Audiobook Review: O JERUSALEM by Laurie R. King

Dang, this book is long.

Mary Russell is the young partner-in-detection to the officially retired Sherlock Holmes. In the first Mary Russell "memoir," The Beekeeper's Apprentice, there is a small side note that she and Sherlock Holmes went to Palestine on a secret mission for the British government (and also to get out of the country) that's treated basically like this: "We went to Palestine for a year and it was kinda awesome and also the longest trip evar. Then we got back, yay!" O Jerusalem, the fourth book in the series, jumps back to that time period to tell us everything that went on during Russell's and Holmes' briefly-mentioned trip, to wit: they wander around Palestine for what isn't forty years but definitely feels like it; there are a lot of sheep; Sherlock Holmes gets almost-killed a bunch of times; and then they finally get to Jerusalem, where Russell starts geeking out and they stop a terrorist plot.

I can understand why Laurie R. King gave Russell's trip to Palestine its own book, because there was not way to do justice to it otherwise. As I mentioned before, this book is long. And meandery. It isn't quite that it doesn't have a plot, because it does; the reader just doesn't know what the plot is until maybe the final quarter of the book. They wander around and around with what appears to be no direction, and at some point it's like, "Just get to Jerusalem already!" Even worse, I listened to this on audio, which I really only do while cleaning or folding laundry, and thus it took me two months to finish.

I'm not going to say this book should have been shorter--mainly because I can't remember everything that went on at this point--but it does require a considerable amount of patience. It's well-researched and -written, as are all of King's novels; but I'm not a huge fan of "journey" books to begin with, and mystery books where the mystery is incidental outright annoy me most of the time, so I can't say I'm a huge fan right now.

What I did find really interesting, though, were the dynamics of Russell's and Holmes' relationship. Chronologically this is several years before they get married, before we even get a hint that their relationship is anything other than platonic. But in O Jerusalem, you definitely get the sense that the foundation of their marriage is being formed here, especially on the part of Holmes. It was more sentimental and sexual than I was expecting (not that, I'm sure, I would have interpreted it that way had I read the books in chronological rather than release order), and I think it's an awesome way to tell the story--to play with what we already know about the characters and add more layers to them that what would otherwise be there.

This probably won't be listed among my favorite Russell and Holmes books, but if you're already reading the series, naturally you want to read this one. If you're not reading the series, you're missing out on some great writing!

A Letter of Mary by Laurie R. King

In the chronicles of Mary Russell, book three, Russell and Holmes have settled into married life.  If the cottage (or the car or the train or the great outdoors...) is a-rockin', don't come a-knockin'!  Ha ha, I kid.  Or do I?????

ANYway, Holmes is bored, which means everyone in the house is walking on eggshells.  But then, lo, Dorothy Ruskin, whose name always reminds me of John Ruskin, arrives to give Russell and Holmes some much-needed excitement.  Dorothy is an amateur archaeologist whom the couple met on their trip through Palestine in The Beekeeper's Apprentice, and she wants to give Mary a letter that she believes is from Mary Magdalene.  Then she is murdered and, naturally, Holmes and Russell decide to investigate.

Again, this book was better than the previous ones--much more focused plot, and a very quick read without many lags in the story.  The writing is also very intelligent--which is appropriate, considering our heroine is smart enough to keep up with Sherlock Holmes--and full of literary and cultural allusions, most of which went completely over my head.  I don't think you need to have a degree from Oxford to enjoy the book, though, or catch at least some of the references.

That being said, there were two main things that continue to bother me about the novel.  Thing one is, what the heck happened to Colonel Edwards' wife and the woman who was killed after taking her to the hospital?  That had foul play written all over it, but the Holmes' totally let it go after the death of their friend was solved.  And speaking of Edwards and his loathsome son, this leads me to thing two:  what was the point of Mary going off and investigating them at all?  Seriously, I want to know.  Because this is the kind of book where everything is a red herring, and because of the way the mystery was solved, I can only conclude that the novel itself isn't a mystery.  So what is it, then?  What are we supposed to infer from the misadventures of Mary?

Despite the fact that the ending of the book left me with a kind of w-t-f feeling, I found myself impressed all over again by this series and in love with characters.  They kind of remind me of something Elizabeth Peters might write if she was inclined toward Sherlock Holmes instead of Ancient Egypt, and I'm looking forward to digging my way through the rest of the Russell and Holmes books memoirs.

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A Monstrous Regiment of Women by Laurie R. King

The second book in the Mary Russell series (or memoirs, as we are presented them) finds Mary all grown up, finished with Oxford, and about to be emancipated from her hated relative.  But what direction will Mary's life as a free and independent woman take?  This is the question she faces in A Monstrous Regiment of Women.

I read this book many months ago, but never wrote a review for it--probably in the self-delusional belief that I would read the entire series in a timely enough manner to recall all ten books and write a review of all of them at once.  Clearly, this is not going to happen; so from now on I'm just going to review every book individually.  Mmkay?

I did enjoy this novel and thought it was an improvement over The Beekeeper's Apprentice--it's much less episodic and the plot is more focused.  That being said, the mystery was pretty lame.  I honestly don't even remember what it was about, other than it involves some extreme religious society run by a charismatic woman who thinks God is actually female.  This is 1921, so you can imagine how far-out most people would think she is, and that includes Mary.  Since Mary's newly minted degree is in theology, she regards Margery Childe--the religious leader in question--with something similar to the fascination of a train wreck.  In any case, the mystery here feels incidental.

However, the interaction between Holmes and Russell makes this book completely worth it, especially as Holmes is pushing Russell to consider their partnership in a new light.  The direction of his thoughts isn't particularly surprising (especially if someone's already spoiled it for you, coughRuthcough), but the way it's handled and Mary's reaction is.  Plus I loved the ending.

I wouldn't say Monstrous Regiment is a delight from start to finish, but it does have moments of pure storytelling genius that give me great hope for the rest of the series.  Highly recommended!

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The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie R. King

I started The Beekeeper's Apprentice because Ruth from Booktalk & More told me to, and basically I do whatever she tells me.  I'm very happy I took her advice, because this book was super-awesome!

The Beekeeper's Apprentice is about a young woman name Mary Russell in WWI England, who meets Sherlock Holmes (aka the beekeeper).  Holmes, the quintessential Victorian detective, has retired to the country, where he amuses himself conducting experiments with bees and chemicals and whatnot (not all at the same time... usually).  Russell declares she is not interested in bees because they're too much like humans, to which Holmes responds by saying that's probably why he's so fascinated by them (extended metaphor alert!!!).  Almost immediately thereafter, he decides to make Russell his apprentice in the arts of detection.

Russell spends her teen years being trained by Holmes before she goes off to Oxford, and slowly begins to assist him on cases.  There is no central mystery in this novel; mainly it's a coming-of-age story for Russell.  Several mysteries move the development of the characters along.  Usually I like my mysteries to be very, very focused; and I do have to admit that there were times when the lack of a focused mystery plot frustrated me.  But it's practically impossible to fault the book for that, since a more focused plot would not have allowed Mary's character to develop.  Also, this is one of those books where the best scenes are those that are completely unrelated to the plot--Holmes and his brother Myron having a totally pointless argument, Russell and Holmes' excursion to Palestine, etc.

In the actual Sherlock Holmes books, Holmes annoys me.  But in this book I loved him!  He was exactly the way one would imagine him, only better.  And the chemistry between him and Russell (which is non-sexual, just fyi) was great.

The thing that really cemented my opinion of this novel is that I was depressed when it was finished.   I wanted to spend more time with Holmes and Russell and Myron!  Fortunately, there are many more books in this mystery series, and I can't wait to read them.

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