Laurie R. Kingโs bestselling Mary RussellโSherlock Holmes series weaves rich historical detail and provocative themes with intriguing characters and enthralling suspense. Russell and Holmes have become one of modern literatureโs most beloved teams. But does this adventure end it all?
Mary Russell is used to dark secretsโher 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 coupleโs longtime housekeeper, Mrs. Hudson? Russellโs faith and affection are suddenly shattered when a man arrives on the doorstep claiming to be Mrs. Hudsonโs son.
What Samuel Hudson tells Russell cannot possibly be true, yet she believes himโas surely as she believes the threat of the gun in his hand. In a devastating instant, everything changes. And when the scene is discoveredโa pool of blood on the floor, the smell of gunpowder in the airโthe 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 Russellโs sacrifice lies in Mrs. Hudsonโs past. To uncover the truth, a frantic Sherlock Holmes must put aside his anguish and push deep into his housekeeperโs secretsโto 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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