Dreaming Spies: A novel of suspense featuring Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes

Dreaming Spies is the 13th book in the Mary Russell series by Laurie R. King. Mary Russell is the much younger wife and partner of the retired Sherlock Holmes. At the beginning of Dreaming Spies, Russell and Holmes have just returned from their travels after the end of Garment of Shadows (book 12) to find that a large "Japanese sort of rock" has been mysteriously planted in their garden by an Oriental gentleman. The book then flashes back to a period a year earlier, after The Game (book 7), as they are boarding a ship to leave Bombay and travel to California to take care of Russell's family business. Holmes immediately spots a man that he recognizes as a blackmailer and sets out to try to finally bring him to justice. Russell, meanwhile, befriends a young Japanese girl whose family were once gymnasts for the royalty of Japan and who has been educated in the US. Onboard, the Japanese girl is asked to teach fellow shipmates about Japan, and she also begins to teach Russell and Holmes Japanese. Once in Japan, Holmes and Russell, the blackmailer and his family, and the Japanese girl all disembark and their stories become more intertwined. Soon Russell and Holmes must use their wits to travel through the heart of Japan to a remote destination where they are trained as ninjas in order to help a very important Japanese personage. The book then returns us to Russell and Holmes’ present day, where they are finally able to wrap up the case.Laurie R King's Russell/Holmes has quickly become one of my favorite mystery series. The stories are well-written and have complex but interesting plots. Many of the novels take place in locations other than Holmes’ native England, and Ms. King certainly does her research regarding the history of the various countries and the time period. Although these are Holmes pastiche, I believe that they would be enjoyable to fans of the original Conan Doyle's Holmes as well. Most of the action revolves around Russell, but she has been an apt pupil of Holmes and makes an equal partner. I really enjoy the interaction between Russell and Holmes, though as the series goes on it seems the books become more and more about Russell and less about Holmes.I feel that the books are very enjoyable and somewhat humorous. Although they are easy to read, they are not what I would call “fluff” books - those that have silly plots that usually revolve around a theme (ghosts, bakeries, cats, etc.) These books are serious mysteries which typically include a bit of action. Each book could be stand alone as there is usually enough background given to allow the reader to get an idea of Russell and Holmes, but I think they are much more enjoyable when read as a series.I had been looking forward to this book ever since I finished the last, and didn’t think 2015 would get here soon enough. I feel as though Russell and Holmes have become old friends and catching up was long overdue! I was glad to be able to get an advance reader’s copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review, and in my opinion it was worth the wait.

I have been a fan of Laurie R. King’s Mary Russell series since the first book, The Beekeeper’s Apprentice, was published in 1994. This latest in the series will please long-time fans like me for a number of reasons (outlined below) but can also be read with enjoyment by people new to the books about Mary Russell and her considerably older husband, Sherlock Holmes. If Dreaming Spies is your first Sherlock Holmes & Mary Russell book, however, make haste to lay hands on The Beekeeper’s Apprentice, then devour the rest of this delightful series, in order if possible. Dreaming Spies has things in common with several earlier books in the series – a journey to an exotic location (in this case, Japan), a road trip in which Holmes and Russell learn more about the country, the culture, the language, and themselves, and a testing our heroes are compelled to endure before they can fully undertake the case in question. The latest book differs, however, in situating the story in two different time periods. The section in Japan takes place as Holmes and Russell are returning from India and the adventure described wonderfully in 2004’s The Game, while the story picks up again just as Russell returns to Oxford from the couple’s journey to Morocco (Garment of Shadows, 2012). Fans will enjoy the fact that for once, Holmes does not have the advantage on Russell when it comes to the country; Japan and its language are strange to him, also. Moreover, Holmes and Russell are together thorough out the book, and a good portion of the action takes place in Oxford, a city beloved to Russell and to the fans of the series. It’s not necessary to dwell at length on the plot to assure you that this is an excellent read. We have the Emperor of Japan as a client, a missing book that is not only valuable in itself but which contains another secret, a blackmailer, a young woman who is not precisely what she seems, and mysterious events on both land and sea. And as if that is not enough, we have Oxford with its “dreaming spires,” and, as it turns out, Dreaming Spies. Very highly recommended.

I liked the haikus and the description of Japanese culture. The many twist and turns and the depiction of two remarkable and fierce women.

I've been a fan of these books since the very first one and was glad to see in this one that Holmes played more of a role than he has in the last few books. In this book, Homes and Russell take a slow boat to Japan. On the boat they encounter a blackmailer and a mysterious Japanese woman, who, it turns out, came onto the boat specifically to meet them and enlist them in a case of helping to recover an item that the Japanese crown prince mistakenly gave to the King of England and that is now being used to blackmail the Emperor.I enjoyed the details of life on the boat and in Japan as Holmes and Russell pose as Buddhist pilgrims to travel across country. I also enjoyed passing references to people we have encountered before in these books and in the Sherlock Homes books. I was enjoying the book until the ending, where I was left with a feeling of discontent-- first of all, that everything had been orchestrated by the Japanese woman, and Holmes and Russell were not really necessary after all, and then just plain confusion over what, exactly happened in the elaborate shell game that was being played. I'm kind of dense and have to be hit over the head with things, and I'm afraid that there was too much happening between the lines at the end, and I was unable to discern what, exactly was going on. Undoubtedly, most other readers are more clever than I and would not have that problem!Nevertheless, I did enjoy the book and look forward to the next one.

日本を舞台とした作品なので、逆に気になるところはいろいろあります。でも、愛らしく強いHarukiさんは、魅力的。作者は取材で奈良ホテルに泊まったみたいですね！

The wait seemed long - but was absolutely worth it. Mary and Sherlock's adventures on board the ship and then in Japan are a delight. Well worth the read.

Another excellent read in the series. Loved it!

The story in Dreaming Spies begins with Sherlock Holmes and Mary Russell arriving home after all the adventures in Morocco (Pirate King and Garments of Shadows) and finding a rock in their garden. This rock is just the beginning or in a way the continuation of an old case that started around a year ago in Japan after Holmes and Russell's adventure in India in The Game.I have been looking forward to reading this book for months and being approved for an ARC from Netgalley 4 months before the book is to be released was something that made me really really happy.Anyway in this book we start off the story in Sussex and Oxford with the arrival of a rock and an old "friend" of Holmes and Russell. After that, we get to know what really happened in Japan before they arrived in America. Laurie R. King has as usual written a very describing and well-researched book. I felt that I was in Japan as I read and it was a wonderful treat to get to know the country and its culture throughout the story.The only objection I have and that is that I felt a trifle impatient reading it sometimes. Because even though it was well written not so much happened, or of course things happened but alas so slowly. I wanted some more drive to the story. The story in Japan takes up 2/3 of the book and much of that was just to lay the groundwork for the story later on in Oxford. So even though I enjoyed the time on the ship from India to Japan and the time in Japan I liked the story best later on in Oxford when the game was afoot. This doesn't mean that I didn't enjoy the book. I loved reading it. It was a great book and I think that fans of Laurie R. Kings books will truly enjoy reading this book.

I'm totally immersed in this series now. I have enjoyed and found believable the overall scenario of the relationship between the two main characters and have been delighted with the various scenarios which are so different in each book and which have such interesting detail either as characters from elsewhere reappear or as in this volume, aspects of Oxford such as the Bodlian library are depicted with such lovely detail.