After several years in the company of Sherlock Holmes, Mary Russell has developed a deep affection for Holmes's faithful housekeeper, Mrs. Hudson, who sees to their every need. Mary has never inquired into Mrs. Hudson's past, knowing only that she has relatives in Australia. But when a young, brash and armed Australian appears one afternoon, Mary finds herself caught off guard and suddenly curious. When Holmes returns home to find Russell gone, the great detective must reach into the past to unravel the young man's connection to Mrs. Hudson--and to find out where he has taken Mary.
Laurie R. King (Dreaming Spies, The Bones of Paris) continues her series featuring Holmes and Russell, interspersing Mary's first-person narration with extended flashbacks from Mrs. Hudson's earlier life. Raised by a ne'er-do-well father, Clarissa Hudson learned the tricks of the confidence game early on. Though her father favored his younger daughter, Alicia, it was Clarissa whom he tapped to be his partner in their "Cheats" and, some years later, turned to again when his luck ran out. An unexpected encounter with "the grey-eyed enigma of London" would bind Clarissa to Sherlock Holmes for life, and King expertly weaves together the threads of the housekeeper's past, Holmes's detective career and the echoes of that fateful night.
Whip-smart, suspenseful and intricately plotted, The Murder of Mary Russell shines a brilliant light on an often overlooked aspect of the Sherlock Holmes universe. --Katie Noah Gibson, blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams