Garment of Shadows
A novel of suspense featuring Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes
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- 7,99 €
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- 7,99 €
Publisher Description
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 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.”
BONUS: This edition includes an excerpt from Laurie R. King's Bones of Paris.
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
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Featuring Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes In the opening chapter of her new book, Garment of Shadows, Laurie R. King doesn t identity her first-person narrator for a very good reason. Her heroine suffers from amnesia and doesn t know who she is (though readers will instantly recognize her as Mary Russell, young wife of the much older Sherlock Holmes, now a retired beekeeper in Sussex). King takes a risk by going for upwards of 30 pages essentially without dialogue. This could be a challenge in the hands of a less gifted writer, but King s vivid prose and attention to detail draw us into Mary s predicament, as she finds herself in Morocco, not knowing how she got there. Forced to piece together her own history through clues she discovers on her person as well as around her, Mary embarks upon an adventure involving spies and traitors that takes her and Sherlock to Morocco in 1924, during the height of the Rif revolt. King brings the city of Fez and its environs to life with her vivid portrayal of Arabic culture. Her grasp of the tenuous, prickly relations among Great Britain, France, and warring political factions in rapidly evolving Morocco is impressive. Some readers may find the chapters laying out the politics in extensive detail trying, while others may find them fascinating. King s prose is sprinkled liberally with Arabic words and phrases, and while perhaps not be to everyone s taste, they add to the color and richness of her narrative. The premise of the book, though original and intriguing, is somewhat problematic. Thrust into a complex political situation not of their own making, Mary and Sherlock remain in some essential way outside the emotional center of the story. King has to continually invent ways to draw her heroine deeper into the fray (this is definitely Mary s story; Holmes functions more or less as her very able sidekick).But King is up to the task, creating plenty of excitement in a hazardous journey Mary and Sherlock take on horseback into the desert. Perhaps the book s most gripping scene is the one in which the ever-resilient Russell uses her wiles in an attempt to escape from a dungeon where she has been left to die. The secondary characters are well drawn, including Holmes s fifth cousin, Mar chal Hubert Lyautey (a real historical figure). There is a lingering feeling that the main players in this taut tale are not Mary and Sherlock, but the Moroccans whose way of life is at stake. Though fans of previous Mary Russell books may appreciate this story more than the uninitiated reader coming to the series for the first time, King has done her homework, and this tantalizing glimpse into the life and times of a rapidly evolving Arabic society has remarkable resonance for our own uncertain times. , the fourth in her Lee Campbell thriller series.
