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  • The Murder of Mary Russell

  • A Novel of Suspense Featuring Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes
  • By: Laurie R. King
  • Narrated by: Jenny Sterlin, Susan Lyons
  • Length: 13 hrs and 25 mins
  • 3.6 out of 5 stars (5 ratings)

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The Murder of Mary Russell

By: Laurie R. King
Narrated by: Jenny Sterlin, Susan Lyons
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Publisher's Summary

Laurie R. King's best-selling Mary Russell-Sherlock Holmes series weaves rich historical detail and provocative themes with intriguing characters and enthralling suspense.

Russell and Holmes have become one of modern literature's most beloved teams. But does this adventure end it all?

Mary Russell is used to dark secrets - her own and those of her famous partner and husband, Sherlock Holmes. Trust is a thing slowly given, but over the course of a decade together, the two have forged an indissoluble bond. And what of the other person to whom Mary Russell has opened her heart: the couple's longtime housekeeper, Mrs. Hudson?

Russell's faith and affection are suddenly shattered when a man arrives on the doorstep claiming to be Mrs. Hudson's son. What Samuel Hudson tells Russell cannot possibly be true, yet she believes him - as surely as she believes the threat of the gun in his hand. In a devastating instant, everything changes. And when the scene is discovered - a pool of blood on the floor, the smell of gunpowder in the air - the most shocking revelation of all is that the grim clues point directly to Clara Hudson. Or rather to Clarissa, the woman she was before Baker Street.

The key to Russell's sacrifice lies in Mrs. Hudson's past. To uncover the truth, a frantic Sherlock Holmes must put aside his anguish and push deep into his housekeeper's secrets - to a time before her disguise was assumed, before her crimes were buried away. There is death here, and murder, and trust betrayed. And nothing will ever be the same.

©2016 Laurie R. King (P)2016 Recorded Books

Critic Reviews

"Be forewarned - Jenny Sterlin and Susan Lyons's amazing joint narration of King's newest Sherlock Holmes/Mary Russell mystery will keep you absolutely hooked." (AudioFile)

What listeners say about The Murder of Mary Russell

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Catastrophically boring

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

The book has obviously been thought of as a spin off, and the author presumably thought it would be so much fun to shed light on the dear old housekeeper that we never learn much about in the Holmes Canon. She took pains too make Mrs Hudson the main character of the story but what she came up with is simply insufferably boring. Also, the specific ideas, especially regarding the relationship between Mrs Hudon and Sherlock Holmes are quite outrageous and vastly out of character for Sherlock Holmes, even the one depicted by the other King books.

Did Jenny Sterlin and Susan Lyons do a good job differentiating each of the characters? How?

OK, so this question - "did Jenny Sterlin and Susan Lyons do a good job differatinating each of the characters" - was the first time I realised there was more than one narrator in the book... The voices were definitely too similar, and the different accents (an important aspect of the book) were quite artificial. Male voices, in particular, felt really forced, I'd have preferred the narrators to just keep to their real voices.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from The Murder of Mary Russell?

I would really and truly cut the endless, almostSEVEN HOUR LONG psuedo-Diceknsian sentimental predictable teary beginning depicting in gruesome details all the sufferings of a poor girl in the cruel XIXth century city. Like, MERCY. I was really close to quitting after two hours of this (I really have read enough of that in my life), I only couldn't believe it would go this way for SO LONG.

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