Mary Russell, still reeling from revelations about former landlady Mrs. Hudson's criminal past in The Murder of Mary Russell, travels to Monaco to check on the woman she thought she knew well. Holmes needs reassurance that she's still on the straight and narrow. When the corpse of a young man is discovered in Hudson's home, and her involvement with criminal types comes to light, it seems Clarissa Hudson is up to her former tricks. Or is it all a frame for something much more sinister? Russell and Holmes continue romping with the artists of the "Lost Generation," moving from Cole Porter in Venice (Island of the Mad) to Pablo Picasso and F. Scott Fitzgerald on the Riviera. The artist's colony and name-dropping of its now-famous denizens form the backdrop to a case that combines the high life of the 1920s with the knowledge that war will return, all wrapped in a case that mixes Holmes's and Hudson's past with skulduggery in the present. VERDICT Followers of the series will enjoy King's delightful new series entry, while first-time readers will love the setting and the twists of the mystery.—Marlene Harris, Reading Reality, LLC, Duluth, GA

Bestseller King's so-so 17th thriller featuring Mary Russell and her husband, Sherlock Holmes, picks up where 2018's Island of the Mad left off, in Venice and later the French Riviera, where Mary is on holiday by herself in 1925. She suspects Holmes is off on an inquiry he's keeping secret from her. Mary is feeling bereft because Holmes's landlady, Mrs. Hudson, whom she has come to regard as a surrogate grandmother, has abruptly disappeared. The older woman, a reformed con artist with a link to a vast missing fortune in King's revisionist portrayal, has many secrets. Mary learns that Mrs. Hudson may have even more secrets after the landlady, who reappears as a nurse maid to American socialites Gerald and Sara Murphy, is discovered holding a gun over the body of a murdered man in Monaco. Mary ends up investigating to clear Mrs. Hudson's name. Holmes plays a minor role at best when he eventually surfaces, and some Sherlockians won't care for the focus on the hidden life of Mrs. Hudson. This entry requires a high level of suspension of disbelief even for series fans. Agent: Zoe Quinton, Zoe Quinton Lit. (June)

Mary Russell, still reeling from revelations about former landlady Mrs. Hudson's criminal past in The Murder of Mary Russell, travels to Monaco to check on the woman she thought she knew well. Holmes needs reassurance that she's still on the straight and narrow. When the corpse of a young man is discovered in Hudson's home, and her involvement with criminal types comes to light, it seems Clarissa Hudson is up to her former tricks. Or is it all a frame for something much more sinister? Russell and Holmes continue romping with the artists of the "Lost Generation," moving from Cole Porter in Venice (Island of the Mad) to Pablo Picasso and F. Scott Fitzgerald on the Riviera. The artist's colony and name-dropping of its now-famous denizens form the backdrop to a case that combines the high life of the 1920s with the knowledge that war will return, all wrapped in a case that mixes Holmes's and Hudson's past with skulduggery in the present. VERDICT Followers of the series will enjoy King's delightful new series entry, while first-time readers will love the setting and the twists of the mystery.—Marlene Harris, Reading Reality, LLC, Duluth, GA