In Laurie R. King’s second installment of the Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes mystery series readers see Mary come into her own. Mary, or Russell as Holmes calls her, is about to come of age and inherit her parents’ estate losing the control of her hated aunt. Holmes in this one has become strangely more protective of Russell after their last encounter with a case which ended with her being shot in the shoulder.
King’s writing in this is a bit stale, in my opinion, I had trouble getting through this one. The first two-thirds of the book deal with the strange romance between the young Russell and senior Holmes, instead of the comradery of their first adventure where we saw a mentor and his student. The story follows Mary and her exploits at a newly founded religious organization but when it comes down to the last third or less of the book the action finally kicks in. I do not typically like mysteries and would not even classify this as a true mystery book. Many of the characters come and go quickly without any development and the two characters we do know have changed drastically.
This book was a very slow read and did not grip me as the last in the series. Perhaps I am just longing to be back in my familiar fantasies or maybe I really hated the awkward new dynamic between the main characters. Many of their interactions are simply cringy, even ending in a way I do not appreciate. Can’t they just be colleagues working together? This book lacks a certain intrigue I found in the last, and I’m not sure I will continue in the series.
References
King, L. R. (1995). A monstrous regiment of women: A novel of suspense featuring Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes. New York: Picador.
Goodreads.com. (2018). A monstrous regiment of women (Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes #2) [Cover image]. Retrieved from
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