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A Letter of Mary
 
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A Letter of Mary (Paperback)

by Laurie R. King (Author)
4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)

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The Beekeeper's Apprentice: Or on the Segregation of the Queen/A Novel of Suspense Featuring Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes (Mary Russell Novels)

The Beekeeper's Apprentice: Or on the Segregation of the Queen/A Novel of Suspense Featuring Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes (Mary Russell Novels)

by Laurie R. King
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Product details

  • Paperback: 288 pages
  • Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd; New edition edition (6 Aug 2001)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 000651085X
  • ISBN-13: 978-0006510857
  • Product Dimensions: 17.6 x 10.8 x 2.4 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 360,812 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #23 in  Books > Crime, Thrillers & Mystery > Authors, A-Z > K > King, Laurie

Product Description

Review
'Crime fiction's most unlikely but utterly credible romance Laurie King is the most interesting writer to emerge on the American crime fiction front in recent years' Val McDermid (of The Beekeeper's Apprentice) 'An inventive variation on the Sherlock Holmes myth' Time Out

Oxford theologian Mary Russell, now living quietly in Sussex with her husband Sherlock Holmes, is thunderstruck with the explosive potential of a document her old acquaintance, amateur archeologist Dorothy Ruskin, brings her from a dig in Palestine: a letter from one Mariam of Magdala identifying herself as an apostle of Jesus. What would the Church say to the possibility of a woman having been a full-fledged apostle? What might the letter do for our understanding of Mary Magdalene? And what to make of the persistently unvoiced parallels between Russell and her storied progenitor? Soon after leaving Russell and Holmes, Dorothy Ruskin is killed in a traffic accident her hosts prove was murder as they fall into a scramble for Miss Ruskin's meager possessions - and into a long, keen disappointment for fans of King's distinctively feminist Sherlockian pastiches (A Monstrous Regiment of Women, 1995, etc.). Plotting has never been King's strong suit (as it never was Conan Doyle's), but, here, her episodic story - Russell and Holmes going as spies into the houses of suspects whose personalities pale before the richness of the inspectors' before allowing Holmes to produce one of his most gratuitous final coups - is surprisingly unworthy of her richly suggestive premise. Fans will find all of King's accustomed literacy and empathy on display. But, like Amanda Cross, she seems bent this time on crossing the line from the detective story to the discursive essay. Even Holmes is muffled. (Kirkus Reviews)

Product Description
August, 1923. The quiet in the Holmes household in Sussex is shaken when Dorothy Ruskin, an amateur archaeologist from the Holy Land, appears with an exquisite inlaid box containing a scrap of ancient writing. Miss Ruskin soon dies in a traffic accident that Holmes and Mary prove was murder. But what was the motivation? Was it the little inlaid box holding the manuscript? Or the woman's involvement in the volatile politics of the Holy Land? Or could it have been the manuscript itself - a letter seemingly written by Mary Magdalene that contains a biblical bombshell. Beautifully written and steeped in authentic period detail, A Letter of Mary is a fascinating and intelligent read.

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3 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.0 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Sherlock Holmes' better half?, 10 May 2003
By M. Finn - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
If like me you can't bring yourself to believe that the restless mind of the great detective Sherlock Holmes could ever be content with the study of beekeeping you won't be surprised by the discovery of yet more lost manuscripts detailing his post retirement adventures. The Beekeeper's Apprentice introduced the character of Mary Russell; A Letter of Mary takes place years later and Mary has now married Sherlock - shocked gasp. King's books are meticulously researched and are fascinating studies of the era even without all the Holmsian trapping that she has so effortlessly reinvented and made her own without ever coming close to pastiche. I don't think there can be many fans of Holmes who would be disappointed with her treatment of the character.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Atmospheric and well written but results in a huge anti-climax, 11 May 2008
By Snapdragon (London) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   
I was relieved when I found this series; an intelligent and well-written continuation to the career of Sherlock Holmes that never slips into pastiche.

This is the third of the Mary Russell books, although it could be read on its own. Mary and Sherlock Homes are now married, and although it isn't the most convincing marriage in the world, it is quite a convincing partnership. Mary is approached by an old acquaintance, a feminist archaeologist, who brings her a papyrus which is supposedly a letter written by Mary Magdalene. On the night following this meeting the archaeologist becomes the victim of a hit and run accident and Mary and Sherlock investigate.

Again, this is an interesting and atmospheric book and takes an interesting approach to the Sherlock Holmes way of investigating (especially as investigating techniques have changed and improved since he first started out.) My only disappointment was that the ending was something of an anti-climax. It wouldn't stop me reading others in the series though
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining, fast paced crime novel, 15 May 2004
One of my favourite Laurie R. King books, this novel has a hugely entertaining and fast paced plot.

Mary Russell meets an old friend who has a rather controversial theory regarding Mary Magdeline, which she is about to make public. Her theory is arousing feelings of enmity amongst her male colleagues. The friend also shows Mary a rather mysterious puzzle box. Shortly afterwards this friend is killed in a hit and run incident. Accident or murder ? Holmes and Mary investigate.
Unlike some of her other Sherlock Holmes pastiches, this novel does not feature the rather lengthy historical travel descriptions which bogged down King's other novels "Oh Jerusalem" and "The Moor". A gripping and entertaining crime novel featuring King's wonderful characterisations of Sherlock Holmes and Mary Russell. I enjoyed this as much as I did "A Monstous Regiment Of Women"... hugely.

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