Part of Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes, book 5
First published 2000
At the end of 1918, Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes must escape England for British-occupied Palestine. Mycroft Holmes arranges their passage, where they meet two mysterious Arab guides, Ali and Mahmoud, in orange groves outside the Holy Land. The guides work for the British government on a secret mission. Holmes and Russell adopt Bedouin disguises, with Russell posing as a young man named Amir. They travel through the desert investigating a series of murders that seem disconnected from rising tensions between Jews, Muslims, and Christians. Holmes insists on examining the most recent crime scene in a desert ravine. His discoveries lead the pair through crowded bazaars, dirty inns, and cliffside monasteries. When Holmes's investigation puts him in mortal danger, Russell uses a pistol and even attempts seduction to rescue her mentor. Battered and bleeding, they finally reach Jerusalem to confront their enemy, whose hunger for violence threatens to destroy the city's holiest sites and set the entire region ablaze.
Genres: historical-fiction, 20th-century, adventure, mystery
Vibes: atmospheric, fast-paced, suspenseful
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, fish-out-of-water, mentor-mentee
Setting: England, Jerusalem, Palestine
Period: 1918
425 pages · Mass Market Paperback · Bantam
Content warnings: violence