13 February 2024.
ISBN: 978-0-7490-3024-7 (HB)
Sherlock Holmes and Mary Russell are now husband and wife and are going to stay with Holmes’ son, Damian Adler, and Damian’s fiancée and his young daughter in the French countryside. Damian is a famous Surrealist artist and his relationship with his father is often strained because he resents Holmes’ neglect and abandonment of his mother when she was pregnant, despite the fact that Holmes had been unaware of Damian’s mother’s pregnancy or of Damian’s existence until a few years ago when Holmes and Russell had to rescue Damian from a murder charge.
Damian’s late mother, Irene Adler, had first met Holmes when they were both young and she won his respect by being the only person who had succeeded in outwitting him. They met again some years later and started a love affair, however she left Holmes when she discovered she was pregnant without telling him the true reason.
After Holmes and Russell cleared Damian of the murder charge they did not hear from him for some years until he again needed help, this time it was to rescue his wife and young daughter, who were in the power of a very evil man. Damian’s wife died, but they managed to save his beautiful and precociously clever daughter, Estelle. Damian was injured and his life was saved by a young female doctor who then returned to France with him and Estelle. Russell had hoped that now Damian is betrothed to the down-to-earth Scottish doctor, he would be more accepting of his father and stepmother-in-law, but when they arrive at Damian’s house, they are greeted not by the family but by a caretaker who threatens Russell with a gun.
When the servant realises their identity, he is deeply apologetic. He invites them in, and he and his wife explain that Damian has taken his family away because he is concerned for their safety. This fear stemmed from several incidents: two strangers had arrived in the village and asked questions about the family and, not long after, Damian got up in the night and surprised an intruder who had broken into his house. Damian described this person as resembling a lascar and, even though he ran away when Damian challenged him, the fact that he was armed with a machete made Damian anxious enough about his family’s safety to decide to remove them to a safer place. The advent of these sinister strangers seems to be connected with the arrival from Paris of several boxes and a trunk that are filled with random articles that had belonged to the popular and prolific artist Horace Vernet, a distant relation of Damian. These had been dispatched by the museum where the possessions had been stored for some years after Damian had visited the museum to see where Vernet had once worked.
Holmes decides to go after his son to help ensure the family’s safety and, if necessary, move them to a more secure location. Russell has sprained her ankle and needs crutches to walk around, so she stays at the house. She investigates the contents of the trunk and discovers, amongst several paintings and other things, a magical lantern that produces exquisite images and a journal that is written in an almost indecipherable code. Russell feels instinctively that the journal entries are an integral part of the puzzle, and she focuses her brilliant, analytical brain on decoding the journal. As she succeeds in doing so, she spends the days that Holmes is absent reading the memories of an intriguing girl whose Indian name is Lakshmi.
Even when they are apart, the skills of Holmes and Russell work well together, and between them they piece together a story that changes their own lives.’
The Lantern’s Dance is the eighteenth novel featuring Sherlock Holmes and Mary
Russell. Despite the wealth of information contained in the earlier books, The
Lantern’s Dance manages to be a successful stand-alone book because of the
author’s skill in subtly weaving in the complex backstory. It is beautifully
written, with Mary Russell’s narrative told in the First Person and the story
following Holmes’ thoughts and actions is in the Third Person, which works
extremely well and enhances the reader’s engagement with both of the
protagonists. The characters are fascinating and the plot is complex and
cleverly crafted. This is a superb book in an excellent series, which I
thoroughly recommend.
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Reviewer: Carol
Westron
Laurie R King is a third generation Northern Californian who has
lived most of her life in the San Francisco Bay area. Her background is as
mixed as any writer’s, from degrees in theology and managing a coffee store to
raising children, vegetables, and the occasional building. King started writing
and had her first novel published in 1993. Since A Grave Talent, she has averaged a book a year, winning prizes that
range from Agatha (a nomination) to Wolfe (Nero, for A Monstrous Regiment of Women.) In 1994, The Beekeeper’s
Apprentice was published, featuring young Mary Russell who becomes an
apprentice, then partner of Sherlock Holmes in early 20th century England. There
are now 18 books in the series. King also writes the occasional stand-alone
novel.
Carol Westron is a successful author and a Creative Writing teacher. Her crime novels are set both in contemporary and Victorian times. Her first book The Terminal Velocity of Cats was published in 2013. Since then, she has since written 8 further mysteries. Carol's latest book is Death and the Dancing Snowman
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