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15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Intrigue in an exotic place, 17 Mar 2004
Shortly after the First World War, in 1924, the Labour party has triumphed in England and as a result rumors about what the future will bring are abundant, creating an ambiance of political turmoil. In this setting, Mary Russell and her husband, the famous Sherlock Holmes, travel to London to visit Mycroft, whose health has deteriorated and is cause for concern. Upon arrival Mary and Holmes are presented with three documents Mycroft had received: a soldier's clearance certificate, an original enlistment and a birth certificate. These three items relate to none other then Kim O'Hara, the famous character of Kipling's book. Several rumors about Kim reached England, including that he is held prisoner by a maharaja and that he got ill and died.Mycroft is worried about the possibility that O'Hara is using the Russians as a tool to free India and since he "cannot" travel, because of his health, he asks his brother and Mary to travel to India on his behalf and unravel the mystery. During the trip to India, Mary establishes a relationship with Sunny Goodheart, who is accompanied by her mother and her mysterious brother Tom. Holmes starts suspecting right away that there is something wrong about Tom and they follow him to the land of the maharaja of Khanpur where further events develop. Laurie King presents an exotic land, where people practice sports like pig sticking and maharajas rule at their wanting and can indulge every desire they or their guests have. On top of this, the author throws in a mystery to complete the mix. The second half of the novel is very good, with a good pace and events that are unfolding constantly keeping the reader interested. The beginning of the novel is very slow though, and the journey to India is excessively detailed without any clear point. Even though there are amazingly vivid descriptions of places, people and food, it is still not clear to me what is the objective of spending almost half the book in describing the odyssey to India. What I think the novel lacks is the usual deductive work Holmes and Russell are involved in. Instead the novel is more an adventure with spies involved, than a mystery involving the celebrated British detective and his sharp wife. Overall, the book is good, but in my opinion the quality has decreased considerably when compared to the first book in the series. For those of you that have been following this series since its beginning, I recommend you read this one too, but try not to have very high hopes. For those of you that are not acquainted with the series I would recommend that instead of this book you read "The Beekeeper's Apprentice".
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by Laurie R. King
by Laurie R. King
by Laurie R. King
by Laurie R. King
by Laurie R. King
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