O Jerusalem
by Laurie R. King 
Mary Russell: Chronological Order (December 1918-February 1919), Mary Russell (5)
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Fiction. Mystery. Thriller. Historical Fiction. HTML:At the close of the year 1918, forced to flee England's green and pleasant land, Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes enter British-occupied Palestine under the auspices of Holmes' enigmatic brother, Mycroft."Gentlemen, we are at your service." Thus Holmes greets the two travel-grimed Arab figures who receive them in the orange groves fringing the Holy Land. Whatever role could the volatile Ali and the taciturn Mahmoud play in Mycroft's show more design for this land the British so recently wrested from the Turks? After passing a series of tests, Holmes and Russell learn their guides are engaged in a mission for His Majesty's Government, and disguise themselves as Bedouins—Russell as the beardless youth "Amir"—to join them in a stealthy reconnaissance through the dusty countryside.
A recent rash of murders seems unrelated to the growing tensions between Jew, Moslem, and Christian, yet Holmes is adamant that he must reconstruct the most recent one in the desert gully where it occurred. His singular findings will lead him and Russell through labyrinthine bazaars, verminous inns, cliff-hung monasteries—and into mortal danger. When her mentor's inquiries jeopardize his life, Russell fearlessly wields a pistol and even assays the arts of seduction to save him. Bruised and bloodied, the pair ascend to the jewellike city of Jerusalem, where they will at last meet their adversary, whose lust for savagery and power could reduce the city's most ancient and sacred place to rubble and ignite this tinderbox of a land....
Classically Holmesian yet enchantingly fresh, sinuously plotted, with colorful characters and a dazzling historic ambience, O Jerusalem sweeps readers ever onward in the thrill of the chase. show less
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Greatly enjoyed this entry in the series and loved (again) the narrative voice and the blend of wit, bravado, and tentative introspection as Russell tries her best (often succeeding) to figure out Holmes. I like the adventure and characterization and admit that I don't care that much about the mystery or its plausibility. I tend to agree with a fuzzily-remembered quotation from Raymond Chandler that in a good mystery novel, the reader could know "whodunit" on the first page and still want to keep reading. Enjoy the religious/theological themes that King always includes, too. Looking forward to Justice Hall.
'O Jerusalem' was a book that I came to with reluctance rather than enthusiasm. I'd enjoyed the first four books in the series both because each book had a strong plot heightened by fascinating historical details and because Laurie King slowly grew the partnership between Russell and Holmes into something credible and intriguing. The retired, much older Holmes is an extension of Conan Doyle's creation, not a pastiche of it and Mary Russell, intelligent, brave, unconventional, intellectually rigorous and endlessly curious is a character strong enough not to be at Holmes' side without being in his shadow.
Yet, when I reached 'O Jerusalem', the fifth book, my enthusiasm for the series faltered. I was put off because the book goes back in show more time to fill in a blank few weeks in the first book, ‘The Beekeeper’s Apprentice’ when Russell and Holmes his away from their enemies by spending time abroad. This bothered me because I thought it was likely to lose the forward momentum in the relationship between Russel and Holmes that the first four books had delivered, and because it took me back to a point when the age gap and experience gap between Russell and Holmes had seemed too wide to be bridged. I was also put off by the setting of the book. I seldom enjoy books set in rancid politics of the Middle East and the behaviour of the British Government in 1919 seems to me to have been a major contributor to the instability of the region for the rest of the century.
In the end, I read 'O Jerusalem' simply so that I could move on and read the rest of the series. While the book didn't engage me in the way its predecessors had, it turned out not to be a dull chore either.
It had been so long since I'd read a Russell and Holmes book that I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed Mary Russell's low-key, slightly dry, very perceptive descriptions of people, places and events. Listening to Mary telling the story of her time with Holmes in Jerusalem was the strongest part of the book for me.
The plot is about espionage rather than solving a murder. I found it to be a little static, although the ending managed to have enough energy in it to read like a thriller. The sense of place was very strong. It didn't make me hungry to visit Palestine but it did bring both the discomforts of the environment and the richness of the culture to life.
I found myself out of sympathy with her romantic view of Jerusalem and her uncritical admiration of Edmund Allenby but I could see that they fitted into her character perfectly both as a religious scholar and as a nineteen-year-old coming face to face with one of the most charismatic men in the region.
I was surprised to find that the book helped me to become more comfortable with the relationship between Russell and Holmes. Throughout most of the book, Russell presents herself as a young Arab boy, called Amir. This seemed to be a very empowering experience for her, allowing her to display her odd mix of scholarship, language skills, and combat skills to advantage. I also liked the scene in the book where Russell attends a ball at Allenby's request and finds herself as the only single woman in a room full of young Army Officiers who buzz around her like flies. She rises to the occasion with aplomb and enjoys seeing Holmes' discomfort at the attention she receives.
So, having been reminded of how much I like Mary Russell, I'm now ready to resume reading the series and I'm looking forward to moving back up the timeline for the next book, 'Justice Hall' and seeing how a slightly older and no longer single Mary Russell handles a meeting with two men that she worked with closely in Palestine. show less
At the close of the year 1918, forced to flee England's green and pleasant land, Russell and Holmes enter British-occupied Palestine under the auspices of Holmes' enigmatic brother, Mycroft.
"Gentlemen, we are at your service." Thus Holmes greets the two travel-grimed Arab figures who receive them in the orange groves fringing the Holy Land. Whatever role could the volatile Ali and the taciturn Mahmoud play in Mycroft's design for this land the British so recently wrested from the Turks? After passing a series of tests, Holmes and Russell learn their guides are engaged in a mission for His Majesty's Government, and disguise themselves as Bedouins--Russell as the beardless youth "Amir"--to join them in a stealthy reconnaissance through show more the dusty countryside.
A recent rash of murders seems unrelated to the growing tensions between Jew, Moslem, and Christian, yet Holmes is adamant that he must reconstruct the most recent one in the desert gully where it occurred. His singular findings will lead him and Russell through labyrinthine bazaars, verminous inns, cliff-hung monasteries--and into mortal danger. When her mentor's inquiries jeopardize his life, Russell fearlessly wields a pistol and even assays the arts of seduction to save him. Bruised and bloodied, the pair ascend to the jewellike city of Jerusalem, where they will at last meet their adversary, whose lust for savagery and power could reduce the city's most ancient and sacred place to rubble and ignite this tinderbox of a land.... show less
"Gentlemen, we are at your service." Thus Holmes greets the two travel-grimed Arab figures who receive them in the orange groves fringing the Holy Land. Whatever role could the volatile Ali and the taciturn Mahmoud play in Mycroft's design for this land the British so recently wrested from the Turks? After passing a series of tests, Holmes and Russell learn their guides are engaged in a mission for His Majesty's Government, and disguise themselves as Bedouins--Russell as the beardless youth "Amir"--to join them in a stealthy reconnaissance through show more the dusty countryside.
A recent rash of murders seems unrelated to the growing tensions between Jew, Moslem, and Christian, yet Holmes is adamant that he must reconstruct the most recent one in the desert gully where it occurred. His singular findings will lead him and Russell through labyrinthine bazaars, verminous inns, cliff-hung monasteries--and into mortal danger. When her mentor's inquiries jeopardize his life, Russell fearlessly wields a pistol and even assays the arts of seduction to save him. Bruised and bloodied, the pair ascend to the jewellike city of Jerusalem, where they will at last meet their adversary, whose lust for savagery and power could reduce the city's most ancient and sacred place to rubble and ignite this tinderbox of a land.... show less
Needing to leave England for a while and accepting a commission from Sherlock's brother Mycroft, Mary and Sherlock find themselves in Palestine and in the middle of a plot to destabilize an already troubled area in 1919 when Allenby is trying to forge some sort of peace and the Turks aren't quite ready to give up the area.
Mary dons the disguise of an Arab boy named Amir and has a rapid course in Arabic as they join forces with Mahmoud and Ali who are agents for Mycroft and who aren't eager to have two new strangers coming into the area. After a period of testing which tests their stamina and determination and puts a strain on Holmes who is healing from the bomb blast which precipitated their trip to Palestine, Holmes and Mary find show more themselves trying to find the mastermind who is behind a few murders and a plot to blow up a sacred site in Jerusalem.
The story sees Holmes and Russell traveling through many dusty parts of Palestine including cliff-side monasteries and buried tunnels and aqueducts and tombs. Mary and Sherlock even have a chance to swim in the Dead Sea. Mary is often awestruck seeing the sites she has studied and the places that form an important part of her religion.
I loved the vivid descriptions of the land and people they meet on their journey. The plot was nicely twisty. I liked the growing relationship between Mary and Sherlock as they ease from Mary's apprenticeship to her being a full and equal partner to Holmes. show less
Mary dons the disguise of an Arab boy named Amir and has a rapid course in Arabic as they join forces with Mahmoud and Ali who are agents for Mycroft and who aren't eager to have two new strangers coming into the area. After a period of testing which tests their stamina and determination and puts a strain on Holmes who is healing from the bomb blast which precipitated their trip to Palestine, Holmes and Mary find show more themselves trying to find the mastermind who is behind a few murders and a plot to blow up a sacred site in Jerusalem.
The story sees Holmes and Russell traveling through many dusty parts of Palestine including cliff-side monasteries and buried tunnels and aqueducts and tombs. Mary and Sherlock even have a chance to swim in the Dead Sea. Mary is often awestruck seeing the sites she has studied and the places that form an important part of her religion.
I loved the vivid descriptions of the land and people they meet on their journey. The plot was nicely twisty. I liked the growing relationship between Mary and Sherlock as they ease from Mary's apprenticeship to her being a full and equal partner to Holmes. show less
Needing to leave England for a while and accepting a commission from Sherlock's brother Mycroft, Mary and Sherlock find themselves in Palestine and in the middle of a plot to destabilize an already troubled area in 1919 when Allenby is trying to forge some sort of peace and the Turks aren't quite ready to give up the area.
Mary dons the disguise of an Arab boy named Amir and has a rapid course in Arabic as they join forces with Mahmoud and Ali who are agents for Mycroft and who aren't eager to have two new strangers coming into the area. After a period of testing which tests their stamina and determination and puts a strain on Holmes who is healing from the bomb blast which precipitated their trip to Palestine, Holmes and Mary find show more themselves trying to find the mastermind who is behind a few murders and a plot to blow up a sacred site in Jerusalem.
The story sees Holmes and Russell traveling through many dusty parts of Palestine including cliff-side monasteries and buried tunnels and aqueducts and tombs. Mary and Sherlock even have a chance to swim in the Dead Sea. Mary is often awestruck seeing the sites she has studied and the places that form an important part of her religion.
I loved the vivid descriptions of the land and people they meet on their journey. The plot was nicely twisty. I liked the growing relationship between Mary and Sherlock as they ease from Mary's apprenticeship to her being a full and equal partner to Holmes. show less
Mary dons the disguise of an Arab boy named Amir and has a rapid course in Arabic as they join forces with Mahmoud and Ali who are agents for Mycroft and who aren't eager to have two new strangers coming into the area. After a period of testing which tests their stamina and determination and puts a strain on Holmes who is healing from the bomb blast which precipitated their trip to Palestine, Holmes and Mary find show more themselves trying to find the mastermind who is behind a few murders and a plot to blow up a sacred site in Jerusalem.
The story sees Holmes and Russell traveling through many dusty parts of Palestine including cliff-side monasteries and buried tunnels and aqueducts and tombs. Mary and Sherlock even have a chance to swim in the Dead Sea. Mary is often awestruck seeing the sites she has studied and the places that form an important part of her religion.
I loved the vivid descriptions of the land and people they meet on their journey. The plot was nicely twisty. I liked the growing relationship between Mary and Sherlock as they ease from Mary's apprenticeship to her being a full and equal partner to Holmes. show less
Needing to leave England for a while and accepting a commission from Sherlock's brother Mycroft, Mary and Sherlock find themselves in Palestine and in the middle of a plot to destabilize an already troubled area in 1919 when Allenby is trying to forge some sort of peace and the Turks aren't quite ready to give up the area.
Mary dons the disguise of an Arab boy named Amir and has a rapid course in Arabic as they join forces with Mahmoud and Ali who are agents for Mycroft and who aren't eager to have two new strangers coming into the area. After a period of testing which tests their stamina and determination and puts a strain on Holmes who is healing from the bomb blast which precipitated their trip to Palestine, Holmes and Mary find show more themselves trying to find the mastermind who is behind a few murders and a plot to blow up a sacred site in Jerusalem.
The story sees Holmes and Russell traveling through many dusty parts of Palestine including cliff-side monasteries and buried tunnels and aqueducts and tombs. Mary and Sherlock even have a chance to swim in the Dead Sea. Mary is often awestruck seeing the sites she has studied and the places that form an important part of her religion.
I loved the vivid descriptions of the land and people they meet on their journey. The plot was nicely twisty. I liked the growing relationship between Mary and Sherlock as they ease from Mary's apprenticeship to her being a full and equal partner to Holmes. show less
Mary dons the disguise of an Arab boy named Amir and has a rapid course in Arabic as they join forces with Mahmoud and Ali who are agents for Mycroft and who aren't eager to have two new strangers coming into the area. After a period of testing which tests their stamina and determination and puts a strain on Holmes who is healing from the bomb blast which precipitated their trip to Palestine, Holmes and Mary find show more themselves trying to find the mastermind who is behind a few murders and a plot to blow up a sacred site in Jerusalem.
The story sees Holmes and Russell traveling through many dusty parts of Palestine including cliff-side monasteries and buried tunnels and aqueducts and tombs. Mary and Sherlock even have a chance to swim in the Dead Sea. Mary is often awestruck seeing the sites she has studied and the places that form an important part of her religion.
I loved the vivid descriptions of the land and people they meet on their journey. The plot was nicely twisty. I liked the growing relationship between Mary and Sherlock as they ease from Mary's apprenticeship to her being a full and equal partner to Holmes. show less
Since I'm reading these books in order, I remember Mary Russell telling readers that she and Holmes had spent an extended period of time in Palestine, and O Jerusalem fills in the details. This fifth book in the series did a lot more than advance the story of Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes. For me, it helped to fill a large historical gap from the time of the Romans until 1948-- and it did so with style. In fact I didn't realize that the mystery didn't really begin until about halfway through the book because I was enjoying the trek Mary and Sherlock were undertaking.
King's subtle humor is sublime as she takes this intrepid duo through the desert with Ali and Mahmoud, two guides who aren't all that enthused about their charges show more (especially Mary). Life as a nomad is thirsty, blister-inducing, filthy work, and the author tells her tale so well that I often felt like taking a shower and burying my head in a bucket of ice water when I had to set the book aside.
Readers are treated to the sights, sounds, and smells of Jerusalem, as well as bazaars and cliff-hugging monasteries as they watch Ali and Mahmoud's slowly changing opinions of their English companions. The mystery is a good one that keeps the little grey cells chugging away even as I cringed while being taken deep into ancient Jerusalem.
O Jerusalem is filled with what I love so much about this series: marvelous characterizations, an intriguing mystery to solve, a wonderful dry wit, and a setting that I can really sink my teeth into. Bring on the next one! show less
King's subtle humor is sublime as she takes this intrepid duo through the desert with Ali and Mahmoud, two guides who aren't all that enthused about their charges show more (especially Mary). Life as a nomad is thirsty, blister-inducing, filthy work, and the author tells her tale so well that I often felt like taking a shower and burying my head in a bucket of ice water when I had to set the book aside.
Readers are treated to the sights, sounds, and smells of Jerusalem, as well as bazaars and cliff-hugging monasteries as they watch Ali and Mahmoud's slowly changing opinions of their English companions. The mystery is a good one that keeps the little grey cells chugging away even as I cringed while being taken deep into ancient Jerusalem.
O Jerusalem is filled with what I love so much about this series: marvelous characterizations, an intriguing mystery to solve, a wonderful dry wit, and a setting that I can really sink my teeth into. Bring on the next one! show less
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Author Information
80+ Works 46,743 Members
Laurie R. King is the bestselling author of "A Darker Place," four contemporary novels featuring Kate Martinelli, and five acclaimed Mary Russell mysteries. She lives in northern California. Her newest book is the ninth one in the Mary Russell mystery series, The Language of Bees. (Publisher Provided) Laurie R. King is a mystery writer, who holds show more a bachelor's degree and a master's degree in theology. Her first novel, Grave Talent, was published in 1993 and won the Edgar Award for Best First Novel. Since then, she has written over twenty books including the Mary Russell Mysteries series, the Stuyvesant and Grey series, the Kate Martinelli Mystery series, A Darker Place, Folly, and Keeping Watch. She has also co-authored a number of nonfiction works and anthologies including Crime Writing, The Grand Game, and Studies in Sherlock. Laurie's title, Dreaming Spies, is a 2015 New York Times Bestseller. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Laurie R. King is a LibraryThing Author, an author who lists their personal library on LibraryThing.
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- Canonical title
- O Jerusalem
- Original title
- O Jerusalem
- Original publication date
- 1999
- People/Characters
- Mary Russell; Sherlock Holmes; Ali Hazr; Mahmoud Hazr; Joshua; General Sir Edmund H. H. Allenby (show all 11); Karim Bey; Abbot Mattias; Milhail the Druse; Dorothy Ruskin; Lieutenant Plumbury
- Important places
- Jerusalem; Jericho
- Dedication
- For Dorothy Nicholl, and in memory of Donald, with love and gratitude.
- First words
- During the final week of December 1918, shortly before my nineteenth birthday, I vanished into British-occupied Palestine in the company of my friend and mentor Sherlock Holmes.
- Quotations
- I hobbled the mules, found a smooth boulder to perch on, drew my feet up under the hem of my skirts, and gave my soul over to patience.
By dusk, Holmes and I were ready respectively to strangle a visitor and shred a notebook.
but logic has never been a major element of patriotism.
"Anywhere a valuable commodity is controlled by the government, there will be individuals who circumvent regulations."
Trying to rinse myself off by submerging had been a bit like pushing a cork into water, but floating was an extraordinary experience. The water was as warm and dense as a living thing against my naked flesh, and I found that ... (show all)if I remained perfectly still, my limbs stretched out limply and my hair in a great cloud along my arms and back, it was difficult to perceive where Mary Russell ended and the Salt Sea began.
The mules plodded with their heads down, dripping sweat from their necks and flanks. Their humans did much the same.
no-one raised an alarm, and we slipped out of there with the ease of mice leaving a pantry.
I had seen men die before, but only men in hospital beds, when death released them from the terrible suffering of gassed lungs or town bodies. This was a very different matter, this transformation of bone and muscle into a li... (show all)mp, empty thing that landed on the ground with the meaty slap of a dropped water-skin.
"Holmes, do you know what road this is?"
"Russell, if you are about to tell me the story of Joseph and Mary with the pregnant Virgin perched on the donkey, I warn you, I shall not ride one step farther."
He looked like a pickpocket, would no doubt grow into a thief, and I knew instantly that he was a colleague of Ali and Mahmoud.
He watched us arrive, then dropped his attention back to the wooden figure he was working at with the long knife from his belt, the blade he used for slicing onions, carving figurines, and killing men.
Never, never will I understand men.
I listened to the rhythm of Arabic (understanding a great deal of it) punctuated by the cries of children and a waft of Latin that smelt of incense and the occasional murmur of Hebrew, breathed the scents of freshly watered d... (show all)ust and old sweat and young bodies, of gunpowder and petrol, turmeric and saffron and garlic, incense and wine and coffee, and everywhere the smell of rock, ancient stones and newly crushed gravel and recently hewn building blocks.
Why was it, I wondered silently, that the only time Holmes gave me a ready answer to a simple question was when the response was cryptic to the point of being oracular?
"So, you wish to shoot me this time?" he asked politely, and I reflected that each time I nearly killed him, he became increasingly friendly towards me. - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)But that was not the end of the adventure, for then (and here the expressions of astonishment and dismay turned to sheer, slack-jawed disbelief) "Bull" Allenby-- last of the Paladins, conqueror of Jerusalem, hero of the Middle East, and Commander in Chief of all the Holy Land-- turned to the fourth noisome intruder, grasped that young Bedouin lad's black, bloodied, and bandaged hand gently in his own, raised it to his lips, and kissed it.
- Original language
- English
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