2012 mystery, twelfth in King's series about Mary Russell, wife of
Sherlock Holmes. In Morocco in 1924, rebellion is in the air, and fell
plots with international ramifications are being prepared.
Well, yes, and that's the core problem here. Holmes and Russell
are playing for high stakes, and the story is basically one of
espionage and covert operations; there's a certain amount of mystery
in terms of working out who is the inevitable traitor, but for the
most part this is a spy tale rather than a detective one. I wouldn't
have minded a boring old-fashioned murder mystery, of the sort this
series hasn't featured for a while.
Oh, and there's amnesia, which means we start with Russell having no
idea who she is; that's not really dealt with until a third of the way
through, and not fully resolved until the two-thirds mark, which while
it gives an excuse for reiterating just who these people are for the
benefit of the new reader doesn't offer much in terms of
characterisation to the fan of the ongoing series. (Do people really
pick up a series like this at book twelve?)
It's not a bad spy story, mind, carefully embedded in the Rif
uprising, a time and place about which I know essentially nothing. The
research and revelation never feel forced; it's a terrible temptation
to show how much work one has done on something like this by
including every little detail, but that's confined to an author's
afterword which recounts what happened to the historical characters
after the end of this story. On the other hand, there's perhaps more
info-dumping during the tale than one would really like; it's all
justified, delivered to people who have no reason to know what's going
on, but it does rather drag down the pace.
Unfortunately Holmes and Russell are forced rather out of centrality
by all that historical context, and by the appearance of two
characters from earlier in the series who are rather more deeply
embedded in it. That detracts from the story's emotional impact, and
leaves physical peril as the main challenge to the principals, which
is unfortunate.
All that said, this is much closer to the usual style of the series
than was Pirate King, and I suspect fans who were disappointed by
that one will like this rather better. Personally I preferred Pirate
King, but I like the earlier books even better. Followed by Dreaming
Spies.
(In some editions this book is bound with the short story Beekeeping
for Beginners, which recounts some of the events of the first book in
the series from Holmes' perspective. It's pleasant enough, but
essentially very slight and not worth seeking out.)
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