort to determine the facts surrounding several murders – including some old murders which have never been suspected as murders before.
This is, very purposely, the first time Russell's family is fleshed out at all, and the first time her past is explored in any depth. This leads me, not for the first time, to wonder just how thoroughly planned out this series has been from the beginning, as the story told by the series is an organic whole and rewards reading in sequence rather than suffering by it as so many mystery series do. (But, unsurprisingly, I digress.) And there it is: the pain that Russell has been living with through all the years since the accident that nearly killed her and left her (almost) alone in the world. The past is brought forward – often painfully; resolution is achieved. Often painfully.
A journey to clean up some necessary legal paperwork pertaining to Russell's American real estate and other assets breaks open old wounds and resurrects old ghosts to send Holmes digging – literally, at times – into the past. Chinatown and how its occupants were treated (badly, for the most part), the San Francisco earthquake and subsequent inferno, and Mary Russell's own very personal history are explored in an effort to determine the facts surrounding several murders – including some old murders which have never been suspected as murders before.
This is, very purposely, the first time Russell's family is fleshed out at all, and the first time her past is explored in any depth. This leads me, not for the first time, to wonder just how thoroughly planned out this series has been from the beginning, as the story told by the series is an organic whole and rewards reading in sequence rather than suffering by it as so many mystery series do. (But, unsurprisingly, I digress.) And there it is: the pain that Russell has been living with through all the years since the accident that nearly killed her and left her (almost) alone in the world. The past is brought forward – often painfully; resolution is achieved. Often painfully.
Good but not great. I'm reading my way through all her Sherlock Holmes and Mary Russell. I enjoyed this
A terrific & enthralling read; especially for anyone who loves San Francisco as much as I do.
Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes head to San Francisco to untangle the mystery of Russell’s family’s death 10 years prior. Good addition to the series.
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced