Part of Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes, book 19
First published 2025
Jake Russell appears at Mary's Sussex door after years of silence. She had assumed her father's younger brother was dead, lost to his reckless ways. Instead, he brings a dangerous request tied to the notorious theft of the Irish Crown Jewels from Dublin Castle. The crime shocked the government, infuriated the king, and stumped both Scotland Yard and Sherlock Holmes himself. Jake was somehow involved in the scandal, which explains why the family cast him out. Now he wants Mary to help him, to slip away without telling Holmes her plans. She knows Mycroft Holmes must have played a role in the covered-up affair. Helping Jake would put her at odds with both her husband and his powerful brother. She should refuse. But this is Jake, her childhood hero, the last survivor of her decimated family. Mary faces a choice between competing loyalties that could tear apart her partnership with Holmes.
Genres: historical-fiction, 20th-century, mystery, crime, thriller, 19th-century
Vibes: atmospheric, intimate, suspenseful
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Dublin Castle, Ireland, Sussex
Period: 19th-Century
336 pages · Hardcover · Bantam