A Monstrous Regiment of Women (Mary Russell #2) in Pick-a-Shelf

Oct 28, 2015 Paul Perry rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: detective, fiction, mystery, feminism, female-protagonist, female-author, read-in-2016

The second of Laurie King’s Mary Russell books returns to her heroine as she graduates from Oxford. In London she encounters an old friend from earlier in university who is involved with the a church whose leader is a charismatic feminist. But is all as it seems?

There are many things I like about this book. The writing is excellent, and the post-WW1 British English *almost* spot on (there are a couple of slips, but nothing that made me shudder - the occasional “out the window” sort of thing). Wh The second of Laurie King’s Mary Russell books returns to her heroine as she graduates from Oxford. In London she encounters an old friend from earlier in university who is involved with the a church whose leader is a charismatic feminist. But is all as it seems?

There are many things I like about this book. The writing is excellent, and the post-WW1 British English *almost* spot on (there are a couple of slips, but nothing that made me shudder - the occasional “out the window” sort of thing). While some of the phrasing is a little modern it is not distractingly so, and the general tone conveys the era - I suppose as someone writing a book set in the Elizabethan age would use generally modern English and use tone and metre for effect. King draws the characters well, and I very much like Mary Russell, the strong young woman with a fierce intellect which is a match for Holmes’ own. The construction of the book is very well done, blending the mystery element in with a story about the emerging ‘first wave’ feminist movement of the early 1920s (female suffrage having been granted in 1918). I very much like the use of Russell’s background, her Jewish heritage and knowledge of Talmudic and Biblical studies.

As the above may imply, there are things I dislike about the books, and they are deliberate choices by the author. One I can forgive, as it is very much integral to the books. The growing romantic relationship between Russell and Holmes is for me, as a long-time Sherlock Holmes aficionado, a little hard to stomach - and not just due to the fact of the 21 year old Russell having a relationship with a man almost three times her age, which I find frankly a bit icky. Yes, King does an excellent job of humanising Holmes, showing levels of his reserve and cool intellect and that there is more to him, but the (thankfully brief and rare) romantic interludes do seem a little Mills and Boon. There is almost swooning.

There is another thing, however, that I found quite bizarre. Fun is made of Arthur Conan Doyle’s promotion of the Cottingley fairies (I do like the in-joke that the Sherlock Holmes stories were provided to Doyle via Watson and this explains the disconnect between the ‘real’ Holmes and the literary one). So, all along we have the no-nonsense evidential, rational approach we expect, only at the very end to find that what we had assumed to be a piece of trickery was in fact an instance of real, honest-to-God (as it were) faith healing. This seemed so crowbarred in, so antithetical to what is the essence of Sherlock Holmes that it lost me completely, and lost the book a star. ...more

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Jun 26, 2009 BJ Rose rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: series, mystery-murder, historical-suspense, audiobooks

This book is more Mary than Russell-Holmes in its content, and most of the time it works. In this story, Mary turns 21, takes possession of her inheritance, and becomes Miss Independence (sometimes a little too stridently but also very believeably). She gets involved in women's suffrage (especially in caring for abused women), and has some very interesting conversations about translations of the Bible.

There are deaths of women, which of course turn out to be murder, and a financial mystery invol ...more

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Aug 30, 2009 Lyn (Readinghearts) rated it liked it

Shelves: 2010-read, ccclib, mystery

This is the second book in the Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes series, of which I have read the first and eighth. Luckily, the books do not need to be read in order, although things from prior books are alluded to in the later books. As with the other two in the series, I enjoyed this book. I am giving it 3 stars as it was a good, but not great or exceptional read. In this volume, Mary Russell comes of age and receives her inheritance. In addition, she meets up with an old friend from Oxford, who g ...more

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Dec 01, 2008 Rachel N. rated it liked it · review of another edition

The second book in the Mary Russell/Sherlock homes series. Mary turns 21 and gets her inheritance. A friend of hers from Oxford, Veronica Beaconsfield is involved with a church run by a charismatic woman. Mary become sinvolved when it becomes clear that several members of the church were murdered after willing money to the church. My problem with the book is the Holmes is hardly in the first two-thirds of it and there is way too much of Mary going on about theology.

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Aug 16, 2012 Susan rated it liked it

Shelves: fiction, historical-fiction, mystery

This is the second book in this series, and I enjoyed it more than the first. I find the young adult Marry Russell more appealing than the precocious adolescent, and it's interesting to watch as her relationship with Holmes develops. Unlike Watson in the Conan Doyle originals, Russell continues to believe she is Holmes' intellectual equal.

Most of the supporting characters were not very well-developed or even important to the story. The one exception was Margery Childe, whose complexity was fasci ...more

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May 25, 2009 Brian Maicke rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery

After the first book in this series I was hoping for more of the same with the second volume. I was somewhat disappointed with the result. The book is a true novel, not a collection of shorter mysteries like the previous offering. This would not be a problem on its own, but the 'mystery' did not really begin until halfway through the book. You expect more characterization in the period mystery, but it seemed to just go on too long for me. I plan on continuing the series, but I hope the third boo ...more

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Sep 22, 2010 KarenF rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: historical, mystery, library

Probably closer to 3.5*s. I liked this one but not as much as the first. I think I missed the byplay of Mary and Holmes as they were separated for most of this book. I'm rounding down because the mystery wasn't all that mysterious and the culprit was pretty obvious. I was hoping for more of a twist at the end. Still it was enjoyable and I'll continue with the series. ...more

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