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frenchcafegirl
, August 12, 2014
(view all comments by frenchcafegirl)
This is another adventure in Ms Kings series of Sherlock Holmes and his wife (yes) Mary Russell. In this volume they are on their way back to England from Asia and decide to make a stop in San Francisco so Mary can settle some affairs related to her deceased family's finances. Though she has only distant memories from early childhood, Mary has dreams/nightmares almost as soon as their ship leaves Hawaii. Once they are back in the city by the bay she realizes the connection between her parents death and her feelings that she is somehow to blame for their deaths. Ms King gives us some fun characters, insightful local history and even throws in Dashiell Hammett (much to our delight). The earthquake and resulting fire that nearly destroyed the entire city looms at the fringes of all that happens. Holmes delves into the deaths of his wife's family with his usual energy and even hires Hammett to do local research. There's a SF version of the baker street boys to do his legwork. All in all it's a predictable read but tons of fun. Mary is much younger than Holmes and very much his pupil but is quickly rising to be Holmes equal partner.
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