Garment of Shadows

A Novel of Suspense Featuring Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes, Book 12

By: Laurie R. King

Narrated by: Jenny Sterlin, Robert Ian Mackenzie

Length: 10 hrs and 58 mins

Publisher's summary

In a strange room in Morocco, Mary Russell is trying to solve a pressing mystery: Who am I? She has awakened with shadows in her mind, blood on her hands, and soldiers pounding on the door. Out in the hivelike streets, she discovers herself strangely adept in the skills of the underworld, escaping through alleys and rooftops, picking pockets and locks. She is clothed like a man, and armed only with her wits and a scrap of paper containing a mysterious Arabic phrase. Overhead, warplanes pass ominously north.

Meanwhile, Holmes is pulled by two old friends and a distant relation into the growing war between France, Spain, and the Rif Revolt led by Emir Abd el-Krim—who may be a Robin Hood or a power mad tribesman. The shadows of war are drawing over the ancient city of Fez, and Holmes badly wants the wisdom and courage of his wife, whom he’s learned, to his horror, has gone missing. As Holmes searches for her, and Russell searches for herself, each tries to crack deadly parallel puzzles before it’s too late for them, for Africa, and for the peace of Europe.

©2012 Laurie R. King (P)2012 Recorded Books

My Second Time Through

Plot is multifaceted but stick with it! it's worth it. you can learn history too.

Stick to Jenny Sterlin

The male reader? Uh. No. Jenny Sterlin always performs so well and the male reader is a completely disappointing distraction.

All I need is Jenny Sterlin.

I've been a loyal reader of the Mary Russell series and it will always be dear to me. While I've not been as impressed with Pirate King and this novel, all the others are faultless. What makes this audiobook series even more priceless to me is the incredible talents of Jenny Sterlin. I am stunned at her abilities every time I replay these audiobooks, so much so that when I had to listen to anyone else's voice interpretations of these beloved characters, I felt that it was an affront to my senses. Sorry, Mr. Mackenzie. Jenny Sterlin thoroughly thinks about what her characters would sound like by both their physiology and age. For Ali, she even slips in a subtle lisp on top of the middle eastern accent to account for the absence of his front teeth. In "The Moor", she even depicts the slight wheeze of an elderly with upper airway resistance due to obesity for the character Reverend Sabine Baring-Gould. She flawlessly and naturally portrays both masculine and feminine characters that are never grating and are actually completely believable. I'm amazed at her ability to perform so many accents - (Scottish Highlander, English, Cockney, Californian, New England American, Japanese, Chinese, middle eastern, French, and Canadian). She remains consistent throughout each novel - not losing her accent off and on. Jenny Sterlin gets 5 stars but I brought it down to 4 as Robert Mackenzie inconsistently applied accents. I wanted to give 4.5 but that wasn't an option apparently.

All this is to say, you can never go wrong with listening to any audiobook by Jenny Sterlin and even more so when it's a Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes adventure.

Be Careful What You Wish For

I complained last time when she wrote the Pirate book, can't even remember the name of it now, and wrote a rather snippy review and posted it on both amazon and audible about how I thought it was all fluff and no bite.

Well folks, I guess the old adage "be careful what you wish for" is true because this one is certainly full of edges. There is certainly a lot more Holmes in this one but the readers who are hoping for a heating up of the relationship between Holmes and Russell are still going to be disappointed. Holmes does not wear his heart on his sleeve and neither does he allow readers to rummage through his private feelings to see if he has any. If he does they are definitely private. Actually I love this about him. It's so true to the Holmes Canon.

Anyway, the book had so many edges, some of them convoluted that it took me until the end of the book to really figure out was really going on and then I wasn't exactly sure I approved of them. I got a real dose of midleastern politics during 1924 and that helped me get a handle on some of what was going on.

I am going to give this book 4 1/2 stars in my journal not because I am downgrading the book it's self but because I'm not exactly sure that Holmes, Russell and the Hazar brothers should have been involved in this kind of "game". Just me probably.

ps: What's with that "other dude" anyway? This is the 12 book in the series for heaven's sake. We don't need someone coming in and being a different voice for Holmes at this late date. Bad idea whoever it was that had it.

Yes, but Can We Go Back to England Now, Please?

I agree that this is a good entry, especially welcome after the disappointing "Pirate King". It is wonderful to see both Holmes and Russell present here and pondering an intellectual puzzle together. There's excellent action and suspense as well.

My one reservation is about the series' seeming direction. King obviously has a fine grasp on the history and culture of the Middle East and does a great deal of research into the politics of that area between the World Wars. So, this is becoming more an international spy saga and less a variation of the traditional Sherlock Holmes - basically British - mystery. Not sure how I feel about that for the series' future.

The double narration is OK, but I'm not sure it's necessary. In past entries, Sterlin has done a fine job alone, interpreting all voices.

Not disappointed this time around.

Would you consider the audio edition of Garment of Shadows to be better than the print version?

Definitely. Expertly read, familiar interpretation, high quality emotion rendered.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Mary Russel, of course. Witty, dependable without being boring, graceful in the middle of unbeatable odds

What about Jenny Sterlin and Robert Ian McKenzie ’s performance did you like?

Both give a great performance, as always. I love the fact that the voices are never exaggerated, the emotions always well expressed without sounding unreal. Even the descriptive or historical parts keep you on your toes. You know they lead somewhere as suspense builds and the performers carry the tune to perfection. The characters are british yet easy to understand for those of us who are not.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

A memorable Sherlock Holmes and Mary Russel adventure taking place within the rich tapestry of Morocco's ageless world of colorful power plays and subtle undertones!

Any additional comments?

After my deception with the last book, Pirate king, this one is up to my expectations for a good Laurie King. Could not go to sleep until I finished it... I didn't want it to end.

very good, almost great.

The book is great! It has twists and turns you will never anticipate. The characters are vivid, familiar yet unexpected. The only disappointing part was the narration. Most of it was very good even great; but part of the masculine narrative just droned on. This was particularly vexing to me because I have read this book and know how tense and fearful that part is; but there was no change of inflection in the narrator's voice. However, I do recommend this book to everyone--it is so exciting. A darn good read!

A Great Read/Listen

I loved it! Was actually sorry to get to the end and have to stop listening. Jenny Sterlin was excellent - she always is - I was less enthusiastic about the added male reader, probably because I have always liked the voice Ms Sterlin gave Holmes and I found the new Holmes voice less appealing. The story is compelling, the taste of Morocco's history, though fictionalized, is valuable and will have this reader looking up more information, and the performances kept the plot moving along and was hard to abandon. Listen to it, you'll enjoy it!

Author at her best. But take notes on plot names!

I enjoyed this book greatly. Laurie R. King is at her best in terms of satisfying suspense and action, and the circumstances at the beginning of the book are delicious by any mystery fan's standards!

My only complaint, and this is really more for the audiobook, was how hard it was to follow the characters. I'm not familiar with Arabic and French names and titles, and found it difficult to keep track of who was who.

If someone with access to the spelling of the characters would put together a character outline for audio readers, I beg of you to do so! Had I such an outline, this would be a five star reading experience for me.

Still enjoyable, even if the who's who only comes together with the plot conclusion.

Thumbs Down for Dual Narrators

Neither the story nor the dual narrators (Jenny Sterlin, Robert Ian Mackenzie) of Garment of Shadows piqued my interest, although I normally relish every chapter of Laurie R. King’s books.

I have read 11 other books by King and have thoroughly enjoyed Sterlin’s portrayal of Holmes’ voice just fine! So, it wasn’t just the other narrator’s *yawn* dull recitation of Holmes’ side of the story but also the military storyline that didn’t interest me in the least that is the basis for my giving this book three stars across the board.