The Moor: A captivating mystery for Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes by Laurie R. King

3.78 AVERAGE

jumbleread's review against another edition

3.0
I usually enjoy this author. In this case, I wasn’t captivated by the characters - a personal choice. I’m sure others will enjoy the book, as I enjoy her other books.

rebecita's review against another edition

2.0
Rambling about on English moors. Revisiting Holmes' famous cases. Can't express how little interest I have in either of these activities. Why, oh why, is there NOTHING else going on here? Yaaawn. Oh well, next book in Jerusalem!
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bookwyrm_lark's review against another edition

3.0
Mary Russell & Sherlock Holmes revisit Dartmoor and the hound of the Baskervilles. Ms. King incorporates the real-life Rev. Sabine Baring-Gould as, of all things, Holmes's godfather. Baring-Gould did in fact live near and write copiously about Dartmoor; a fascinating and complex man, his inclusion in the novel is one of the best things about it -- along with King's atmospheric descriptions of the moor. The book moves a bit slowly, and I wouldn't call it the best of the Russell-Holmes novels*, but the characters of Russell, Holmes, and Baring-Gould and the relationships between them are so well-drawn that they are well worth the price of admission.
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bookwyrm_lark's review against another edition

4.0
(See my review on the paperback edition.)
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whatandreawrote's review against another edition

2.0
By far the dullest of the four Mary Russell books I've read so far.
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cmcahill's review against another edition

5.0
dark mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
In a phase of comfort reading. Book group reads have been bit too much lately. Wonderful to revist Laurie R King's early Mary Russell books. The Moor makes me want to visit Dartmoor. I also enjoyed learning about Rev Sabine Baring-Gould whose hymns appear in the UU hymnal.

kimpossible's review against another edition

4.0
adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
martha_w's profile picture

martha_w's review against another edition

4.0
It took me a bit to get into this one, but once I did, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Shamefully, I have never read the Hound of the Baskervilles (something that might be useful for a future reader), but it worked well enough without that knowledge. Dartmoor is sufficiently creepy and the local residents are a varied and fascinating bunch. Top it all off with the historical figure of Sabine Baring-Gould (as well as our two heroes) and you've got a great story!
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nocto's review against another edition

This is the first book in this series to completely fail to interest me. Though I've found Laurie King's favourite theological themes to get a little wearing in the past I'd rather read about them than the interminable trips across Dartmoor that make up this book. Something here just didn't work for me.

At the end of the book there are about a hundred pages when things come together and the plot becomes interesting but the rest of the book has little mystery to entrance the reader and I found a lot of it pretty boring. Mary doesn't like Dartmoor much, I can't say I blame her and i'll be glad to see her back somewhere more suited to her.

And then there's the sex. I've no problem with sex in books whether the author chooses to be explicit or implicit. It just got too twee when Holmes "deduced what was needed tonight with a minimum of clues...." time after time.

King can do a lot better than this and I'm disappointed that this book failed to connect with me.

nobelpeachprize's review against another edition

3.0
Not quite as exciting as the earlier three, but there is only so much you can do when working with the abomination that is "The Hound of the Baskervilles" as your inspiration/source material.