Books and Movies

A Letter of Mary by Laurie R. King is the third book in the Mary Russell mystery series. It continues some of the themes of book two, A Monstrous Regiment of Women (my review), including the place of women in religion and the rights of women.

My review will include a spoiler, but I knew this spoiler before I read book two or three and it didn’t diminish the reading experience for me. If you are concerned that it will for you, though, then please skip the rest of the review and just know that I loved this book as much as the first two.

Book three finds Mary and Holmes in the third year of their marriage, and they have settled into a comfortable routine. Mary does her studying - working on her research into theology and women - and Holmes does his chemical experiments, trying to come up with more and better ways of studying crime scene evidence. They are happy together, though Mary has begun to recognize the signs that Holmes is restless and bored, and needs a case.

A case is dropped into their laps when a female archaeologist friend of Mary’s stops by and gives Mary a papyrus that appears to be a letter written by Mary Magdalene. The truly astonishing thing about the document, though, is that Mary identifies herself as “an apostle of Jesus.” Mary Russell knows the tremors this find could cause in the male-dominated religious world of the 1920s, and is unsure of what to do with this find.

That decision is put on the shelf when Mary’s archaeologist friend is murdered. Holmes and Mary take on the case, with three possible suspects - the woman’s own sister, a misogynistic British colonel, or a Palestinian family who disliked the woman’s Zionist affiliation.

Ms. King starts the book with the pair already married, and instead of telling us what married life is like for the two of them, she shows us during the course of this case. Mary and Holmes are so naturally suited for each other that I’m surprised I didn’t realize where the series was going when I read the first book. Aside from their considerable age difference, they are truly two halves of a whole.

This book was just as enjoyable and unputdownable as the first two, and I now officially have a new favorite mystery series. I was smarter this time, and put book four on hold before I’d even finished this one. It came into the library yesterday, and with a long holiday weekend ahead of me, I will have lots of time to savor it.

5 out of 5 stars

Trackback URI | Comments RSS