I absolutely fell in love with Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes when I randomly picked up The Bee Keepers Assistant years ago. I have since only read a few books in the series and sadly skipped around quite a bit. Now here we are with book 17 being released! I couldn’t believe how far behind I got in this series! Rather than skip around again by picking this one up, I decided to go back and re-read the other books in the series first. So in the coming months you will see more reviews for this series being posted!
But I did want to get this one on your radar! This is a series where you definitely can skip around, I have and I haven’t been too lost. The principal characters are timeless and the author always does a great job keeping new readers and long time fans abreast of the goings on in Mary and Holmes’s lives. Plus the focus is on the mystery so you could easily pick up this book (or any in the series) and find something to love about the characters and stories/mysteries.
If you are a fan of lady detective novels like Veronica Speedwell, Georgie from Her Royal Spyness series, Lady Darby and a host of others, then this series will appeal to you. King is an experienced writer who has kept the character of Sherlock Holmes alive and solving crime with his lady love through ages and I think it’s fantastic. This is a smart, well written series and I have no doubt this latest installment will be equally enjoyable and fun to read! It is out now so make sure to check it out!
Summary
A queen, a castle, a dark and ageless threat–all await Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes in this chilling new adventure.
The queen is Marie of Roumania: the doubly royal granddaughter to Victoria, Empress of the British Empire, and Alexander II, Tsar of Russia. A famous beauty who was married at seventeen into Roumania’s young dynasty, Marie had beguiled the Paris Peace Conference into returning her adopted country’s long-lost provinces, single-handedly transforming Roumania from a backwater into a force.
The castle is Bran: a tall, quirky, ancient structure perched on high rocks overlooking the border between Roumania and its newly regained territory of Transylvania. The castle was a gift to Queen Marie, a thanks from her people, and she loves it as she loves her own children.
The threat is…now, that is less clear. Shadowy figures, vague whispers, the fears of girls, dangers that may only be accidents. But this is a land of long memory and hidden corners, a land that had known Vlad the Impaler, a land from whose churchyards the shades creep.
When Queen Marie calls, Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes are as dubious as they are reluctant. But a young girl is involved, and a beautiful queen. Surely it won’t take long to shine light on this unlikely case of what would seem to be strigoi?
Or, as they are known in the West…vampires. (summary from Goodreads)
The Lit Bitch 