Laurie R. Kingβs bestselling Mary RussellβSherlock Holmes series weaves rich historical detail and provocative themes with intriguing characters and enthralling suspense. Russell and Holmes have become one of modern literatureβs most beloved teams. But does this adventure end it all?
Mary Russell is used to dark secretsβher 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 coupleβs longtime housekeeper, Mrs. Hudson? Russellβs faith and affection are suddenly shattered when a man arrives on the doorstep claiming to be Mrs. Hudsonβs son.
What Samuel Hudson tells Russell cannot possibly be true, yet she believes himβas surely as she believes the threat of the gun in his hand. In a devastating instant, everything changes. And when the scene is discoveredβa pool of blood on the floor, the smell of gunpowder in the airβthe 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 Russellβs sacrifice lies in Mrs. Hudsonβs past. To uncover the truth, a frantic Sherlock Holmes must put aside his anguish and push deep into his housekeeperβs secretsβto a time before her disguise was assumed, before her crimes were buried away.
There is death here, and murder, and trust betrayed.
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