Synopsis
Becoming bored with family life, Mary Russell follows Sherlock Holmes to London, where she meets a former Oxford classmate and becomes involved in a mystery that places her in a collaboration with Holmes. By the author of The Beekeeper's Apprentice. Tour.
Reviews
YA?Mary Russell, the apprentice to Sherlock Holmes first encountered in The Beekeeper's Apprentice (St. Martins, 1994), has established her own regime in and around Oxford just after World War I. Still drawn to Holmes, but seeking her own identity and the furtherance of women's rights, she pursues her studies as well as a case concerning wealthy young women and their spiritual mentor, Margery Childe. While captivated and encouraged by Margery's sermons and good works, Mary can't help wondering why several of these women have recently passed away, leaving much of their estates to Margery's association. She alternately seeks out and rebuffs Holmes. Mary has lost none of the spark and intelligence as well as individualism that so intrigued her mentor in the first book. Readers learn much of the condition of women, especially as the few remaining men return home from the war, and become aware of the class system and unequal social conditions of early 20th-century England, while engaged in a thoroughly entertaining romp through the meaner streets of London. A delight, and a worthy sequel.?Susan H. Woodcock, King's Park Library, Burke, VA
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
King first teamed Mary Russell with Sherlock Holmes in the riveting The Beekeeper's Apprentice. Then Mary was a vulnerable, bright 15-year-old. Now, in 1920, Mary is a week away from her 21st birthday and has finished her studies at Oxford, and the relationship between these two forceful, eccentric and indelibly etched characters is charged with sexuality and issues of authority. A chance meeting with a friend in London introduces Mary to Margery Childe, leader of the New Temple of God, a burgeoning institution in which feminism powers both theological inquiry and programs of social activism. Skeptical, analytical Mary, who concentrated on theology at Oxford, is reluctantly drawn toward Childe and the temple's inner circle, most of whom are wealthy, educated young women. After one of them is murdered, Mary persuades Holmes to help in the recovery of the dead woman's brother, who became addicted to heroin while in the war. While Holmes is so occupied, Mary learns about other unexpected deaths of temple members and determines to investigate. Coming into her considerable inheritance, she displays her new wealth, leaps into temple activities and is soon in danger that threatens her soul as much as her life. King builds a riveting plot on the era's fervent feminism and crushing social order. Even more gripping, however, are the internal dilemmas faced by the deeply rational, fiercely independent Mary as she struggles to accept both Childe's possible mysticism and her deepening affection for Holmes. King's second Russell/Holmes tale lives up to all the accomplished promise of the first. Paperback rights to Bantam; author tour.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Mary Russell, introduced as the worthy successor to Dr. Watson in The Beekeeper's Apprentice , makes a triumphant return here. Russell has reached her majority, completed her studies at Oxford, come into her inheritance, and uncovered a passel of trouble in Margery Childe, a charismatic mystic with political aspirations in 1921 London. Childe has organized a temple to proselytize her mixture of feminism and what would be called, in a later decade, "liberation theology." Unfortunately, wealthy members of her inner circle keep dying, shortly after rewriting their wills in her favor. Russell launches the investigation of the temple while her employer, Sherlock Holmes and his brother, Mycroft, pursue drug smugglers in France. King expertly captures the details of the period, although some of her characters, attitudes, and actions seem anachronistic. Most of the well-loved figures from the Doyle canon make appearances, including Mrs. Hudson, Dr. Watson, and even Inspector Lastrade's son. Though purists will be offended by Holmes' behavior at the tale's conclusion, less-finicky fans will find the book thoroughly enjoyable. George Needham
King "found" this sequel to The Beekeeper's Apprentice (St. Martin's, 1994) in a trunk, presumably the property of narrator Mary Russell. Mary once again tells of her partnership with Sherlock Holmes, a juxtaposition of her youth (age almost 21) and Holmes's advanced middle age (59). Using disguise, guile, and ruse, Mary investigates murders in the inner clique of feminist preacher Margery Childe. Holmes assists, but the focus here is on Mary. The semiconvoluted, finely crafted late-Victorian prose is buttressed with exacting mots justes and surrounded by a nicely re-created 1920s London. A unique look at Holmes; for all collections.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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