Locked Rooms

By: Laurie R. King

Narrated by: Jenny Sterlin

Length: 13 hrs and 57 mins

Publisher's summary

New York Times best-selling author Laurie R. King has won sweeping critical acclaim and an impressive collection of awards for her writing. Although other writers have tried, no one has matched King's ability to capture the allure of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's legendary sleuth, Sherlock Holmes.

Haunted by her dreams, Mary Russell arrives in San Francisco in 1924 to settle her parents' estate. But she quickly encounters a few surprises and learns there may be a great deal more to her childhood in this city than she ever knew. As Mary tries to cobble the pieces of her shadowy past together, her husband Holmes wonders if she may be repressing vital memories. And one thing seems certain; someone wants Mary's remembrances to stay buried.

King is at the top of her game with Locked Rooms, a wonderfully intricate and marvelously evocative mystery rich with unexpected twists and turns.

©2005 Laurie R. King (P)2005 Recorded Books, LLC

Critic reviews

"A highlight in an altogether outstanding series." (Booklist)
"Richly imagined....The narrative has real momentum, the characters are engaging, and the prose, as always, is intelligent, evocative, and graceful." (Publishers Weekly)
"A humdinger of a plot that deepens with each retelling of the dreams, plus pulsating descriptions of San Francisco's tent cities, looters, and flattened Chinatown in the 1906 quake's aftermath." (Kirkus Reviews)

Laurie King's

This another worthy addition to the series, extending and deepening the characters of Russell and Holmes. The reader does a really excellent job of capturing King's characters. Thoroughly enjoyable!

Wonderful Entry

This installment takes the reader down a darker path in the life of Mary Russell. This glimpse into her past to discover what happened to her family built on the characters well and introduced a surprise for the reader. If you have enjoyed the series to this point, this installment will not disappoint.

Superb storytelling and plot

I love this series, and I believe this is the best work Laurie R. King has written! Not to be missed—the psychological elements of Mary untangling her childhood, the fascinating, young city of San Fran, the brilliance of Holmes, the fun addition of Dashell Hammett, and gratifying relationships with the Asian community.

Abrupt Ending

As with all the Mary Russell mysteries, the character development and plot were well developed. The introduction of actual celebrities from the period, such as Dashiell Hammitt delightful, and the history of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake/fire informative. The only reason I am rating the novel a 4 is because I thought it abruptly ended without the resolution of some issues. For example, Mary Russell had developed a close relationship with Flo Greenfield, and the reader is left wondering how Mary handled the aftermath. Also, there was the introduction of a missing trunk from the cruise ship that belong to Mary Russell and was never resolved - who took it, why was it taken, was it ever recovered?

I love this series of novels and it all that it exposes the reader to. Just wished Locked Rooms hadn’t ended so abruptly.

Riveting change of pace

The setting of this book, in San Francisco, with many flashbacks to the time of the great earthquake and fire, was fascinating. The author also used a different style of narration, alternating between Mary Russell, telling the story in her usual first person, narrative, and an omniscient, third person narrator, telling parts of the story from the perspective of Holmes . Not confusing at all, very smoothly and deftly interwoven. Great addition to the series!

Don't miss this jewel!

This is a jewel of a book! It's part of a series, and you won't want to miss any of its related titles. I only wish there were a dozen more of them.

I ran across the first book in this series by accident several years ago. I listened to it as an audiobook, and have no doubt the narration was key to my liking the book so much.

The premise is clever: These are the stories of Sherlock Holmes -- who supposedly was not a fictional character at all -- and his brilliant young female protegee, Mary. King deftly explains away any evidence that Holmes was not a real person, including Conan Doyle's involvement in the his chronicles. She depicts Holmes as a delightfully eccentric and complex man, making him much more appealing and interesting than Doyle's sometimes dour character.

Mary is the real star of these books, however, and she is one of the most fascinating fictional characters I've ever encountered. She is both brave and vulnerable, and brilliant without being intimidating. Her relationship with Holmes grows as the series continues, and is characterized by a mutual love and respect very uncommon during the time in which the novel is set. Just seeing the brilliant Mary and equally brilliant Holmes interact is worth the price of admission, and the clever plotlines and dialogue are icing on the cake.

The narrator for this series is unparallelled, capturing the essence of both Mary and Holmes so precisely that I can't imagine how anyone could enjoy this book as much in print.

If you're a Holmes fan, you won't want to miss this series. If you're not, this might turn you into one!

OK, Just Ok

What did you love best about Locked Rooms?

I've read several of Laurie King's Holmes novels, and while entertaining, they are not as clever as they think they are. The problem with creating a novel with Holmes in it, you have to be as smart and sharp as Doyle.

The Relationship Builds

I like everything about this series. I like the relationship between Holmes and Russell and like how the writer develops the stories. Jenny Sterlin is to be commended for her ability to tell the story. For me it's as if I were there to breathe the wonderful clean air...

Totally Engrossing!!

I read The Beekeepers Apprentice so long ago that I don't remember what I thought about that one, but this one in what I assume is a series captured me w its character develpment, intriguing relationship between the husband and wife, and the unwinding of the plot. A 5-star winner!

Brilliantly written! Narrator was good

Glad to finish it. Guess I like my mystery's with more suspense. But enjoyed it