Justice Hall

Rating:
Summary: Best in the series.
Review: As a fan of both the Kate Martinelli and Mary Russell series, I can honestly say that this is the best book in either so far. From the surprising beginning to the very satisfying end, the plot takes many twists and turns. The growth of the characters and their relationships has reached its peak. Fans of the series will not be disappointed and newcomers should eagerly look forward to this newest installment.

Rating:
Summary: A Good Mystery but Not a Holmes One
Review: I enjoyed reading this latest installment of the Holmes-Russell saga. I was interested from beginning to end. And I found the WWI parts fascinating.

However . . . the book, for all its rather heavy exposition, felt rushed and not as thoughtful as the other Holmes-Russell books. It also felt, I hate to say this, a tad contrived, as if plots devices were being forced on each other rather than growing together naturally. Despite the charisma of Ali and Mahmoud (their relationship is the best part of the book), I felt I was skimming the surface of their motivations. Consequently, there were parts of the mystery that seemed too easily resolved.

And I missed Holmes. The book is not really about Holmes. Or even Mary. It is about Justice Hall and its occupants, and I will overstepped my bounds by suggesting that that is the story Laurie King wanted to write with Holmes-Russell added on as an afterthought.

My recommendation: Unless you are a fan/collector, wait for it in paperback.

Rating:
Summary: A Satisfying summer read
Review: I've studied the original Conan Doyle Holmes stories as well as read them for pleasure. That just made "Beekeeper's Apprentice" all the better when it came out. The following books, for me, lost that spark of freshness as they proceeded, until "O, Jerusalem". With "Justice Hall", more of that same freshness blew through.

Not only was the mystery tightly packed and fairly suspenseful (without resorting to the Doyle trick of withholding all the pertinent information until the denoument), but it did seem a bit of a love letter to Jolly Olde England. I started it one evening and ended up staying awake very late the next to finish it. It was a highly visual book, and the use of the houses and landscape as characters themselves as well as symbols of the forces at work on the main characters worked very well.

I agree with those who noted that Russell and Holmes no longer exchange constant witty banter. I also agree that they seem a little more like room mates than a married couple, although I'm not quite sure what would change that (eroticism not being a part of the series). However, I didn't find this detracting from the book, which was, after all, not about their relationship with each other, but about the friends they met in Palistine, about the way that place and expectations of others can transform an individual, and about the unfolding mystery of murder and attempted murder. The earlier books were more centered around that relationship as it grew, with the mysteries as the glue. Now that relationship is established, apparently comfortable, and would probably be rather dull to closely inspect in a novel. I rather enjoyed seeing Russell with other people.

It's a strong showing in the series and a good read.

Rating:
Summary: Married Mary
Review: I enjoyed Ms. King's latest Mary Russell book, although I think Mary herself is becoming boring. Where is the independent thinker of the first two books? Where is the snappy dialogue between Mary and Holmes? Since Ms. King married them off, Mary's personality seems to have become subdued. What happened?

Rating:
Summary: A Quality Story Requiring Patience
Review: This author has the courage to take chances, and warrants patience. So while the story doesn't have the entertaining repartee of earlier Russell/Holmes stories, it does have an ultimate point. The setting is the estate of the "Landed Gentry", which makes it hard for us of more modest means to feel much sympathy for their troubles. Yet, with patience on the part of the reader, the big-picture comes into focus when the story coalesces into an integrated whole by its powerful conclusion. Laurie R. King's depiction of the horrors of World War I puts the blood back into what Russell in a different book laments as "death but no blood".

Rating:
Summary: Justitia Fortitudo Mea Est
Review: Laurie King's series about Sherlock Holmes and Mary Russell always puzzle me. Except for one or two less successful efforts, she has managed to create the impossible Holmes gimmick - a Mrs. Holmes, and makes it (and her) utterly believable. Rather than twist Holmes character so that he turns into a romanticized parody of himself, she has made Mary Russell the only woman the consulting detective could have married and remained himself. That Laurie King has proved herself an adept writer in this and her other series about Kate Martinelli is sufficient to ensure that I regularly buy her work.

'Justice Hall' is the seat of one of England's blue-blooded ducal families, the Hughenforts. Whose motto (in English) is 'Righteousness is my strength.' They have been fiercely loyal to the throne of England for nearly 1000 years, but now find themselves in rather peculiar circumstances. The current duke has no desire for the job. Much to Holmes' and Russell's surprise, Marsh Hughenfort is an old friend, but in a difference guise. The seventh duke and his best friend Alistair are Mahmoud and Ali, agent's of the British, and the heroes of another King novel, 'O Jerusalem.'

Ali, determined to free Marsh from the tyranny of his title, has brought the Holmes family in to investigate the credibility of a potential heir. But the case grows more complex as attempted murder rears it's ugly head, and Holmes becomes convinced that the silence around the wartime death of Gabriel, the heir who preceded Marsh hides a secret that will untangle the current perplex. Gabriel was shot for mutiny in the trenches of Europe, but the tragedy has been carefully hidden away by all concerned. When Marsh is nearly killed in a hunting accident Sherlock and Mary realize that there is some evil behind what has happened to the Hughenfort heirs. The chase leads then through England, Europe and off to Canada as well.

One of the remarkable things about this novel is the first quarter of it, which is, for the most part, dedicated to a loving description of Justice Hall, its environs, and its people. For those who are patient, this is a remarkable essay on the beauties of architecture and place. The beginnings of the mystery and all the characters come to life against a background which, if it does not exist, certainly should. If Laurie King ever takes up travelogues, I will not doubt read them. Once this is done, the novel picks up pace rapidly, and by the end the reader will be as stunned by the plot as he or she was entranced by the place.

Another interesting facet of a very rich and complex novel is King's exposure of the horrors of World War I, in particular the excessive harshness the British Army inflicted on its own soldiers. 306 men were shot at dawn for desertion, cowardice, and, occasionally, simply to teach their men a lesson. Most of these were still in their teens, struggling with a brutal war that they only half understood. This punishment was abolished in 1930, but despite re-examination of the cases, the British Secretary of Defense has refused to make any posthumous pardons. King picks up this theme and makes it one of the driving forces behind what I believe is her best effort yet.

Rating:
Summary: In search of Holmes
Review: Having read all the other Mary Russell novels with great relish, rereading passages on her theological studies and spirited interaction with Holmes, I found the newest installment, Justice Hall, slow going indeed. I was surprised at how long it took me to slog through what should have been a wonderful romp. If not by the word count, certainly by the force of his intellect and his passion for Mary, Sherlock Holmes should occupy the central place in the story. Instead he is absent for long chapters and seems downright feeble in those scenes in which he does appear. The reader longs for Holmes' reaction to the fascinating and sympathetic character of Iris, Mahmoud's lesbian wife. What did Holmes(or Mary) feel about the lost son that motivates much of the action; did the strong parental feelings for Gabriel by all who knew him inspire sentiments of regret for the children they would never have? What has happened to the sexual tension and intellectual sparring that characterized the Holmes/Mary relationship of yore? Alas, we will have to wait for the next book Laurie King writes to find out.

Rating:
Summary: One Half of a Whole
Review: Most of the mysteries that I enjoy are parts of a series -- and the Mary Russel-Sherlock Holmes series created by Laurie King is among the most satisfying. The characters are well drawn, the plots often intricate -- but don't require you to take notes to keep track -- and the pace is sufficient to keep you reading until the end. But, having learned that it will take one to two years for the next entry into a series, I started saving books up until the next came along. That's what happened with Justice Hall and its predecessor, O Jerusalem, and it was a marvelous reading experience.
O Jerusalem introduces us to Mahmoud and Ali Hazr, two Arab brothers who aren't quite what they seem, on any level. Along with Holmes and Russell, they race to prevent a major catastophe at the beginning of Allenby's attempts to draw the divergent citizens of Palestine together. Among the more intriguing suggestions in the book is that the divergent Moslem, Jew and Christian factions had gotten along under their common enemy the Turk, only to fall out afterwards for unarticulated reasons. While the mystery lying behind the political threat is resolved, the reader still knows very little about the Hazr brothers, except that Holmes thinks that they may be English and that they are devoted to one another.
And English they are. Mahmoud, now Marsh, is the 7th Duke to an 800 year old name and the owner of a vast estate. Ali, now Alistair, is his devoted cousin, who wants nothing more than to get himself and Mahmoud back to Palestine where they belong. At risk in Justice Hall is not the fate of a nation, but the fate of family, honor, loyalty, responsibility and Justice itself. Drowning under the weight of centuries old tradition, March cannot leave without finding someone to step into his place. Holmes and Russell save the day, but not without a stirring exploration of the meaning of family, whether it's the one you are born to, or the one that you choose. This is an excellent entry into the series. If you're fortunate enough not to have read Jerusalem yet, read that first -- or reread it to see how the same themes are treated differently in the two books. Family, loyalty, responsibility and honor have moved from a grand, national scale to the intimate surroundings of private lives. But the result is the same: where would any of us be without these concepts to guide us? King does not reach this conclusion flippantly -- the story of young Gabriel is enough to give any of us pause. Instead, we are led, by these marvelous characters and unstinting action, to consider our own answer to the question underlying this excellent series. Great reading!

Rating:
Summary: Not up to the usual high standard
Review: I collect Sherlock Holmes pastiches, and Laurie King's Mary Russell series contains some of my favorites. Unfortunately, this is the weakest one in the series.

The detail is impressively rich and historical, as usual for King. But for the first half or more of the book, there isn't much plot, the momentum is stultifying, and the narrative gets bogged down in architectural and geneaolgical details that aren't worth the ink spent on them. The effect is somewhat as if Umberto Eco rewrote The Name of the Rose, setting it in 1920s England.

The book veers off in several directions - cliches about the decline of the British aristocracy during the Edwardian era, Nazi intrigue in Germany, and so on - but doesn't do much with any of these subthemes. There are many scenes of life at the big estate of the title, which seem like [pretend] screenplays for some Merchant-Ivory movie, starring Emma Thompson as Russell and Anthony Hopkins as Holmes. The pace finally picks up towards the end, but the events are too haphazard and there are too many coincidences. Finally, as other reviewers have been saying, Holmes is conspicuous mainly in his absence. Too bad - let's hold out hope that there is a next one and that it is back up to the high standard of the others.

Rating:
Summary: Might have made a great novella
Review: I love Laurie King, have read all her books and can't recommend them enough. But not this time. I agree with those who miss the feisty interplay between Holmes and Russell and only wish I could agree with those who love the pages upon pages of architectural and social-event description. To me this book reads like a very good 120-page novella, padded relentlessly until it dragged its way to the requisite 300+ pages. On the positive side, I found the return of the Hazr cousins a wonderful and unexpected treat and the sad history of Britain's World War I officer executions appalling and incredibly poignant. Maybe if, as one reader suspects, King is tiring of her characters and getting ready to kill off Holmes, she'll pair Russell off with this book's wonderfully written new character, Iris. Then she could not only kill off Holmes but also get rid of her Martinelli series which seems to have lost its steam. She'd then be able to merge lesbian and straight detectives into one series and free herself up to write more non-series novels, which I'm guessing is where her real interests lie now. I strongly encourage those of you unfamiliar with this series to start with any book but this one, preferably "The Beekeeper's Apprentice." And do not even consider reading this one until you've read "O Jerusalem," which introduces key characters in this book.