Though theirs is a marriage of true equals, when Sherlock Holmes summons his wife and partner Mary Russell to the eerie scene of his most celebrated case, she abandons her Oxford studies to aid his investigation. But this time, on Dartmoor, there is more to the matter than a phantom hound. Sightings of a spectral coach carrying a long-dead noblewoman over the moonlit moor have heralded a mysterious death, the corpse surrounded by oversize paw prints. Here on this wild and foreboding moor, Russell and Holmes embark on a quest with few clues save a fanatic anthropologist, an ancestral portrait, a moorland witch, and a lowly-but most revealing-hedgehog. As Holmes and Russell anticipate, a rational explanation lies beneath the supernatural events-but one darker than they could have imagined. And one that could end their lives in this harsh and desolate land.

Reviews

In this fourth Mary Russell novel, read by Jenny Sterlin, King takes us back to Dartmoor, scene of The Hound of the Baskervilles, again on the trail of a spectral hound. Sherlockians have been amused or horrified by King's misappropriation of Holmes. Holmes, who had stated that love is "an emotional thing...opposed to true cold reason" and "I should never marry myself, lest I bias my judgment," is in the King books married to an American half his age. Not satisfied with changing Holmes's misogynistic nature, King also robs him of his trusty biographer, Dr. Watson. Pastiche, in its truest sense, tries to resemble the style of the original work. Libraries wanting Sherlock Holmes mysteries would do better with any of the BBC series (The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Audio Reviews, LJ 2/15/97). Not recommended.ÄTheresa Connors, Arkansas Tech Univ., Russellville

On Dartmoor, a man lies dead beside "the footprints of a very large dog." Sound familiar? Yes, Sherlock Holmes is tracking the Hound of the Baskervilles again, some 20 years later with his wife, Mary Russell, whom King has so ably placed beside Holmes in such novels as A Letter of Mary and The Beekeeper's Apprentice. As a narrator, Russell is both more analytical and humorous than Watson. Still, the moor's eerie gloom pervades this sharp yet respectfully nostalgic update of Conan Doyle's classic novella. The elderly, eccentric Reverend Sabine Baring-Gould asks his friend Holmes to investigate the murder, as well as sightings of a ghostly carriage drawn by headless horses accompanied by a gigantic hound. In the constant fog and bone-chilling rain, Holmes and Russell tramp the muddy moors interviewing delightful characters. The new owner of Baskerville Hall, a mysterious, wealthy American, is the obvious villain, although it takes all the detectives' skills to determine his motives. This effort is slightly hobbled by the slow coalescence of its subplots. But King, always a fluent writer, is a wonder at combining the original "Hound" tale with a real person (Baring-Gould) and modern themes (land fraud) into a new, captivating story. (Jan.)

YA‘The Hound of the Baskervilles is back‘or is it? Certainly Sherlock Holmes thought he had sorted the whole matter out some 30 years earlier, but now his lifelong friend, the curmudgeonly Rev. Sabine Baring-Gould, calls Holmes to Dartmoor to sort out new sightings and solve an eerie murder. The detective in turn calls for his new wife, who arrives promptly at Baring-Gould's quasi-Elizabethan house, situated on the edge of the oppressive moor. As in the previous books, King chronicles the adventures of a strong young woman who is a wonderful match and foil for a very Conan Doyle-like Sherlock and creates a wonderful sense of time and place. In this case, it is Dartmoor in 1924. The moor becomes a looming presence and as much of a character as Baring-Gould, the local farmers and peasantry, and the new owners of Baskerville Hall. Familiarity with the original tale is not necessary, but those unacquainted with it before reading this book will surely want to go back to it. King has again successfully brought the famous sleuth into the 20th century and provided him with an assistant much more his match than poor Dr. Watson. The plot is thought-provoking, the solution satisfyingly Holmesian, and the whole adventure gratifying. This is definitely a worthy continuation of a hopefully longer series. It's not only an excellent mystery, but also a fine introduction to Holmes and a more-than-adequate survey of the time.‘Susan H. Woodcock, Kings Park Library, Burke, VA

"Erudite, fascinating . . . the most successful re-creation of the famous inhabitant of 221B Baker Street ever attempted."--"The Houston Chronicle"
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"There's no resisting the appeal of Laurie R. King's thrillingly moody scenes of Dartmoor and her lovely evocations of its legends."--"The New York Times Book Review"

""Dazzling" may be the word to describe King's latest Mary Russell-Sherlock Holmes adventure. . . . Add King's devilishly clever plot and eccentric characters, her ability to achieve a perfect balance between serious mystery and lighthearted humor, and the charm with which she develops the captivating relationship between Holmes and Russell, and the result is a superbly rich read that would please Doyle himself."--"Booklist"

"King has the tone, mood, and voice precisely right. . . . Very good."--"The Boston Globe"

"Mary's description of how she thinks through all the elements of a mystery--so deep in thought as if she were in a trance---is excellent."--"Salon.com"