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Garment of Shadows: A Novel of Suspense Featuring Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes [Hardcover]

Laurie R. King
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)

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Book Description

4 Sep 2012
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

Laurie R. King’s New York Times bestselling novels of suspense featuring Mary Russell and her husband, Sherlock Holmes, comprise one of today’s most acclaimed mystery series. Now, in their newest and most thrilling adventure, the couple is separated by a shocking circumstance in a perilous part of the world, each racing against time to prevent an explosive catastrophe that could clothe them both in shrouds.
 
In a strange room in Morocco, Mary Russell is trying to solve a pressing mystery: Who am I? She has awakened with shadows in her mind, blood on her hands, and soldiers pounding on the door. Out in the hivelike streets, she discovers herself strangely adept in the skills of the underworld, escaping through alleys and rooftops, picking pockets and locks. She is clothed like a man, and armed only with her wits and a scrap of paper containing a mysterious Arabic phrase. Overhead, warplanes pass ominously north.
 
Meanwhile, Holmes is pulled by two old friends and a distant relation into the growing war between France, Spain, and the Rif Revolt led by Emir Abd el-Krim—who may be a Robin Hood or a power mad tribesman. The shadows of war are drawing over the ancient city of Fez, and Holmes badly wants the wisdom and courage of his wife, whom he’s learned, to his horror, has gone missing. As Holmes searches for her, and Russell searches for herself, each tries to crack deadly parallel puzzles before it’s too late for them, for Africa, and for the peace of Europe.
 
With the dazzling mix of period detail and contemporary pace that is her hallmark, Laurie R. King continues the stunningly suspenseful series that Lee Child called “the most sustained feat of imagination in mystery fiction today.”

Praise for Garment of Shadows
 
“As always, the relationship between Holmes and Russell is utterly understated yet traced with heat and light.”—Booklist (starred review)
 
“[A] taut tale . . . original and intriguing . . . This tantalizing glimpse into the life and times of a rapidly evolving Arabic society has remarkable resonance for our own uncertain times.”—Publishers Weekly
 
“Those new to the series are in for a treat.”—Bookreporter


Product details

  • Hardcover: 266 pages
  • Publisher: Bantam (4 Sep 2012)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 9780553807998
  • ISBN-13: 978-0553807998
  • ASIN: 0553807994
  • Product Dimensions: 16.5 x 2.8 x 24.1 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,979,186 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars A metamorphosis of Sherlock Holmes 5 Oct 2012
By Roman Clodia TOP 50 REVIEWER
Format:Hardcover
It's 1924 and Sherlock Holmes is in Morocco trying to trace his wife, Mary Russell - while in Fez, a woman wakes up in a strange room, with no memory of who she is or why she's there...

I've dipped in and out of this series which follows Holmes and his sometime apprentice, now wife, on their post-Conan Doyle adventures. This certainly isn't a book for Holmes purists as, apart from the wife, Holmes also gets into some very politicised situations.

Set amongst Arab revolts against colonialism in the inter-war years, in the aftermath of T.E. Lawrence (`Laurence of Arabia'), this is a complex story of spies, gun-runners, and counter-spies, while Mycroft Holmes pulls strings from England.

I liked this a lot though it helps to have read the previous books as characters do reappear. So perhaps a challenging read for die-hard fans of the original Victorian Holmes, but an amusing book with serious undertones if you can accept a Holmes transformed.

(This review is from an ARC courtesy of the publisher).
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com: 4.1 out of 5 stars  204 reviews
65 of 67 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars A welcome return to classic King style: More Sherlock, more suspense, no padding. 4.5 stars 6 July 2012
By Sharon Isch - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)
A few things longtime fans of the series should know straight off: 1. This novel has a confusing start and a complex, convoluted ending, but I think, by the time it's all over, most readers will have agreed that that turned out to be a GOOD thing. 2. Our heroine's husband, Sherlock Holmes, is back as a full-fledged co-star in this one, something many King fans have been begging for for a long time. 3. The high page-count padding that others of us have groused about is gone. 4. This 13th in the series starts out looking like it's a going to be a sequel to the last one, "Pirate King," but it really isn't, except as a way of explaining how the couple happened to be in Morocco (to the relief of this reader, who didn't much like that book).

Other things you may find worth knowing from the get-go: 1. The story opens with heroine/narrator Mary Russell waking up with a head injury, not knowing where she is or even WHO she is. Readers will spend much of those early pages sharing her amnesic confusions over what's going on and where this story is headed. 2. Unless you know the basics of Moroccan colonial and tribal history circa 1924, you may find it useful to consult an encyclopedia or Wikipedia for a quick primer before digging in. 3. The Hazr brothers, who play key roles in this novel, have appeared previously in the series-in O Jerusalem (Mary Russell Novels)(1999) and Justice Hall (Mary Russell Novels)(2002). 4. Arabic words crop up frequently, but only a few are defined in the glossary at the back. 5. Sherlock's "cousin," Morocco's Resident General Lyautey, better known as the Marachal, was a real person.

Plenty of high drama, as France, Spain, Germany and England try to assert their colonial dominance and tribal leaders plot against them and each other to claim their country as their own. Lots of interesting characters and nail-biting suspense here. Probably will appeal more to longtime fans of the series. But also to fans of history mysteries, like Barry Unsworth's Land of Marvels: A Novel

Has anyone else noticed that it's been a long while since King gave us a non-series, stand-alone thriller? Would love to see another one of those sometime soon.
114 of 126 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars sex, drugs, & the active/passive voice 9 July 2012
By Julia Walker - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)
I took a look at some other reviews just now, and I've got to say, I'm a bit shocked. I had expected all 5-stars and tearful rejoicing at the return of Laurie R King to the land of OMG-I-can't-wait-a-whole-year-for-the-next-book authors.

And, indeed, there are some reviews which say almost exactly that -- with an extra layer of "and thank heavens King is back on form."

Amen.

But what shocked me were the 3 reviews making, roughly, this argument:

~there's too much Mary Russell in this Russell/Holmes book
~there's too much history and politics to learn
~there's not enough action [in a book where no one sits down for 5 minutes altogether unless concussed or chained]
~there's not enough Sherlock Holmes.

According to this trio, King should return to "the premise that Sherlock Holmes had lived into an amazingly hearty old age, adopted an apprentice and then fallen in love with -- and married her.

Holmes, you'll note, operates in the active voice, while Russell is his to adopt, to love, and to marry. Wait!?!! Did I miss our mass relocation to the 1950s? (1850s, 1750s, 16 . . ???)

Now I'm not saying that King hasn't deserved some chiding in the last few years -- 2 half-books passing as wholes and pirates-light (or even lite.) But, viewed from a distance, we might see a larger pattern here.

The trip to India gives us an adventure with Russell and Holmes separated for considerable chunks of action, and -- more symbolically -- the threshold-crossing act of Mary cutting her iconic hair. The San Francisco book (one of my favorites) is a foray into Mary's childhood as well as a long-delayed space for her to consider herself as a woman, not as a mind in a woman's body. The Russell we meet in The Bee-Keeper's Apprentice is a product of circumstances, as much as of courage and intellect. She has spent her adolescence reacting from and against things beyond her control; learning has been her North star and she had let that guide her to the exclusion of nearly everything else. The next novels follow rapidly, giving Mary little time to develop an introspective analysis of herself as a human female. She doesn't give herself a 10th the time and attention that she lavishes on her scholarship, nor is she aware that she needs to.

But in Locked Rooms, she gets a space and time for that sort of personal contemplation.

I wish I could say something positive about the next two books, but I'm still furious with King about that "to be continued" followed by Puck of Pook's Whatever. But, in the context of this review, I can make a case for the books as coming-of-age novels for Russell, who plays the steady anchor to an atypically emotional Holmes. And then there's the pirate book, which is way better (sorry for the technical reviewer language) than the two half-books, but which seems largely contrived to give Russell a sort of Spring Break with detective interludes.

In this book, Garment of Shadows, Russell and Holmes weigh in as equals. Yes, yes, Holmes has that reputation, which casts its shadow even as he travels under the name Vernet, but by giving Russell the lion's share of the action, King evens that up nicely. And when there's saving to be done, Russell does it.

And then there's the drawing-room scene (actually, it is a library) much complained about by one reviewer. What? The library scene is the money shot, the pay-off, the natural progression, as Russell out-deduces not only a very very clever shadow figure, but Holmes himself.

Now I have absolutely no idea if King was trying for this sort of progression -- I just read books, I don't write them, well, I don't write mysteries -- but it seems, at the very least, a possible parsing of the series. Read this volume and see~

oh yes, sorry, TEARFUL REJOICING at King's return to the land of the 5-star review . . .

pps And I second Sharon Isch's plea for another stand-alone of the caliber of Touchstone and Folly.

ppps Ms King? Oxford? branchy between towers? are we really to believe that Russell, however in need of some interior development, can stay away from lark-charmèd Oxford -- her natural environment -- for this long? can go without her work for over a year? can read so very little????
50 of 55 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Together Again 28 Jun 2012
By Jeanne Tassotto - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)
This is the 12th novel in the MARY RUSSELL series and picks up only a few weeks after the events of PIRATE KING.

Once again Holmes and his wife, Mary, find themselves caught up in the 'Great Game' this time in war torn Morocco. The pair had been looking forward to being reunited now that dreadful assignment Mycroft had given Mary was ending but when Holmes arrived to meet with her Mary was missing, and had left behind very few clues for him to follow. Mary meanwhile had woken up in a strange place, with a throbbing headache and no idea of who she was or how she had gotten there. The only thought that was clear to her was that she was in danger and needed to flee. Eventually the pair reunite but only to discover that all is not as it seems, and that once again their lives are moved by unseen forces.

This, like the rest of this series, is a light hearted adventure story, this time set in exotic Morocco. The colorful location and confused political situation of North Africa provide an intriguing setting for a plot that is full of twists and turns. King once again brings life to her characters, especially Mary and Sherlock as she tells this tale. Fans of the series will be happy to meet some old friends from earlier novels (O JERUSALEM and JUSTICE HALL) in this adventure, as well as to meet a new one who will hopefully return in later ones.

The overall story arc of this series is quite pronounced and so to fully appreciate this one I would recommend reading at least of some the earlier novels. An even better idea would be to begin at the beginning (THE BEEKEEPER'S APPRENTICE) and proceed in order.
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