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A queen, a castle, a dark and ageless threat—all await Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes in this chilling adventure. The queen is Marie of Roumania: the doubly royal granddaughter of Victoria, Empress of the British Empire, and Alexander II, Tsar of Russia. A famous beauty who was married at seventeen into Roumania’s young dynasty, Marie had beguiled the Paris Peace Conference into returning her adopted country’s long-lost provinces, singlehandedly transforming Roumania from a backwater into a force. The castle is Bran: a tall, quirky, ancient structure perched on high rocks overlooking the border between Roumania and its newly regained territory of Transylvania. The castle was a gift to Queen Marie, a thank-you from her people, and she loves it as she loves her own children. The threat is . . . well, that is less clear. Shadowy figures, vague whispers, the fears of girls, dangers that may be only accidents. But this is a land of long memory and hidden corners, a land that had known Vlad the Impaler, a land from whose churchyards the shades creep. When Queen Marie calls, Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes are as dubious as they are reluctant. But a young girl is involved, and a beautiful queen. Surely it won’t take long to shine light on this unlikely case of what would seem to be strigoi? Or, as they are known in the West . . . vampires.
A queen, a castle, a dark and ageless threat—all await Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes in this chilling adventure. The queen is Marie of Roumania: the doubly royal granddaughter of Victoria, Empress of the British Empire, and Alexander II, Tsar of Russia. A famous beauty who was married at seventeen into Roumania’s young dynasty, Marie had beguiled the Paris Peace Conference into returning her adopted country’s long-lost provinces, singlehandedly transforming Roumania from a backwater into a force. The castle is Bran: a tall, quirky, ancient structure perched on high rocks overlooking the border between Roumania and its newly regained territory of Transylvania. The castle was a gift to Queen Marie, a thank-you from her people, and she loves it as she loves her own children. The threat is . . . well, that is less clear. Shadowy figures, vague whispers, the fears of girls, dangers that may be only accidents. But this is a land of long memory and hidden corners, a land that had known Vlad the Impaler, a land from whose churchyards the shades creep. When Queen Marie calls, Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes are as dubious as they are reluctant. But a young girl is involved, and a beautiful queen. Surely it won’t take long to shine light on this unlikely case of what would seem to be strigoi? Or, as they are known in the West . . . vampires.
Due to publisher restrictions the library cannot purchase additional copies of this title, and we apologize if there is a long waiting list. Be sure to check for other copies, because there may be other editions available.
Due to publisher restrictions the library cannot purchase additional copies of this title, and we apologize if there is a long waiting list. Be sure to check for other copies, because there may be other editions available.
Excerpts-
From the book
Chapter One
I ripped myself from the fever-dream somewhere west of Ljubliana.
My face was pressed up to a window, as it had been in the dream. Outside was the same mist-soaked night, the same eerie glow of a full moon.
I jerked upright and thrust out my hands, turning them over, back and front—but even in the near-dark, I could see they were perfectly clean. There were no red and dripping stains gloving the skin.
And no wolves, I thought, chasing after the smell of blood on my hands. The pack’s vivid howls merged into the distant rise and fall of a passing train’s whistle, while my horse-drawn carriage and its sinister driver became, reluctantly, an aged train compartment behind a steam-powered engine.
I shuddered to rid myself of the macabre sensations, then pulled the thin blanket back up around my shoulders, coughing as I patted around for my glasses. With them on my nose, menace retreated a step. Only a nightmare. Wolves and a carriage, triggered by our destination. The blood, though . . . I’d had the blood of two different dead men on my hands, these past months. Perhaps I should have anticipated the psychic toll.
I wiped ineffectually at the cracked window, trying to see where we were. Not a mysterious forest, thank goodness, but a railway station, with one dim light shining through the decorative iron braces of the platform roof. Silent and deserted.
How long had I been here? For that matter, where was here? My memories weren’t entirely gone—I knew what that felt like—just . . . slow. Like pulling a boot from deep mud. Let me see: we had boarded the train in the Côte d’Azur. And we were headed to Roumania. The last station-marker I’d noticed was—Padua?
None of which helped much. I squinted at the rusty and ill-lit metal sign, decided that I had assembled as much information as I could without outside resources, tossed back the travelling rug—and only then realised that I was not alone in the compartment.
“Holmes, what are you—” I began, then dissolved into a fit of coughing, followed by an enormous sneeze. That knocked loose a recollection: the Murphy children, back in France, hacking and snuffling in all directions. “Sorry, I seem to have picked up a head-cold. And I think a fever—I had the most vivid dream, that I was in Jonathan Harker’s coach at the start of Dracula. All the evil things in the world will have full sway—sorry, I’m babbling. But why are you sitting there in the dark? And where on earth are we? I can’t even tell what language that sign is.” Surely Italian didn’t have that pepper-pot sprinkling of accents and subscript marks?
He stirred in his dark corner. His feet came down from the seat, his features coming into view as he leaned forward to look out of the window. “I believe that is Slovenian,” he said, then retreated back into the shadows.
Slovenia. Edge of the Balkans, south of . . . everywhere. Next to Italy?
I sneezed again. This time his arm stretched out, offering a clean handkerchief. Sherlock Holmes always had a clean handkerchief. I used it, and again the pressure on my sinuses knocked forth a couple of ideas. First, that any question Holmes did not answer was generally more important than the one he did, and second, the fog I was looking through was not all on the outside.
“Good Lord, Holmes, are you trying to suffocate us?” I stood to wrestle with the window latch, no more able to smell the air than I...
About the Author-
Laurie R. King is the award-winning, bestselling author of sixteen Mary Russell mysteries, five contemporary novels featuring Kate Martinelli, and many acclaimed stand-alone novels such as Folly, Touchstone, The Bones of Paris, and Lockdown. She lives in Northern California, where she is at work on her next Mary Russell mystery.
Reviews-
April 19, 2021 Set in 1925, King’s thrilling 18th adventure featuring Mary Russell and her husband, Sherlock Holmes (after 2020’s Riviera Gold), takes the couple to Bran Castle in Transylvania, home of Marie, Queen of Roumania, who’s in need of their services. The queen, whose arrival at the castle is delayed, is worried about her 16-year-old daughter after receiving a letter warning her not to bring the girl back to the nearby village of Brasov “or she will die.” While awaiting Marie, Mary and Holmes, who’s masquerading as an architectural consultant for the castle’s restoration, explore Brasov, which has been rife with rumors of “mysterious figures and men risen from the dead,” and mingle with the members of the queen’s household. The disappearance of a servant girl raises the ante. King smoothly slips in fascinating historical details about the life of Marie of Roumania, all the while keeping the plot galloping along at high speed. This is a treat for old fans and newcomers alike. Agent: Zoe Quinton, Zoe Quinton.
Starred review from June 1, 2021
Sherlock Holmes and Mary Russell journey from the sunny beaches of their previous adventure (Riviera Gold) to the Carpathian Mountains, home of Count Dracula and Elizabeth B�thory. Holmes has been engaged to help Queen Marie of Roumania protect her daughter Princess Ireana and put a stop to rumors that the queen is following in the bloodthirsty steps of her real and fictitious predecessors. While Mycroft Holmes believes Marie's troubles are an attempt to destabilize the country politically, Sherlock and Russell are convinced that someone closer to home wants the queen out of her castle so they can take possession of it themselves. Russell and Holmes must solve the case before the perpetrator turns from threats to murder. King mixes a bit of real history with a case of misdirection and mayhem that goes back to basic detective principles, while her protagonists deal in their inimitable style with secretive locals, politics going awry, and trust issues that won't stay on the back burner. VERDICT Highly recommended for historical mystery fans who have followed the series, as well as readers looking for historical heroines with agency such as Maisie Dobbs, Bess Crawford, or Phryne Fisher.--Marlene Harris, Reading Reality, LLC, Duluth, GA
Copyright 2021 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
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Bahrain, Egypt, Hong Kong, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the Sudan, the Syrian Arab Republic, Tunisia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen
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