O Jerusalem (Mary Russell Mystery) - Softcover

King, Laurie R.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0553581058 ISBN 13: 9780553581058

Publisher: Bantam Books, 2000

Synopsis

With her bestselling mystery series featuring Sherlock Holmes and Mary Russell, Laurie R. King has created "lively adventure in the very best of intellectual company," according to The New York Times Book Review. Now the author of The Beekeeper's Apprentice and The Moor--the first writer since Patricia Cornwell to win both the American Edgar and British Creasey Awards for a debut novel (A Grave Talent)--unfolds a hitherto unknown chapter in the history of Russell's apprenticeship to the great detective.

At the close of the year 1918, forced to flee England's green and pleasant land, Russell and Holmes enter British-occupied Palestine under the auspices of Holmes' enigmatic brother, Mycroft.

"Gentlemen, we are at your service." Thus Holmes greets the two travel-grimed Arab figures who receive them in the orange groves fringing the Holy Land. Whatever role could the volatile Ali and the taciturn Mahmoud play in Mycroft's design for this land the British so recently wrested from the Turks? After passing a series of tests, Holmes and Russell learn their guides are engaged in a mission for His Majesty's Government, and disguise themselves as Bedouins--Russell as the beardless youth "Amir"--to join them in a stealthy reconnaissance through the dusty countryside.

A recent rash of murders seems unrelated to the growing tensions between Jew, Moslem, and Christian, yet Holmes is adamant that he must reconstruct the most recent one in the desert gully where it occurred. His singular findings will lead him and Russell through labyrinthine bazaars, verminous inns, cliff-hung monasteries--and into mortal danger. When her mentor's inquiries jeopardize his life, Russell fearlessly wields a pistol and even assays the arts of seduction to save him. Bruised and bloodied, the pair ascend to the jewellike city of Jerusalem, where they will at last meet their adversary, whose lust for savagery and power could reduce the city's most ancient and sacred place to rubble and ignite this tinderbox of a land....

Classically Holmesian yet enchantingly fresh, sinuously plotted, with colorful characters and a dazzling historic ambience, O Jerusalem sweeps readers ever onward in the thrill of the chase.
From the Hardcover edition.

About this title

Review:

‘Crime fiction’s most unlikely but utterly credible romance... Laurie King is the most interesting writer to emerge on the American crime fiction front in recent years’ Val McDermid (of The Beekeeper’s Apprentice)

‘King’s novel is civilized, ingenious and engrossing’
Literary Review (of The Beekeeper’s Apprentice)

‘A novel which challenges the cliches of history’
Independent (of A Monstrous Regiment of Women)

From the Back Cover:

Forced to flee England at the close of 1918, Sherlock Holmes and his nineteen-year-old apprentice Mary Russell enter Palestine under the auspices of Holmes' enigmatic brother, Mycroft. Their mission: to solve a series of murders, seemingly unrelated to the growing tensions among Jew, Moslem and Christian, that threatens the fragile peace.

Their pursuit of the killer leads them from desert gully to cliff-hung monasteries, through labyrinthine bazaars, verminous hovels – and into mortal danger. Finally in the jewel-like city of Jerusalem, they will meet their adversary, a ruthless criminal whose lust for power could reduce the city's most ancient and sacred landmark to rubble and ignite this tinderbox of a land...

"Beguiling variation on Sherlock Holmes sequels...civilized, ingenious and engrossing
LITERAY REVIEW

"One of the most literate and gifted writers the mystery world has seen for a long time."
VAL McDERMAID

"Simultaneously inventive, charming, witty and suspenseful."
ELIZABETH GEORGE

"Mary Russell combines the quirky intellect of her mentor with a modern modus operandi...a heroine to contend with."
TIME OUT

"Challenges the clichés of history."
INDEPENDENT

About this edition

• Publisher: Bantam Books
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0553581058
• ISBN 13: 9780553581058
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Number of pages: 425