However, this episode in the Mary Russell / Sherlock Holmes series is disappointing. It's distinguished by excellent research, intelligent prose and interesting characterisation. Holmes is real, you see, even though for most of his life peopleĪs a long-time reader of crime fiction, I like Laurie R King's writing a lot. The series, which is set in the 1920s, is presented as the memoir of a young Oxford University educated woman who marries the "real" Sherlock Holmes, a man many years her senior. This romp of a novel may be light relief after the drama of the last two Russell books, but I suspect I'm not the only fan who wants to get back to the sturm und drang.Īs a long-time reader of crime fiction, I like Laurie R King's writing a lot. Things I didn't like: the absence of Holmes until mid-book, and the rather silly resolution of the two main questions Russell sets out to answer. Things I liked: the sparkling wit and hilarity of the writing. King leans toward intricate plots, and this time she's leaned so far that the reader is dangling off the rigging trying to hold on to the gist. She takes said assistant's place on a jaunt to Portugal and Morocco that involves her with a bunch of actresses, some of whom are only acting the part of actresses, assorted (and impossible to keep track of) actors, and a band of real pirates who are hired as actors pretending to be pirates. The plot: Russell is inveigled into investigating a) why a film company keeps attracting the same kind of adventures as those depicted in its movies, and b) the disappearance of a woman assistant.
I would actually say that she went beyond her remit and came up with something that is so much more light-hearted than usual that it feels rather out of place.
King has stated that she agreed to write this book (under, I assume, the usual publisher pressure to keep churning on) with the proviso that she would go back to the light-hearted feel of the early Russell books. I am a big fan of King's Mary Russell series, but Pirate King will not number among my favorites. I would actually say that she went beyond her remit and came up with something that is so much more light-hearted t Where I got the book: purchased at indie bookstore (author event, signed).
Where I got the book: purchased at indie bookstore (author event, signed).
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