The Moor

Publisher and industry reviews

Jacket review

'There's no resisting the appeal of King's thrillingly moody scenes of Dartmoor and her lovely evocations of its legends.' New York Times Book Review 'King not only provides a suitably generous array of things that go bump in the night, but suplies an explanation for all the skullduggery! that's at least as ingenious and plausible as Conan Doyle's own.' Booklist. 'The great marvel of King's series is that she's managed to preserve the integrity of Holmes's character and yet somehow conjure up a woman astute, edgy and compelling enough to be the partner of his mind as well as his heart' Washington Post

UK Kirkus review

Crime-writer Laurie R King writes two series of novels, the first set in California and the second in England, both of which have received prestigious awards. This, the fourth title in the second series, finds half-American Mary Russell tranquilly at work in 1920s Oxford on her latest theological project, blissfully unaware that her peace is to be shattered, not for the first time, by a peremptory summons to join her husband in some distant place - and at once. Mary, known socially and professionally by her maiden name, is irritated. It is only a month since she was allowed to return to the calm of the Oxford libraries. But she knows she must go, for although she loves her work her husband's is much more exciting - and the telegram has arrived from an intriguing source: Devon, where Sherlock Holmes is visiting an old, sick friend and where, more than 20 years earlier, he solved the mystery of the terrifying Hound of the Baskervilles. Could Dartmoor have spawned another strange creature to cause havoc - and worse - among the all-too-gullible residents of the Moor? Mary can't wait to find out, and to bring her own courage and scholarly powers to bear on the phenomenon. This is a very well-written, ever-so-slightly tongue-in-cheek take on the Conan Doyle stories, featuring a surprisingly uxorious Holmes and a fitting partner for him: affectionate, admiring, and prepared to suffer indignities, discomforts, life-threatening perils and permanently wet feet in the service of detection. Mary is the narrator, so we see Holmes and his work through her eyes, and the beauty and menace of the Moor through her eloquent words. The old friend they are visiting was a real person: the Reverend Sabine Baring-Gould, parson, writer and folksong historian. His descendants helped the author with her research, and the mix of reality, family recollection and fiction is beautifully balanced. (Kirkus UK)

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