A Letter of Mary: A Novel of Suspense Featuring Mary Russell and Sherlock… (original 1996; edition 2007)

I continue to adore the Mary Russell series, although A Letter to Mary turned out to be a weak link for me. Partly because the meaty, intellectual subject that Mary Russell chews on through the book is the historical Mary Magdalene's role in the early Christian church, and even though it's more interesting, more intelligent, more thorough here than in Dan Brown...the subject feels a little tired to me right now. What can I say, I'm not a fan of the Da Vinci Code and anything that reminds me of it is a turn off.

Now that I've got that off my chest...Lord Peter Wimsey has a cameo! A wonderful one! That was very exciting.

Watching the developing relationship between Holmes and Russell continues to be fascinating. Holmes is still, by a large margin, the more competent detective - is this because we are still so early on in the series, or because Holmes will always reign supreme? Something to watch in the next books. I love their relationship, not just the closeness they share but their separations, too, the way two largely solitary individuals navigate a companionship.

The other thing that sort of dampened my excitement about the plotting was a particular red herring that I thought went on too long.

All quibbles aside, I love this series and I've already bought the next book, which I will read with great relish.
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This is the third book in King's Mary Russell / Sherlock Holmes series, and the more I read, the more I like the series. Russell is intelligent, lively, interesting and feisty - a worthy match for Holmes. King has said that Russell is what Holmes would be if he were female, born in the 20th Century and interested in theology (or words to that effect). In my view, that aspect of Russell has become clearer as the series has progressed. It is also what makes the pairing of the very young Russell and the aging Holmes both understandable and acceptable. Russell, a woman born in 1900, is representative of a new era. Her age and her gender are central to her importance as a character, and are just as important as the fact that her intellect is equal to that of Holmes.

If anything lets this novel down, it's the resolution of the mystery. A resolution which depends on the victim taking elaborate precautions to write and hide a new will because she "felt" that she was in danger felt a little contrived. And it may just be that I finished reading the book when I was tired, but it was not completely clear to me that discovering the secret of the box and the will actually helped nail the villains.. But I quibble. In reality, what makes this book and the series as a whole worth reading is not the mystery, but the characters and the setting, as well as the atmosphere they help create.

For me, the highlight of the novel was the cameo appearance of Peter Wimsey in Chapter 17. There he was, Lord Peter to the life! It made me wonder whether the Sayers estate would have done better to get King rather than [a:Jill Paton Walsh|8733|Jill Paton Walsh|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1287521411p2/8733.jpg] to complete [b:Thrones, Dominations|132671|Thrones, Dominations|Dorothy L. Sayers|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/7127BYKMSZL._SL75_.gif|959167]. There's also a mention of Tolkien in the novel, just to add a bit of Oxford literary flavour.

Overall, this was a good read. The next book in the series, [b:The Moor|184059|The Moor (Mary Russell, #4)|Laurie R. King|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172521731s/184059.jpg|177886], is waiting in the pile. ( )

Another rollicking good ride with Russell and Holmes. ( )

I think I was disappointed in Mary Russell at the end of this book. (Kind of spoilery...)

I know that the author couldn't have her character make a big revelation that would shake-up society (at least, not do so and keep the premise that this is a biographical retelling) but I expected more courage from the character. Yes, she deals with danger well, but standing up for the truth seemed like an inescapable element of her character as well. To have that lacking was a let-down for me.

I enjoyed the book, but the ending felt weak. ( )

I enjoyed this one far more the second time than I did the first time I read it. Perhaps it is the experience of the audio book. It still isn't the strongest mystery of the series. Certainly the puzzles are, to me, less intriguing, and there is a marked difference in the level of action as compared to the first two books. This is more of a cozy, lacking some of the energy of the earlier books (and of the later books).

This one is more of a character study, an analysis of the relationship between Mary and Holmes as it matures and develops. Many of the scenes in the novel are only tangentially related to the central mystery, but they allow us to see what is going on with Mary and, to a lesser extend (because this is told in first person from Mary's point of view) with Holmes.

Written several years before The Da Vinci Code, the titular "letter of Mary" refers to a papyrus purported to contain a letter written by Mary of Magdalene, who refers to herself as one of Jesus' disciples. Thus, it appears this letter and the huge effect it would have on Christianity were it proved to be authentic are central to the mystery, but -- rather disappointingly, to me -- it's just a red herring that diverts Mary away from the more mundane motive for the crimes at the center of this book. Once again, Holmes does all the interesting detective work that solves the mystery at hand, with Mary as an assistant, while her own endeavors are rather quickly summed up, dismissed, and left unseen after she (and we) discover she was on the wrong trail.

Not a bad read, really. The audio book made painting an office and driving around on errands much more interesting. ( )