The Russell and Holmes series by Laurie R. King is one of the best in the Sherlock Holmes world continued by a new flock of authors. Her Holmes is older and a bit slower. Feeling his age and being bored he met a young Mary Russell brimming with intelligence and wit. Russell lit a fire in Holmes and at first they were a mentor apprentice relationship that bloomed into love.
The setting is now in the Roaring 20s and moves from England to Venice. Trying to find a missing heiress who could be mad while dodging Fascists is tricky. Slip in a bit of Cole Porter and you have a rollicking good time Thwarting evil relatives and making the Fascists look silly.

I've followed the Mary Russell series since the very beginning, and have enjoyed watching her character blossom into a full-fledged investigator, not just a side-kick to the famous Sherlock Holmes. Frankly, I've never been a Holmes fan, finding him too stiff and stuffy, but Ms, King gives us Holmes in an entirely different, more human light. I enjoyed this entry to the series largely for the location (Venice!), but also for the joy of re-encountering Russell and Holmes.

Opening a new Russell and Holmes book is like visiting old friends. In this one, the year is 1925 and Mary helps out a friend by looking into the disappearance of her aunt, who goes missing after arranging a home visit from the mental institution where she normally lives. Tracking her down takes them inside the scary mental institutions of the time period all the way to Venice and it's wild party scenes, with some politics thrown in as well. A rollicking good time!

Summary (from LaurieRKing.com)
A June summer’s evening, on the Sussex Downs, in 1925. Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes are strolling across their orchard when the telephone rings: an old friend’s beloved aunt has failed to return following a supervised outing from Bedlam. After the previous few weeks—with a bloody murder, a terrible loss, and startling revelations about Holmes—Russell is feeling a bit unbalanced herself. The last thing she wants is to deal with the mad, and yet, she can’t say no.
The Lady Vivian Beaconsfield has spent most of her adult life in one asylum after another, yet she seemed to be improving—or at least, finding a point of balance in her madness. So why did she disappear? Did she take the family’s jewels with her, or did someone else? The Bedlam nurse, perhaps?
The trail leads Russell and Holmes through Bedlam’s stony halls to the warm Venice lagoon, where ethereal beauty is jarred by Mussolini’s Blackshirts, where the gilded Lido set may be tempting a madwoman, and where Cole Porter sits at a piano, playing with ideas…
Review:

I'd just finished another (modern, high school-aged) Holmes adaptation when I received an e-ARC of ISLAND OF THE MAD, so I happily dove into the latest in the series I had discovered as a high schooler myself.

I read the first Russell and Holmes book as a teenager, over a winter break when a personal tragedy had struck my life. Going with Mary Russell on her adventures, the greatest starting over her winter break at Oxford, was a lifeline. Mary was better than me, but similar in ways not many girls were in the few teen girl protagonist books I got my hands on were. Going to see Laurie King at a book signing was the first author event I attended outside of school author visits. These books, therefore, have always held a special place in my heart. I've also enjoyed King's other series, some of which cross over with her Sherlockian exploits.

Each book offers clearly copious historical research, arch humor, and a certain twist, whether it's exploring the romance of Russell and Holmes, shining a light on the darker dealings of the British Empire, or digging into the psychological damage of trauma and addiction. ISLAND OF THE MAD seems to give a vacation to the poor Russell and Holmes, who have been on one grueling adventure after another in the last several books. During their efforts to ascertain the safety of a friend's aunt, they get to enjoy themselves, helping to invent water skiing and Cole Porter lyrics. (In this way it's more in the vein of THE PIRATE KING than some of their darker adventures, though there are heftier themes present as well.)

King's writing is always engaging and utterly readable. I noted down several lines that had me bursting out laughing, as Russell contemplates attacking her boorish dinner companion with a fork and runs through her own feminist thoughts to herself. The dinner with the awful lord is like Facebook with your parents' cousins, except you're hoping the lord will be a murder victim, rather than just blocking the distant family members.

The book delves into downright chilling discussions of fascism taking hold in democratic nations and thugs succeeding and taking power, and the very real implications this has on people's lives, especially queer people and women. In this way King makes this historical book relevant to today's unfortunate political situation as well as providing a cathartic response in the success of Russell and Holmes' and the friends they enlist to help.

I attended a panel at a book festival this weekend and at the "Thrillers" panel someone mentioned Laurie King's method of using a spreadsheet to ensure clues are dropped at a good pace and the characters' lives are fully worked out. The care she takes is evident in the clear presentation of her plots. This book has the bonus fun of (often short) chapters from Holmes' (third person limited) POV, which, ultimately, delightfully intersects with Russell's efforts on the behalf of her friend's relative.

I can't speak specifically to the representation of mental illness--it appears respectful--but as always King brings in positive viewpoints on the reality of life for queer characters living in a less accepting time. This makes King's books some of my favorite historical mysteries. If you haven't read any of King, I do recommend starting with THE BEEKEEPER'S APPRENTICE, but when you do make it through the first few you could skip ahead to ISLAND OF THE MAD for a fun adventure.

Link to posted review:
http://www.leanneschwartz.com/2018/05/summary-from-laurierking.html

Also tweeted: https://twitter.com/lifebreakingin/status/993653814640103424

Thanks Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine and netgalley for this ARC.

King is amazing, undescribe, awesome author. This is the most fun of her books in a while. Always surprising, intense, and unputdownable.

Mary gets a phone call from a college friend which sends her off on her next case. Ronnie Beaconsfield Fitzwarren is concerned about her Aunt Vivian who has disappeared. Vivian has spent years in and out of asylums, most recently Bedlam for a series of mental health issues. Mary met her once when she accompanied Ronnie and her new baby son to Bedlam to show him off to her aunt.

Apparently, she and a nurse got a weekend pass to visit her older brother Edward, Marquess of Selwick, on the occasion of his fiftieth birthday. She disappeared along with jewels she inherited from her mother and a few other trinkets from the family safe. She had a pretty good head start since she left before the birthday celebration and wasn't noted as missing until she didn't return to Bedlam some days later.

Mary goes down to Selwick to investigate and get a better picture of Lady Vivian than her one meeting afforded her. She meets the Marquess and takes an immediate dislike to him as he is a rather unintelligent misogynist in love with his own opinions and the sounds of his own voice and who has taken a strong interest in Benito Mussolini who is bringing fascism to Italy. Her other interviews with staff who remembered her don't really give her any clues to where she might be.

Meanwhile, Holmes has been looking for Lady Vivian in London including checking jewelers and pawn shops which might have received her jewelry. Mary decides she needs to check Lady Vivian's medical files at Bedlam and manages to get herself committed - briefly. Speaking with other inmates and checking Lady Vivian's files leads her to think that she might have gone to Venice.

Holmes was all set to let her go to Venice alone until Mycroft drafts him to go along and look into the fascists who are gaining control there. Together and separately, Russell and Holmes investigate with Holmes becoming an acquaintance of Cole Porter and his wife and Russell becoming part of Elsa Maxwell's Lido set.

Secrets are discovered and the two cases come together. Along the way, the reader sees what Venice was like in 1925, what is was like to be a woman at that time, what the social and sexual mores were, and what fascism was doing to Italy. The clever conclusion allows right to triumph and villains to get their well-earned comeuppance. This was another wonderful entry into a long-running series.

I totally enjoyed Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes on their latest case. Mary agrees to find a college friends's "mad" aunt when she and her nurse disappear on an asylum-approved family visit home. Husband and wife eventually wind up in Venice, navigating the social and political waters. Elsa Maxwell and Cole and Linda Porter make delightful cameo appearances in the story. The Fascisti and blackshirts lend a real air of menace as Mussolini heads the government. It is fun to read how the Holmes's plan and carry out their investigations to find the aunt and avoid discovery.

I have been a fan of Laurie R. King’s Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes books since I stumbled across O Jerusalem many, many years ago. I love stories set in Israel/Palestine and Jerusalem is my favorite city in the world.

In Island of the Mad, King once again takes you on an adventure that is worthy of the best mystery writers. What I appreciate more than anything else is her constant sense of detail. When we are taken inside Bedlam I could smell the place and hear the sounds that were going on. And having never been to Venice, I felt like I have been and can’t wait to go.

The thing that surprised me the most is how well King did and bringing some of the issues that we are struggling with today with the wit and wisdom of 1925. There are some lessons to be learned if we are willing to open our eyes and ears.

I was sucked in by the cover and the title, but in the end, this wasn't the book for me.
Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes are asked to oversee the case of one of Russell's friends. It seems her aunt went missing while on a day pass from a mental asylum. I had never read the series before (nor did i know it was a series at first), and was excited to see Holmes have a female partner. But then I learned they were married and calling each other by their last names. I was turned off by the fact that everything has to be romance. But I did give the book a shot.
I wasn't big on the way the book was written and teh chapter had no discernable rythm in length. But I really enjoyed the history included in teh story. I love that the author included an addendum at the end about the historical aspects of the novel.

Great book, the latest in a series by King. This tale involves Russell and Holmes in the disappearance of the aunt of a friend, an inmate at Bethlem Hospital. The Lady had obtained a pass to visit for her brothers birthday bash, and disappears, nurse escort in tow. There is no trace of them in England, and Russell endeavors to find out more information on her reason for hospitalization, including having herself taken in as an inmate to the asylum. The story eventually leads to Venice, post WWI , during the rise of fascism, with the lives of the rich and famous at play . Holmes is also doing some research for his brother, Mycroft on the black shirts on the side. Immensely entertaining story, lots of details on the time period, and brought to life the atmosphere of the city. Looking forward to reading the entire series.

It didn't take much to have a woman parked in an insane asylum back in 1925. Standing up for yourself, would be called hysteria. Being gay or wanting to be independent or a million other reasons that showed just how few rights women had.

When Vivian, the aunt of Mary's friend, goes missing after a week-end at her half-brother and guardian's home, it becomes a race to find Vivian before her greedy and mean brother can.

From the dark gloominess of Bedlam to the beauty and freedom of Venice, they follow their clues. Sherlock and Russell are so good because they have entirely different ways of investigation and those two ways gel quite nicely.

With a lot of help from some famous and even not so famous people they may have come up with a plan that will protect Vivian and other women live their lives on their own terms.

Very well Done!

Netgalley/ Bantam  June 12, 2018

Mary Russell & Co are back in the latest installment of this popular series. When an old friend of Russell's calls her to ask for help finding a missing relative from Bedlam, she gets back on the trail and as usual, discovers all is not as it seems. Ms Laurie R King outdoes herself as usual in this well-written, page-turning book.

This historical mystery takes place in the years following WWI with the increasing influence of Mussolini as a backdrop to a missing person mystery. Followers of the Holmes/Russell series will welcome this new adventure. Though lack of background slowed me down in the beginning, once the action picked up, I got into the story and enjoyed following the thoughts and actions of the famous pair as they pieced together the truth.

I always enjoy reading about the antics and cases of Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes. Ms. King takes them on adventures all ove the world, this one to Venice., where they cleverly use disguise and other tricks of the trade to solve their mysteries and thwart their adversaries. Highly entertaining.

This was an enjoyable visit with Russell and Holmes, particularly as they spend some time in Venice and meet Cole Porter. Other appealing features of this book were the alternating perspectives of the main characters, and the insider's view of "Bedlam" Hospital. I always enjoy spending time in the mind of Laurie R. King!

The book description summaries this book nicely. The nations are in turmoil as well as Mary’s friend’s aunt. Violence is brewing in Venice with the growing numbers of Blackshirts. Mary needs to find the missing aunt in this now uneasy world. Venice was an excellent place for this adventure to conclude with its’ history, colorful festivals, unending vociferous parties and psychedelic people.

(Review to appear on the John H Watson Society website, and on Goodreads, in May.)

I need to share a quick story before I hop into my review of Island of the Mad, so please bear with me.

Like so many other people, I discovered Sherlock Holmes when I was twelve. Upon finishing the stories, as was (is…) my obsessive habit, I decided that I was going to BE Sherlock Holmes. I have never quite grown out of playing pretend, and as a twelve-year-old, playing pretend was an all-consuming activity. I began honing my observation skills (I am incredibly oblivious; this did not go well), created my own homemade fingerprinting kit (flour and charcoal that got everywhere, to my mum’s frustration), began creating an index of shoeprints (turns out your parents aren’t thrilled when you break open a pen and eek out the contents onto the soles of your best shoes!), and engaged in a myriad of other semi-destructive things in order to become The Next Sherlock Holmes.

And then a teacher informed me that I couldn’t be The Next Sherlock Holmes, because Sherlock Holmes was a boy.

For obvious reasons, that is a terrible thing to tell a child (or an adult, for that matter), but it did devastate little twelve-year-old me, who had never considered that a girl was barred from being Sherlock Holmes. I was tearful and upset, but resigned myself to my fate.

Then, while devouring every pastiche my small town’s library had to offer, I found The Beekeeper’s Apprentice, the first of the Mary Russell series. And I was in awe. Here was a girl, not much older than me at the beginning of the series, who was Holmes’ equal! Who was just as smart, if in sometimes different ways! Who was witty and clever and acerbic and impatient and irritable!

I made peace with never being Sherlock Holmes; I was quite happy to be Mary Russell instead. I mean, she got to be a detective AND study theology at Oxford!

I know the topic of Mary Russell brings about strong feelings in people, whether positive or negative, but as a girl, I needed Mary Russell, and so I have continued collecting and reading the books over the years. My love for this series has only grown (especially since the author walked back her dismissal of Watson!), and I was so happy to receive an ARC of the latest novel that I actually sat down and cried.

Now. Island of the Mad.

There was something special about this book, to me. Mary Russell books are always good, even though there have been some weaker installments, but this one was enthralling. I couldn’t put it down, but I desperately wanted to, so that I could savor it longer. I’ve been excited about this book for a long time, since I saw the summary come out and discovered that Ronnie would be back, if only briefly, and this book took that anticipation and built upon it.

Ronnie Beaconsfield, last seen in A Monstrous Regiment of Women (book two of the series!), returns to Mary’s life when she asks Russell if she can find her disappeared aunt. Her aunt, Lady Vivian, has spent the last few years in Bedlam, and after a weekend visit to the family home, she has disappeared- along with the family jewels and her nurse. Ronnie and her mother fear the worst, and ask Russell to find her. The quest to find Lady Vivian ends up leading to Venice, shortly after Mussolini has risen to power, leaving Russell and Holmes to search for a madwoman among the Black Shirts.

It’s a fascinating premise, one that promises darkness if you know your history, and oh my, this book does not fear to look at that darkness, examine it, hold it close, and cradle it close to its chest. Even more fascinating, to me, is that this book doesn’t hold back on letting Russell be wrong. This is a story where the reader is meant to know more than Russell, to sit there and shout at her, “how can you be so naive!” and to know, achingly, why she’s naive, and just what her naiveté is going to cost the people around her.

The darkness is interrupted with bursts of light, of frivolity and gaiety and glamour. Though Russell and Holmes must navigate the turning, twisting politics of Mussolini’s Venice, so too must they engage with the Lido set, tourists and flappers and rich Young Things (seemingly) without a care in the world. It makes for a fascinating contrast, and one can understand why the theme of masks and the Masquerade return time and time again. The contrast also added to the tension felt throughout the story; I felt like a vice was gripping me as I read.

The secondary characters are quite lovely; Laurie R King has always had a gift of making her secondary characters just as enchanting as her primary ones. Whether it’s the entirely fictional characters, such as the gondoliers Russell hires, silly Bongo, or Hon. Terry, or real historical figures, such as Cole Porter and his wife, Linda, we really get an opportunity to know them and feel empathy for them and their situations. My favourite secondary character is, naturally, Lady Vivian. Everything about her makes me root for her and want the best for her. I felt so protective of her and wanted to shake Russell and Holmes for some of the things they did. I can’t speak much about why I loved her so much in a review, unfortunately, because Lady Vivian is basically one big spoiler. I also became intrigued by an historical figure that appears in this book, Elsa Maxwell. I’d never heard of Elsa Maxwell before this novel, I’m ashamed to say, but I am eager to learn more about her because of how she was portrayed. It is something I always appreciate about the Russell novels; I always walk away having learned something, and desperate to learn more.

It isn’t just characters that LRK excels at. Atmosphere is so important in a story like this, and there were many touches added to create an ominous, weighty impression throughout the book. Poveglia and San Clemente helped create that atmosphere by sheer dint of what they are and their place in history; the canals of Venice, while certainly beautiful and described as such, created a fluid, murky sensation that tugged at me while I read. It was impossible for me to read this book without feeling dread the entire time: dread for Russell and Holmes (so many questions raised about their marriage this book…), dread for Lady Vivian, and dread for everyone in Venice, knowing what is around the corner for them.

The only thing that I have a slight issue with was the very end. It felt too pat, to me. Too easy an ending, given the way the tension had been built. I am also somewhat uneasy with the way Russell and Holmes entrapped the villain, but I can’t say more without spoiling it.

In fact, I feel like anything else I say about the book itself will contain scads of spoilers, so I only want to say one more thing, briefly, about this book. I have never before read a book that was, in theory, apolitical, that felt so incredibly relevant and pointed with regards to the current political landscape. I don’t think it is surprising that Russell meets Fascists in 1923, in 2018. I hardly think that the themes of protecting and helping the marginalized was an accident. I doubt that the crime that is central to this book was chosen by happenstance. This book felt angry. This book felt like a warning, especially to women like Russell. Russell’s naiveté was perfectly in-character for her, but it was also a spotlight on how easy it is for a person, any person, no matter how brilliant, to look at something and fail to understand the enormity of a situation.

I cannot wait to have a physical copy of this book in my hands, having received an ARC from NetGalley. I have a feeling that I may need to buy two- one to sit pristinely on my shelves, and one to mark up with notes and annotations. It’s been a long time that I’ve felt so strongly about a Sherlock Holmes pastiche, but this was a very powerful novel, and I’m eager to read it again.

I have been a fan of the Russell books for many years. The last few, however, seem to be lacking something - I didn't even read all of the last book. This one I felt was closer to some of the earlier ones. A little mystery, some disguises, with the threat of Fasist Italy in the background. It still lacked some of the lovely Holmes - Russel moments that the earlier books had, but at least they were working on the same case.

The story starts with Russell and Holmes still adjusting to the changes from the last book, but soon they diverted to a case when Russell receives a phone call from an old friend: Ronnie Beaconsfield. Now. Ronnie Fitzwarren with a young son, Ronnie is worried about her aunt who has disappeared after a family gathering heading back to Bethel Hospital, aka Bedlam, the insane asylum. Russell of course agrees to take the case. After breaking into the famous mental hospital, Russell realizes that the the aunt and her nurse have headed to Venice. From there, Russell and Holmes continue their investigation, leading their paths to cross with Elsa Maxwell and Cole Porter along the beauty and extravagance of the Lido.

The real star of the book was Venice. As with many of her books, Ms. King excels at capturing the sprit of a location, and Venice is no exception. It's quite lovely.

My major complaint about the book is also a common one I've found with some of the Russell adventures: it just ends. If felt like it needed another chapter or so to wrap up a few things - let Ronnie know the fate of her aunt, for example, or hear how Ronnie's mother takes the news. I also felt it was a bit contrived that it took Russell so long to figure out the cause of the aunt's madness. There were also some hints about Holmes being concerned about his marriage to Russell that are never resolved. And as I mentioned above, it would be nice to see some of those tender moments between Russell and Holmes that we see in earlier books.

Overall, a very enjoyable read. Highly Recommended.

I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley and voluntarily chose to review.

Having recently finished a binge rewatch of Sherlock I found myself looking around for some good old Sherlock Holmes-style fun. So I was very happy to request an advance review copy of Island of the Mad from NetGalley. This was my first encounter with the series of Sherlock-inspired tales, but that wasn't really a hindrance. There were a few references to previous books that went a little bit over my head that did not interfere with my understanding of the plot.

I was a bit surprised by how little of a mystery there was, but it was a nicely atmospheric travelogue along with a quest that had a satisfying resolution. My expectations may have been off the mark since I had not yet read a Mary Russell story and I was expecting more of a classic puzzle solving adventure. Despite the book not being what I expected I found myself enjoying the tale and the characters. I plan to go back to the first book and explore the series further.

Island of the Mad is the fifteenth Mary Russell novel, fifteenth! Somehow, I still love Russell & Holmes in this book as much as I did in The Beekeeper’s Apprentice.

In this installment, Russell & Holmes travel to Venice and the descriptions of the people, their lifestyle, and the scenery are dreamy and gorgeous. The historical settings and social issues are particularly elucidatory—Russell learns about the living conditions at Bedlam while Holmes carefully observes Mussolini’s Blackshirts in Venice and the spread of the Fascist ideology. Both subjects, Bedlam and Mussolini, are fascinating and may demand more research by this reader.

The mystery requires our heroes to adopt new personas and mingle with the who’s-who of Venice. Even though this adventure is less harrowing (errr, less action-y) than some of their past adventures, I still find myself quite content to search for the missing Lady Vivian alongside Russell & Holmes.

Sigh. Now I’m ready for number sixteen.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for my copy.