For Mary Russell and her husband, Sherlock Holmes, returning to the Sussex coast after seven months abroad was a delicious anticipation. There was even a mystery to solve - the unexplained disappearance of an entire colony of bees from one of Holmes' beloved hives. But the anticipated sweetness of their homecoming is quickly tempered by a bitter memory from her husband's past. Mary had met Damian Adler only once before, when the promising surrealist painter had been charged with - and exonerated from - murder. Now the talented and troubled young man is enlisting their help again, this time in a desperate search for his missing wife and child. From suicides among the Standing Stones to a bizarre religious cult, from the demi-monde of the Cafe Royal at the heart of Bohemian London to the dark secrets of a young woman's past on the streets of Shanghai, Russell will find herself on the trail of a killer more dangerous than any she's ever faced - a killer Sherlock Holmes himself may be protecting for reasons near and dear to his heart.
First of all, if you like audiobooks at all and think you might be interested in this series, I'd whole-heartedly recommend listening to any of the Mary Russell books narrated by Jenny Sterlin. She does such a good job that I'd rather listen to these than read them.
I went 3.5 stars for this one because a few things bugged me; some canon-related and some plot related, but overall this was a very enjoyable story taken on its own merits. Any book that makes me look forward to getting in my car and driving in Melbourne traffic has accomplished something.
My gripes:
Related to canon, I had a hard enough time with Mary and Sherlock getting married because Sherlock was meant to remain unattached and emotionally unavailable so that he might devote his energies to the art of deduction. But Mary and Sherlock's marriage is, as written, truly a partnership and very little overt emotion is ever expressed, allowing Sherlock to remain truer to the nature Doyle intended.
But this whole past with Adler... no. I just can't. I don't like it. And while it's not overt, in-your-face sentimentalism, King allows Holmes to lose his objectivity and that is just plain wrong.
Unrelated to canon, the title was a stretch and frankly it didn't work. The last 70% of this book had nothing to do with the first couple of chapters, from whence the title came. Or if it did, it was obscure enough that it went right over my head during the prolonged listening period.
Finally, the ending. Really? We're going to string this out? The man is no Moriarity and while I found the religious theme of the plot interesting, it certainly wasn't interesting enough to string it or him through another book.
All in all, good, but definitely not one of the better ones I've read so far.
Reading updates
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17 March, 2016:
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31 October, 2020:
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31 October, 2020:
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Started reading
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31 October, 2020:
Reviewed