The Murder of Mary Russell by Laurie R. King

The Murder of Mary Russell by Laurie R. King
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Mary Russell is used to dark secrets—her own, and those of her famous partner and husband, Sherlock Holmes. Trust is a thing slowly given, but over the course of a decade together, the two have forged an indissoluble bond.

And what of the other person to whom Mary Russell has opened her heart: the couple’s longtime housekeeper, Mrs. Hudson? Russell’s faith and affection are suddenly shattered when a man arrives on the doorstep claiming to be Mrs. Hudson’s son.

What Samuel Hudson tells Russell cannot possibly be true, yet she believes him—as surely as she believes the threat of the gun in his hand. In a devastating instant, everything changes. And when the scene is discovered—a pool of blood on the floor, the smell of gunpowder in the air—the most shocking revelation of all is that the grim clues point directly to Clara Hudson.

Or rather to Clarissa, the woman she was before Baker Street.

The key to Russell’s sacrifice lies in Mrs. Hudson’s past. To uncover the truth, a frantic Sherlock Holmes must put aside his anguish and push deep into his housekeeper’s secrets—to a time before her disguise was assumed, before her crimes were buried away.

There is death here, and murder, and trust betrayed.

And nothing will ever be the same. 

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THE MURDER OF MARY RUSSELL is the fourteenth book in the Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes series, and I have read every single one of the books. This series is actually one of my absolute favorites, and to say that I've been waiting to read this book is an understatement.

READ THE REST OF THE REVIEW OVER AT FRESH FICTION!

The Marriage of Mary Russell by Laurie R. King

The Marriage of Mary Russell by Laurie R. King
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes got married at the end of A Monstrous Regiment of Women. Not much detail is given to the act. More a statement that they did get married.

This little novella tells the story how it all happened. And, it's a glorious story, with both humor, seriousness and a trigger-happy cousin. Say what? You just have to read the story to find out! ;)

On a side note, I have read The Murder of Mary Russell and there are parts that brought a smile to my face thanks to the knowledge of the story in the book.

I hope you will enjoy this short novella as much as I did!

Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes series reviews for book 4-8

Instead of separate reviews will I do a post for the rest of the books in the Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes series by Laurie R. King since I don't want to clog up the dashboard with them all. I do not usually post new reviews written for books I read a couple of years ago, and I was unsure if I should do that, but I thought what the hell, one day will I reread them all and write new reviews (if I still do that in the future) until then here is some thoughts about how I feel about the books.

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The Moor (Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes #4) by Laurie R. King  - 5 stars

Mary Russell is summoned by Sherlock Holmes to Dartmoor to help investigate a mysterious death that is said to be heralded by a phantom coach carrying long-dead noblewoman over the moors. Around the dead body was it oversized paw prints…

This book is especially interesting since it brings Sherlock Holmes back to Dartmoor, the place where The Hound of the Baskervilles cases took place. It’s quite a dark and chilly tale, and the dark and deadly moor adds a special atmosphere to the tale. Like the previous books a 5-star book!




 

O Jerusalem (Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes #5) - 4 stars

O Jerusalem takes us back in time to the first book when Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes had to flee England because of the danger they were in. The country they chose, or rather Mary chose, was Palestine.

This is the first book in the series that I didn’t quite like as much as the previous four books. That doesn’t mean that the book isn’t good. Just that it took some rereads to make me really appreciate the book. Now it’s a good book for me, and I wouldn’t mind re-read, but I was a bit disappointed when I read it the first time. Could be because I preferred the stories to move forward not reading about past events. It was quite a lot of years since I read it the first time so it’s hard to know exactly why. The case was probably just not as engrossing as the previous books cases.

Justice Hall (Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes #6) - 5 stars

Justice Hall story takes place quite directly after The Moor when Holmes and Russell find a bloodied guest at their doorstep begging for help. It actually makes a lot of sense to why O Jerusalem came before this book despite that the story takes place directly after The Moor. You just have to rad this book and the previous to find out why...

Russell and Holmes have to help Marsh Hughenfort discover the truth about the death of his nephew Gabriel Hughenfort who died in the Great War of 1918. But, there is someone out there that doesn’t want the truth to be reveal and will do anything to stop Holmes and Russell finding out the truth…

This is also, like O Jerusalem, a book that took some rereads for me to really warm up to it. I was actually a bit surprised to find I have only given it 4-stars on Goodreads (so I changed it to 5-stars) since I actually like it quite a lot nowadays. I like the connection this book have to O Jerusalem and the case is very interesting and tragic. It’s a very good book.

The Game (Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes #7) - 5 stars

1924. Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes gets a New Year’s visit from Mycroft Holmes with a strange package from an English spy called Kimball O’Hara, more known as the Kim Kipling wrote about. He has withdrawn from the “Great Game” of espionage and disappeared. So Russell and Homes travels to India to search for the missing Kim.

I like this book very much, a missing spy, India and Mary Russell that has to disguise herself to save Sherlock Holmes. It's a wonderful entertaining and engrossing book.




 

Locked Rooms (Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes #8) - 5 stars

After the adventure in The Game, are Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes on a route to San Francisco to settle some legal affairs surrounding the inheritance of Mary's family's estate. But, Mary is having awful nightmares as the ship is closing in on San Francisco. Could the nightmares have something to do with the city and the horrible earthquake that devastated the city? But, as far as Mary knows where her family not there during the event, or where they?

Mary has always lived with the guilt of causing her family's death in a car accident when she was young. And, now she is traveling back to San Francisco, for the first time since her parents and younger brother died. Her nightmare is causing her sleeping problems and she is wondering what is causing them? She decides in San Francisco to see the psychiatrist that helped her after her family's death, and she is horrified to learn that the women have been murdered. Why would anyone kill her and could it have something to do with Mary's family?

There is much going on in this book and it's interesting to learn more about Mary's family, about her life before she came to England to stay with her aunt after her family died. The story is suspenseful and secrets are revealed as the story progress. Looked Rooms is one of my favorite books in this series, sure I have a lot of them. But, this is one that has a really intensive story and learning more about Mary's past is great.

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There we have it, review up till book 8. After that comes The Language of Bees which I'm re-reading now. 

Original post: maddan3.booklikes.com/post/1335648/mary-russell-and-sherlock-holmes-series-reviews-for-book-4-8

#BookReview A Letter of Mary by Laurie R. King

A Letter of Mary by Laurie R. King
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The year is 1923, Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes is at their home in Sussex Downs busy with their studies. Russell with theology and Holmes with some chemical experiments. Then they are visited by amateur archaeologist Miss Dorothy Ruskin with a startling puzzle for them. She has found in the Holy Land a roll of papyrus with a message from Mary Magdalene. A couple of days is Miss Ruskin killed in a traffic accident. But was it really an accident.

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The case in this book is intriguing with an ancient papyrus claimed to be written by Mary Magdalene and the death of Miss Ruskin. Was she murdered? And, if she was murdered, why? It’s up to Russell and Holmes to find out the truth.

Like the previous two books a great story. I love the theology part of the story, with a papyrus that could very well be written by Mary Magdalene. I love how Laurie R. King manages to combine theology with crime, just like in the previous book.

A Monstrous Regiment of Women by Laurie R. King

A Monstrous Regiment of Women by Laurie R. King
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The continuation of The Beekeeper's Apprentice; Mary Russell meets through her friend Veronica Beaconsfield, Margaret Childe who leads “The New Temple of God”, a charismatic sect for women. But, could New Temple be a cover for something sinister? Several women have died and left the money to the Temple. With the help of Holmes is Mary investigating the temple by going undercover.

I discovered a couple of years after I read the first book that there were more books published after the first book. But, they had not like the first book been translated into Swedish, but I decided to buy this one the rest despite the fact that I usually didn’t read that many books in English. One can say that this was the start of me reading English books. So thank you Laurie R. King.

Mary Russell is older now and her “relationship” with Sherlock Holmes is at a crossroad, will they continue as they are or will they change the nature of their relationship. Well, that’s the question that this book deals with together with the “The New Temple of God” investigation that will put Mary’s life in danger.

Just like the first book is the story superb. I’ve read the book several times, still amazingly good.

#BookReview The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie R. King

The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie R. King
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Long retired, Sherlock Holmes quietly pursues his study of honeybee behavior on the Sussex Downs. He never imagines he would encounter anyone whose intellect matched his own, much less an audacious teenage girl with a penchant for detection. Miss Mary Russell becomes Holmes' pupil and quickly hones her talent for deduction, disguises and danger. But when an elusive villain enters the picture, their partnership is put to a real test.

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I was fifteen when I first met Sherlock Holmes, fifteen years old with my nose in a book as I walked the Sussex Downs, and nearly stepped on him.

That’s is opening lines of The Beekeeper’s Apprentice and a book that I have read several times since the first time I read it when I was around 14-15 years old. The strange and wonderful thing is that it’s a book that never ceases to be anything other than enjoyable, despite the countless times I’ve read it.

Mary Russell is a young girl when she stumbles over Sherlock Holmes in a field as he is painting bees with red and blue dots. Seems like an odd thing to do, but she quickly figures out why and tells him and then she really surprise him when she reveals that she is actually a girl under the boyish clothes she is wearing. And, that is the start of a friendship that will lead to her being accepted as his apprentice.

It’s a wonderful book. It’s one of those I return to when I feel the need to visit old friends. The story never gets boring; it feels rather like I’m still discovering new things about the book every time I read the book.

Mary's Christmas by Laurie R. King

Mary's Christmas by Laurie R. King
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

In many ways was this story way better than I thought it would be. For instance, I thought that a story taking place when Mary was a child, way before she meet Sherlock wouldn't be that interesting. But the story was really good. Not a mystery or a crime story but a glimpse into Mary's childhood, before her parents and brother died.

#BookReview Dreaming Spies by Laurie R. King

Dreaming Spies by Laurie R. King
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

For years now, readers of the Russell Memoirs have wondered about the tantalizing mentions of Japan. Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes had spent three weeks there, between India (The Game) and San Francisco (Locked Rooms). The time has finally come to tell that story.

It is 1925, and Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes arrive home to find a familiar decorative stone installed in their garden. A stone with a name, which they last saw in the Tokyo garden of the future Emperor of Japan. It is the first indication that the investigation they did for him in 1924 might not be as complete as they had thought. In Japan there were spies, in Oxford there are dreams. In both places there is a small dark-haired woman and danger.

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The story in Dreaming Spies begins with Sherlock Holmes and Mary Russell arriving home after all the adventures in Morocco (Pirate King and Garments of Shadows) and finding a rock in their garden. This rock is just the beginning or in a way the continuation of an old case that started around a year ago in Japan after Holmes and Russell's adventure in India in The Game.

We start off the story in Sussex and Oxford with the arrival of a rock and an old “friend” of Holmes and Russell. After that, we get to know what really happened in Japan before they arrived in America. Laurie R. King has as usual written a very describing and well-researched book. I felt that I was in Japan as I read and it was a wonderful treat to get to know the country and its culture throughout the story.

The only objection I have and that is that I felt a trifle impatient reading it sometimes. Because even though it was well written not so much happened, or, of course, things happened but alas so slowly. I wanted some more drive to the story. The story in Japan takes up 2/3 of the book and much of that was just to lay the groundwork for the story later on in Oxford. So even though I enjoyed the time on the ship from India to Japan and the time in Japan I liked the story best later on in Oxford when the game was afoot. This doesn't mean that I didn't enjoy the book. I loved reading it. It was a great book and I think that fans of Laurie R. Kings books will truly enjoy reading this book.

I want to thank the publisher for providing me with a free copy through NetGalley for an honest review!