Locked Rooms (Laurie R King)

This novel is the latest from Laurie R King, and continues her series revolving around her Sherlock Holmes and his wife, Mary Russell.

The reason I like these books is King's Sherlock Holmes. I wouldn't call myself a mad fan of Arthur Conan Doyle, but I did read all his Sherlock Holmes stories when I was younger, and I think King captures Holmes perfectly, and also makes him a far more interesting and sympathetic character than Doyle ever did.

Mary, though, is what makes the books. Mary is a wonderful character. I like her enormously, and her relationship with the prickly Holmes is fantastic.

The mysteries - for these novels are all mysteries - are secondary, to me. I enjoy the characters, first and foremost. The mystery in Locked Rooms is rather disappointing. While it delves a great deal into Mary's history, which is interesting, the villian revealed at the end was a bit of a let down. The motivation was rather unrealistic.

Despite that, I enjoyed this - King alternates Mary's first person with a third person narration, and I really liked that. You get to know Holmes' better, I think, rather than purely through Mary's eyes. The let-down of the mystery doesn't ruin the book, but it's a little disappointing to imagine what it might have been. Oh, and it's not really worth reading as a stand alone novel - you need to start at the beginning, with The Beekeeper's Apprentice.