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Laurie King's "Mary Russell" series

Posted: Fri August 28th, 2015, 1:34 am
by blueemerald
I am typically not a mystery reader but thought I'd give Laurie King's "The Game" a try. My interest was piqued by the historical tie to place (India), time period (1924), and British-Russia "Great Game". However, I am struggling to enjoy the book and struggling to keep plugging away at it. Unfortunately, I can't really put my finger on why it's just hasn't grabbed me.

So I am wondering of those who have read King's "Mary Russell" books, what did you think? Do you recommend them for a rabid historical fiction reader but novice to historical mystery? What about "The Game"? Should I stick it out? (Time was when I would never abandon a book once I had started-no matter how much I didn't like it. However, gone is that compulsion. But that is another chat.)

Thanks for your thoughts.

Re: Laurie King's "Mary Russell" series

Posted: Fri August 28th, 2015, 4:26 am
by MLE (Emily Cotton)
I was given the first Mary Russell book, the Beekeeper's Apprentice, as a Christmas gift. I dutifully finished it, and it was not-awful, although since I confess to never have read any Sherlock Holmes story at all, many of the references left me scratching my head. I found the 'criminal mind' reasoning pretty antiquated.

And then, forgetting the name of the main character, I recently picked up Mary Russell's War as a WWI memoir. I realized pretty quickly that I had met the protagonist before. I finished it, although it wasn't the WWI memoir I was expecting. Meh.

Kim by Rudyard Kipling was one of my favorite childhood reads. I'm not sure I could bear having it butchered, although King does a workmanlike, if rather plodding, job.

But if you enjoy fiction from that era and in that vein, I'd go for the Victorian San Francisco mystery series by M. Louisa Locke. The first one is Maids of Misfortune. I'm not a mystery reader either, but her HF credentials are excellent, and she spins a good yarn.

Re: Laurie King's "Mary Russell" series

Posted: Sun August 30th, 2015, 2:36 pm
by blueemerald
Thanks for your opinion and recommendation MLE. I abandoned "The Game". I think for now historical mystery will not be a deliberate focus. May tip toe into on occasion around my other reading.

Re: Laurie King's "Mary Russell" series

Posted: Tue May 24th, 2016, 2:50 am
by Margaret
I love the Mary Russell series. What attracts me to the series, I think, is the relationship between Mary and Sherlock, an unusual May-December romance, which is based more on the intellectual sympathy between the two characters than on sexual tension (though that quality does exist in Mary's attraction to Sherlock's high level of brains and competence). The series is definitely for mystery fans, because a crucial element of the fun is the opportunity for the reader to match wits with the detectives and try (and hopefully fail, because it's no fun to be smarter than the detectives in a mystery novel) to figure out whodunnit and how.