A Monstrous Regiment of Women

Starred review from September 4, 1995
King first teamed Mary Russell with Sherlock Holmes in the riveting The Beekeeper's Apprentice. Then Mary was a vulnerable, bright 15-year-old. Now, in 1920, Mary is a week away from her 21st birthday and has finished her studies at Oxford, and the relationship between these two forceful, eccentric and indelibly etched characters is charged with sexuality and issues of authority. A chance meeting with a friend in London introduces Mary to Margery Childe, leader of the New Temple of God, a burgeoning institution in which feminism powers both theological inquiry and programs of social activism. Skeptical, analytical Mary, who concentrated on theology at Oxford, is reluctantly drawn toward Childe and the temple's inner circle, most of whom are wealthy, educated young women. After one of them is murdered, Mary persuades Holmes to help in the recovery of the dead woman's brother, who became addicted to heroin while in the war. While Holmes is so occupied, Mary learns about other unexpected deaths of temple members and determines to investigate. Coming into her considerable inheritance, she displays her new wealth, leaps into temple activities and is soon in danger that threatens her soul as much as her life. King builds a riveting plot on the era's fervent feminism and crushing social order. Even more gripping, however, are the internal dilemmas faced by the deeply rational, fiercely independent Mary as she struggles to accept both Childe's possible mysticism and her deepening affection for Holmes. King's second Russell/Holmes tale lives up to all the accomplished promise of the first. Paperback rights to Bantam; author tour.

Mary Russell, friend and apprentice of an aging Sherlock Holmes, investigates some suspicious deaths surrounding the charismatic Margaret Childe and her Temple of God. With a minimum of vocal gymnastics Jenny Sterlin creates a Mary Russell who is enormously likable and believable, especially when she finds herself in the sort of predicament that bad movies are made of. Her simultaneous courage, terror and desperation come through subtly, but clearly. Holmes, despite his grating voice, is properly sardonic and arrogant. While the other characters, except for Margaret, are largely indistinguishable, this is more the author's flaw. Since the reading succeeds or fails with the character of Mary Russell, this one succeeds admirably. S.F. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine