Justice Hall: A Mary Russell Novel - Hardcover

King, Laurie R.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0553111132 ISBN 13: 9780553111132

Publisher: Bantam Dell Pub Group, 2002

Synopsis

Mary Russell and her famed sleuthing spouse, Sherlock Holmes, journey to one of Britain's stately homes as they investigate a dark secret whose origins reach deep into the very soul of England. By the author of The Beekeeper's Apprentice. 40,000 first printing.

About this title

About the Author

Laurie R. King lives with her family in the hills above Monterey Bay in northern California. Her background includes such diverse interests as Old Testament theology and construction work, and she has been writing crime fiction since 1987. The winner of the Edgar, the Nero, and the John Creasey awards, her most recent novel is Folly.

From the Inside Flap

Dazzling readers and critics alike, Laurie R. King's bestselling mystery series featuring Mary Russell and her partner-in-crime Sherlock Holmes has been described by The New York Times as a lively adventure in the very best of intellectual company.

Author of The Moor, The Beekeeper s Apprentice, and O Jerusalem, King the first writer since Patricia Cornwell to win the most prized mystery awards in both the United States and England for a debut novel (A Grave Talent) brings back Russell and her famous mentor to solve a case that may prove their undoing.

Justice Hall

Just hours after Holmes and Russell return from solving the murky riddle of The Moor, a bloodied but oddly familiar stranger pounds desperately on their front door, pleads for their help, and then collapses. When he recovers, he lays before them the story of the enigmatic Marsh Hughenfort, younger brother of the Duke of Beauville, returned to England upon his brother s death.Not until Holmes and Russell arrive in the village of Arley Holt can they fully understand Marsh s dilemma.

For Justice Hall is a home of dizzying beauty and unearthly perfection, set in a garden modeled on Paradise. Russell longs for what it represents: permanence, history, the kind of roots that reach back for centuries. But Holmes senses the burdens echoed in the family motto, Justitia fortitudo mea est. And as Marsh seeks to live by the words, Righteousness is my strength, he is determined to learn the truth about the untimely death of Justice Hall s expected heir...a puzzle he is convinced only Holmes and Russell can solve.

It s a mystery that begins during the Great War of 1918, when young Gabriel Hughenfort, the late Duke s only son, died amidst scandalous rumors that have haunted the family ever since. While Holmes heads to London to uncover the truth of Gabriel s war record, Russell joins an ill-fated shooting party. A missing diary, a purloined bundle of letters, and a trail of ominous clues comprise a mystery that will call for Holmes s cleverest disguises and Russell s most daring journeys into the unknown...from an English hamlet to the city of Paris to the wild prairie of the New World. The trap is set, the game is afoot, but can they catch an elusive villain in the act of murder before they become
his next victims?

A brilliant blend of traditional Holmesian myth, startling originality, complex plotting, and unforgettable characters set against a fully realized early-twentieth-century world, Justice Hall will delight readers with a mystery as intelligent as it is engagingly devious.

Edition details

• Publisher: Bantam Dell Pub Group
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0553111132
• ISBN 13: 9780553111132
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 331