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A review by sophiarose1816
A Letter of Mary by Laurie R. King
challenging
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
In my meandering progress through my re-read of the series on audio, I've arrived at the third installment in the series, A Letter of Mary, narrated by Jenny Starlin.
Holmes and Russell are relaxing in a lull between cases and her schooling at Oxford. Relative newlyweds, they are as comfortable together as a pair long-married because of their deep friendship and partnership that came first. But, there is room for learning much more about the difference between friendship/working partnership and marriage when an old acquaintance, Dorothy Ruskin, brings them a teaser of a papyri and puzzle box right before she is killed in a hit and run. Off go Russell and Holmes to determine what was behind the death. And, it was murder- a cunning one meant to look like a typical vehicular death.
A Letter to Mary was a personal case and the stakes weren't as high as with the two previous books. It delves into several topics from the missing Biblical manuscript that teases as being a portion of a letter penned by Mary Magdalene herself, to the state of affairs within Dorothy Ruskin's family contrasting her strong woman intellectual to her sister's scorn of this and bitterness at being the less talented and stay at home sister, to Mary's encounter with a misogynist retired military colonel who has a low opinion of women who leave the sphere of homemakers, and to the ongoing learning process of Mary and Holmes for what their brand of married life will be like with their dangerous profession.
Mycroft and Lestrade are ready and willing co-investigators and have their own contributions to the case. Much of the book, like the previous one, Mary and Holmes are on two separate assignments investigating suspects. They both had sad and sordid rather than fascinating suspects, to me, which was why I couldn't quite get into this book as much as the earlier ones. That said, it was still a good solid book. I'm looking forward to the next.
Holmes and Russell are relaxing in a lull between cases and her schooling at Oxford. Relative newlyweds, they are as comfortable together as a pair long-married because of their deep friendship and partnership that came first. But, there is room for learning much more about the difference between friendship/working partnership and marriage when an old acquaintance, Dorothy Ruskin, brings them a teaser of a papyri and puzzle box right before she is killed in a hit and run. Off go Russell and Holmes to determine what was behind the death. And, it was murder- a cunning one meant to look like a typical vehicular death.
A Letter to Mary was a personal case and the stakes weren't as high as with the two previous books. It delves into several topics from the missing Biblical manuscript that teases as being a portion of a letter penned by Mary Magdalene herself, to the state of affairs within Dorothy Ruskin's family contrasting her strong woman intellectual to her sister's scorn of this and bitterness at being the less talented and stay at home sister, to Mary's encounter with a misogynist retired military colonel who has a low opinion of women who leave the sphere of homemakers, and to the ongoing learning process of Mary and Holmes for what their brand of married life will be like with their dangerous profession.
Mycroft and Lestrade are ready and willing co-investigators and have their own contributions to the case. Much of the book, like the previous one, Mary and Holmes are on two separate assignments investigating suspects. They both had sad and sordid rather than fascinating suspects, to me, which was why I couldn't quite get into this book as much as the earlier ones. That said, it was still a good solid book. I'm looking forward to the next.