A Letter of Mary: A thrilling mystery for Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes (Mary Russell & Sherlock Holmes) - Softcover

Laurie R. King

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0749015055 ISBN 13: 9780749015053

Publisher: Allison & Busby, 2014

Synopsis

1923. Mary Russell Holmes and her husband, the retired Sherlock Holmes, are enjoying the summer together on their Sussex estate when they are visited by an old friend, Miss Dorothy Ruskin, an archeologist just returned from Palestine. She leaves in their protection an ancient manuscript which seems to hint at the possibility that Mary Magdalene was an apostle--an artifact certain to stir up a storm of biblical proportions in the Christian establishment. When Ruskin is suddenly killed in a tragic accident, Russell and Holmes find themselves on the trail of a fiendishly clever murderer. This next installment is brimming with political intrigue, theological arcana, and brilliant Holmesian deductions.

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)

An inventive variation on the Sherlock Holmes myth --Time Out

From the Back Cover:

The third novel in Laurie King's riveting and intelligent series featuring Sherlock Holmes and his partner in sleuthing, Mary Russell.

It is August 1923 and all is quiet in the Holmes household in Sussex. Mary Russell works on academic research while Sherlock Holmes conducts malodorous chemistry experiments. Butthe peace comes crashing down when a figure from Mary's past enters their lives: Dorothy Ruskin, an amateur archaeologist recently returned from the Holy Land, pays the couple a visit, bringing with her a gift – a charming inlaid box containing a tattered roll of stained papyrus.

The evening following their meeting, Miss Ruskin dies in a traffic accident that Holmes and Mary soon prove was murder. But what was the motivation? Was it the inlaid box holding the manuscript? Or the woman's involvement in the volatile politics of the Holy Land? Or could it have been the scroll itself, a deeply troubling letter apparently written by Mary Magdalene that contains a biblical bombshell ...

"A beguilding variation on Sherlock Holmes sequels."
LITERARY REVIEW

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

About this edition

• Publisher: Allison & Busby
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 0749015055
• ISBN 13: 9780749015053
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 320