Locked Rooms

Laurie King is the author of a series of books based on the character created by Conan Doyle, Sherlock Homes. In King's novels, Sherlock Homes has met (and eventually marries) a young American named Mary Russell. This is the third in this series that I have read (there are eight currently) and this is the latest, written in 2005. The problem with the series is King writes as if you have read the previous books, so sometimes I think I am missing an inside joke. Regardless, the story flows no matter which books you have read.

In this adventure, Mary and Sherlock are leaving India and have decided to go to San Francisco to visit the home that Mary grew up in. Mary's parents died in a terrible auto crash, and Mary thinks that she is to blame. The story focuses on Mary as she deals with her past (her parents died ten years earlier) and tries to reconcile dreams she has been having with the reality of her past.

What I like about the stories is that they are complicated, yet at the same time, not so complicated that you are constantly trying to figure out who is who. The story is fun and engaging as Mary deals with her memories of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and the lies and deceit that followed her family because of it.