Dreaming Spies by Laurie R. King

[lightreads]

Dreaming Spies: A novel of suspense featuring Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes

3/5. Another Russell/Holmes book of the usual formula – going back in to fill in a previous gap in the timeline with an international adventure which, in the middle of the book, catches up to narrator-standard-time in England.

Eh, you know, the charm is wearing off here.

Things I am in this series for: (1) the picture of a marriage of two very smart, very independent people who love each other, but do not need each other and they both know it; (2) Holmes's disguises; (3) partnership; (4) cleverness.

Things Laurie R. King is in this series for, these days: (1) Cultural tourism (Japan, this time); (2) set pieces.

This was competent, and I am bored. More clever sleuths loving each other but living their own lives, less travelog, please.

Comments

[kate_nepveu]

I'm actually in it for Mary because I found their romance in _MR_ deeply icky. (_Justice Hall_ is my favorite by a long shot.) But also I don't trust King with cultural tourism because I strongly suspect _The Game_ was actually terrible in the exoticism front and I didn't realize it at the time. If this one isn't so bad on that, well, I'm probably still not going to read it, but I might bump it up a little in the hypothetical queue.

[readerjane]

Ooh, new Russell-Holmes!

The newer books are pale in comparison with the earlier ones, but I still find something to enjoy.

I kind of wish I could forget O Jerusalem, just so I could read it new again.

[the_rck]

I gave up on these several books back when I found I was having to fight to get myself through them. I'm not sure which was the last one I read-- Maybe the one in India? I'm not sure I actually finished that one. I think I tried one or two after that and didn't get very far with them.