The Lantern's Dance

                                                                         

This latest entry in the ongoing saga of Mary Russell and her rather older husband Sherlock Holmes (yes, that Sherlock,) is a pure delight.  The eighteenth in the series, it's a delightful puzzle, weaving together past and present while unravelling some old family secrets.

I highly recommend the entire series. While this novel can stand alone, it will be especially fulfilling for those who've followed the adventures of ths unlikely duo of Russell and Holmes.

As always, King's writing is intelligent and lively--fully developed characters, well-drawn settings (India and France), and a twisting, teasing plot with an ending to satisfy--and intrigue. 

Great fun!

Bingeing on Russell and Holmes

Years ago, when I learned that Laurie R. King and I shared an editor, I quickly purchased her first book--The Beekeeper's Apprentice--and fell in love with her writing. And bought copies of all her books at the time. These books survived the Great Purge because they are books I've read and re-read. 

The beekeeper is a semi-retired Sherlock Holmes, and the apprentice is the teenaged Mary Russell, whose intelligence startles and intrigues Holmes to the point that she becomes his apprentice and, eventually, his partner.

The series is wonderful--rich, intelligent writing, complex characters, intriguing situations, exotic locations (Jerusalem! Japan! India! Oxford! Transylvania! Romania! Morocco! California!) and all backed up with King's own formidable knowledge of the Holmesian canon as well as the literature, social scene, and history of the time (early 20th C.)

The series in order:

The Beekeeper's Apprentice, Beekeeping for Beginners (e), A Monstrous Regiment of Women, A Letter of Mary, The Moor, O Jerusalem, Justice Hall, The Game, Locked Rooms, The Language of Bees, The God of the Hive, Pirate King, Garment of Shadows, Dreaming Spies, The Murder of Mary Russell, Island of the Mad, Riviera Gold, and Castle Shade.

Recently I realized that while I'd read and re-read the first ten or eleven books, there were some more recent ones out there, unread. Time to catch up! But first I had to re-read from the beginning.

I mentioned that King and I were both fortunate enough to have the redoubtable Kate Miciak as editor. So, when I delved into the newer books, I was tickled to find that King was giving Mrs. Hudson, Holmes's iconic housekeeper, a very surprising past . . . not unlike what editor Miciak nudged me toward with Miss Birdie. 

It was a delight to catch up with the Russell/Holmes team--and to know there is yet another entry in the series coming out in the fall.

This time I won't have to reread from the beginning.

 

Deduction Theology - Suitable for Sunday

“There is nothing in which deduction is so necessary as in religion,” said he, leaning with his back against the shutters. “It can be built up as an exact science by the reasoner. Our highest assurance of the goodness of Providence seems to me to rest in the flowers. All other things, our powers, our desires, our food, are really necessary for our existence in the first instance. But this rose is an extra. Its smell and its colour are an embellishment of life, not a condition of it. It is only goodness which gives extras, and so I say again that we have much to hope from the flowers.”

From Arthur Conan Doyle's "The Adventure of the Naval Treaty" -- Sherlock Holmes examines a flower and deduces the goodness of God.

In the case of this odorless orchid, however, I personally would deduce a sense of humor. (are those large insectoid eyes on the white protuberance at the center? Mouse over the picture and click for a close-up of Divine Humor. )

Another re-post from the beginnings of this blog.

Twigs

Runic messages

Scratched into the evening sky --

Springtime's swelling twigs.

I love the look of these twigs. They put me in mind of the eponymous code in the Sherlock Holmes story called "The Adventure of the Dancing Men."

This morning I'm traveling to Columbia, SC for their Book Festival -- big doings with Scott Turow as keynote speaker on Sunday. Unfortunately, I'll miss hearing him as I'll be on my way to Troy, NC for a previous engagement -- a presentation at the library there. And then back home on Monday.

Of course the laptop and Miss Birdie will go with me and I'll hope to get in some rewrite time -- not ever having been one to party hardy, it's no sacrifice to turn in early and take advantage of a quiet hotel room to do some work.

Depending on how well my laptop cooperates with the hotel Wi Fi, I'll post again tomorrow.