I was hugely lucky to be offered an Advanced Reader Copy of this novel from amazon.com, in order to do a review. The book will be published on April 5th, 2016.
If you've ever read this blog before, you know that both Carrie and I love the series, so my glowing review won't be a shock. But it's the best thing I've read lately, so I wanted to plug the series one more time (at least!)
NO SPOILERS:
I have been reading Mary Russell books since the very first one came out, waiting a year or more between stories, completely devouring them when they are finally published... I was therefore ecstatic to be offered this advanced copy, especially since the rather worrisome title has been floating around now for a while.
This is another excellent outing in the series. I don't know if Ms. King had planned to do some background on Mrs Hudson all along, or if it was an offshoot idea, but the story of Clara Hudson is truly fascinating. It makes me want to re-read the books (which I do on nearly an annual basis, anyway) to see if there are signs of anything we learn in this installment. It does jump around in time, as the last book "Dreaming Spies" did, but since we are first learning of Mrs Hudson's parents' background and then her own story, while dealing with someone who may or may not be related to her in the "now", it makes sense.
Some backstory is also revealed for the younger Sherlock and how some of his habits and help came about. One of the things that keeps me loving this series is the character development. With the relationship better explained between Holmes and Hudson, you wind up learning interesting, and sometimes uncomfortable, traits about him.
The writing is excellent, as usual. I sat down and read this book in one day. It maybe isn't the typical Holmes and Russell story, but the characters' traits and relationships continue to develop well, and I enjoyed the story very much.
I can't say much without giving more away than I want to in a review, but you should read this book. (Start at the beginning of the series if you're a new reader - while this would stand alone pretty well, the series is fabulous, and you'll thank me...) Highly recommended - Chanin
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