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Turner42, January 1, 2012 (view all comments by Turner42)
Laurie R. King did a fabulous job in continuing one of the best detective series. I particularly enjoyed the way she brought Holmes into the case well into the book. A thoroughly enjoyable read. Her visit to Powell's was an added bonus. She was a delight to hear.
Ted Washburne, January 1, 2012 (view all comments by Ted Washburne)
Laurie King has beatifully captured the fantasy of the REAL Sherlock Holmes, and she continues to creat these adventure mysteries that take you all over the world and back again to a quiet book in your own quiet space! Awesome!
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Danielle G, September 30, 2011 (view all comments by Danielle G)
Pirates. They capture our imagination and sentiment, and that is just the problem investagator Mary Russell faces. This splendid farce about a silent film about a film about a film about the Pirates of Penzance..wait, I can't remember how many layers there are, but it's about pirates, real and imaginary, literary and cinematic. Per usual, Laurie King brings the time and landscape of the 1930s alive with rich detail and impeccable research, which weaves a fabric for her story to ride, rollicking, through mysteries like just who is selling guns and drugs from film sets and why does this Portugese translator/poet have multiple personalities? It is the kind of book you can't put down, and though pirates have been overdone, they haven't yet been done quite so existentially as King does them. It is a must read, but by the end I began to wonder if the author is beginning to tire of writing about Russell and her husband Sherlock Holmes. I hope not, as this world is fun, fantastic and still enjoyable to read.
Lieder Madchen, September 11, 2011 (view all comments by Lieder Madchen)
This novel had me doubled up with laughter multiple times. While most books in this series deal with darker and more serious themes, this one is downright silly at times. Mary Russell, esteemed scholar, detective and wife of the infamous Sherlock Holmes, is willing to do nearly anything to avoid her brother-in-law, including, reluctantly, joining the film crew of one of the most ridiculous productions ever. The motion picture is to be about a film crew making The Pirates of Penzance only to encounter real life pirates. So, of course, the makers of the film based on people making a film about pirates and encountering real pirates, encounter real pirates. Can't you just see the potential in such a plot?
This book featured a rich cast of unique and entertaining characters. Mr. Flytte, the director, is quirky, obsessed and very short. His second cousin, Geoffrey Hale, is the more sensible one. Then there is La Rocha, the piratical Portuguese man they hired to play the Pirate King...but is he really acting? And is he really Portuguese? Also, there is the plethora of blonde girls running around with fake constables and perhaps not so fake pirates. My favorite new character by far was Mr. Pessoa, the poet with multiple personality disorder and many names. He was actually a real poet, so I may have to go find some of his work now...
The story went along at a good pace and there was so much going on that I never knew what was going to happen next, though I did figure out the villain fairly early (or at least one of them). The clues were subtle and well-hidden throughout the plot. I loved the Byron quotes that kept cropping um, much to Russell's irritation. I do wish that Holmes had made more of an appearance in the story, but when he finally joined in the fun truly started. His disguise put his musical talents to very good use, and that is all I am going to tell you.
This book continues Ms. King's tradition of wonderful writing and complex characters and yet still manages to be completely unique. I would recommend it to lovers of mystery, light-hearted farce, pirates, film-making, poetry and...well, there is something in it for everyone. :)
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"Publishers Weekly Review"
by Publishers Weekly,
"In a foreword, King, to her credit, acknowledges the implausibility of her 11th Mary Russell novel (after The God of the Hive) by having her heroine declare, 'I fear that the credulity of many readers will be stretched to the breaking point by the case's intricate and, shall we say, colourful complexity of events.' If anything, this is an understatement. In the fall of 1924, Sherlock Holmes, Mary's husband, uses the threat of an impending visit from his brother, Mycroft, with whom she's at odds, to persuade Mary to travel to Lisbon, where she's ostensibly to serve as a production assistant for 'a film about a film about The Pirates of Penzance.' In fact, she's on covert assignment for the British government to investigate the studio behind the new film, whose releases appear to coincide with an upsurge in criminal activity. Sherlockians must wait more than half the book for Holmes to put in a cameo in this action-heavy, deduction-light installment. (Sept.)" Publishers Weekly Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
"Review"
by Booklist, (starred review),
"Brilliant and beautifully complex....Her descriptions of locales are voluptuous, and her continued delineation of the relationship of Russell and Holmes exquisitely portrays the eroticism of intellectual give-and-take."
"Review"
by Lee Child,
"The Mary Russell series is the most sustained feat of imagination in mystery fiction today."
"Review"
by The Washington Post Book World,
"The great marvel of King's series is that she' managed to preserve the integrity of Holmes's character and yet somehow conjure up a woman astute, edgy, and compelling enough to be the partner of his mind as well as his heart."
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