The Moor - Softcover

King, Laurie R.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0553579525 ISBN 13: 9780553579529

Publisher: Bantam, 1999

Synopsis

Though theirs is a marriage of true equals, when Sherlock Holmes summons his wife and partner Mary Russell to the eerie scene of his most celebrated case, she abandons her Oxford studies to aid his investigation. But this time, on Dartmoor, there is more to the matter than a phantom hound. Sightings of a spectral coach carrying a long-dead noblewoman over the moonlit moor have heralded a mysterious death, the corpse surrounded by oversize paw prints. Here on this wild and foreboding moor, Russell and Holmes embark on a quest with few clues save a fanatic anthropologist, an ancestral portrait, a moorland witch, and a lowly–but most revealing–hedgehog. As Holmes and Russell anticipate, a rational explanation lies beneath the supernatural events–but one darker than they could have imagined. And one that could end their lives in this harsh and desolate land.

About this title

Review:

Longtime fans of Arthur Conan Doyle's fictional detective, Sherlock Holmes, might think that their favorite sleuth met his fate at the hands of Dr. Moriarty at the Reichenbach Falls. Anyone who believes that, however, obviously hasn't read Laurie R. King's delightful series featuring Holmes and his wife(!), Mary Russell. In The Beekeeper's Apprentice, Holmes succumbs to the Oxford scholar's charms; now, in The Moor, fourth in the series, Holmes and Russell are summoned to Devonshire to solve a tin miner's mysterious death. Lonely Dartmoor provides plenty of opportunities for King to both relate the haunting legends of that part of the world and offer some amusing revisions to one of Holmes's most famous cases, The Hound of the Baskervilles. Though Holmes purists might resent the liberties taken with their hero, readers in search of a strong female protagonist, some fascinating local history, and spooky ambience will enjoy The Moor.

From the Inside Flap:

Barely has Mary Russell resumed her 1923 studies at Oxford when she is summoned by her partner and husband Sherlock Holmes to the eerie scene of his most celebrated case.But this time, on Dartmoor, there is more to the matter than a phantom hound.

Sightings of a spectral coach carrying a long-dead noblewoman over the moonlit moor have heralded a mysterious death, the corpse surrounded by oversize paw prints.Here on this wild and foreboding moor, Russell and Holmes embark on a quest with few clues save a fanatic anthropologist, an ancestral portrait, a moorland witch, and a lowly--but most revealing--hedgehog.As Holmes and Russell anticipate, a rational explanation lies beneath the supernatural events--but one darker than they could have imagined.And one that could end their lives in this harsh and desolate land.

About this edition

• Publisher: Bantam
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0553579525
• ISBN 13: 9780553579529
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Number of pages: 400