Bantam
Featuring: Mary Russell; Sherlock Holmes; Thomas Carlyle
353 pages ISBN: 0345531795 EAN: 9780345531797 Kindle: B00N6PBHV2 Hardcover / e-Book Add to Wish List
The Sherlock Holmes and Mary Russell series is well
established now but for anyone who doesn't know, this
supposes that Holmes met a young Oxford scholar (in the
hugely enjoyable The Beekeeper's Apprentice) and took her
on as a detecting partner. Eventually they married, and
travelled widely following the First World War. The tale
continues in DREAMING SPIES.
Holmes and Russell have been in India in 1924 and now take
ship from Bombay to Japan. The cruise liner is full of
travellers and Mary befriends a young Japanese woman
called
Sato Haruki. Sato is happy to give lessons in her language
and customs. The first third of the book is taken up with
shipboard life, putting in at Singapore and rounding Malay
coasts, while his nosiness Holmes breaks into first-class
travellers' cabins and Mary organises Shakespeare
readings.
Detail is minutely provided to portray shipboard life at
the time, from the Marconi wires aloft to the different
tea
services for Indian or Chinese tea. Detailed and
uneventful can, however, make for a slow read in a
detective story. A girl has gone missing, but that's all.
During the second part Sato reveals herself to be a ninja,
a spy rather than assassin she claims; she also claims to
have seen the missing girl simply jump off the ship one
night. Is she telling the truth? If so, what reason could
a wealthy young woman have to kill herself? Mary is
suspicious by nature and can't take her at her word. Sato
remains with the married couple when they disembark in
Japan, adopting local dress and habits. They decide to
visit Kyoto, home of the Chrysanthemum Throne and Prince
Hirohito. Perhaps not so surprisingly, the Prince turns
out to have a case for the famous detective to solve.
A blackmailer, theft of a rare book and an unexpected
death
or two enliven the tale, before it returns to London and
Oxford in pursuit of a strong climax. However I find that
as with the last few books in this series, Laurie R King
has compiled a historical travelogue first and a crime
story second. Provided the reader is aware of this and
enjoys such an agenda, with politicians of the day
appearing as characters, DREAMING SPIES is an interesting
and fun look at the world almost a century ago with some
dire deeds and Sherlockian puzzle-solving woven around the
history and local manners.
Laurie R. King’s New York Times bestselling novels of
suspense featuring Mary Russell and her husband, Sherlock
Holmes, are critically acclaimed and beloved by readers
for
the author’s adept interplay of history and adventure. Now
the intrepid duo is finally trying to take a little time
for
themselves—only to be swept up in a baffling case that
will
lead them from the idyllic panoramas of Japan to the
depths
of Oxford’s most revered institution.
After a lengthy case that had the couple traipsing all
over
India, Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes are on their way
to
California to deal with some family business that Russell
has been neglecting for far too long. Along the way, they
plan to break up the long voyage with a sojourn in
southern
Japan. The cruising steamer Thomas Carlyle is leaving
Bombay, bound for Kobe. Though they’re not the vacationing
types, Russell is looking forward to a change of focus—not
to mention a chance to travel to a location Holmes has not
visited before. The idea of the pair being on equal
footing
is enticing to a woman who often must race to catch up
with
her older, highly skilled husband.
Aboard the ship, intrigue stirs almost immediately. Holmes
recognizes the famous clubman the Earl of Darley, whom he
suspects of being an occasional blackmailer: not an
unlikely
career choice for a man richer in social connections than
in
pounds sterling. And then there’s the lithe, surprisingly
fluent young Japanese woman who befriends Russell and
quotes
haiku. She agrees to tutor the couple in Japanese language
and customs, but Russell can’t shake the feeling that
Haruki
Sato is not who she claims to be.
Once in Japan, Russell’s suspicions are confirmed in a
most
surprising way. From the glorious city of Tokyo to the
cavernous library at Oxford, Russell and Holmes race to
solve a mystery involving international extortion,
espionage, and the shocking secrets that, if revealed,
could
spark revolution—and topple an empire.
© 2003-2024 off-the-edge.net
all rights reserved Privacy Policy