What's Going on With Mary Russell?
Oline H. Cogdill

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Book publicists try all kinds of inventive press releases to entice reviewers to take a second look at a novel.

Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.

But my heart sank a bit when I saw this header on an email: L.R. King, The End of Her Series?/The Murder of Mary Russell.

Could it be that Laurie R. King is ending her popular series about Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes?

Is her latest novel The Murder of Mary Russell truly the end of the line?

King’s series about the intelligent feminist Mary Russell who eventually marries the much older Sherlock Holmes are a personal favorite.

They are the novels that I recommend for all ages—young teens can read them and identify with the bright, independent Mary Russell, beginning with The Beekeeper’s Apprentice in 1994.

Adult readers, including those Sherlock experts, find much to like about King’s series, which honors the Arthur Conan Doyle canon while also updating it.

And that brings us to King’s 14th novel in her series, The Murder of Mary Russell.

kinglaurie themurderofmaryrussellWithout giving away any secrets, King explores the “indissoluble bond” between Mary and Sherlock, who are partners in every sense of the word.

Mary’s other confidant is the couple’s longtime housekeeper, Mrs. Hudson.

According to the novel’s description:

“Russell’s faith and affection are suddenly shattered when a man arrives on the doorstep claiming to be Mrs. Hudson’s son.

“What Samuel Hudson tells Russell cannot possibly be true, yet she believes him—as surely as she believes the threat of the gun in his hand. In a devastating instant, everything changes. And when the scene is discovered—a pool of blood on the floor, the smell of gunpowder in the air—the most shocking revelation of all is that the grim clues point directly to Clara Hudson,” the release continues.

“The key to Russell’s sacrifice lies in Mrs. Hudson’s past. To uncover the truth, a frantic Sherlock Holmes must put aside his anguish and push deep into his housekeeper’s secrets—to a time before her disguise was assumed, before her crimes were buried away,” according to the publisher.

The release continues with this statemet: “There is death here, and murder, and trust betrayed. And nothing will ever be the same.”

But really, we expect nothing else.

As for Mary Russell’s future—you will have to read The Murder of Mary Russell.

Oline Cogdill
2016-04-09 14:45:00