I’ve just finished reading my copy of Laurie R. King’s The Lantern’s Dance.
This is Laurie’s usual excellent story and I zipped right through almost without stopping for a breath. I’ve given it 5 stars on Amazon, which is rare for me.
In the novel, Sherlock Holmes and Mary Russell are traveling to France to visit Holmes’ son, Damien Adler, and his family. Only when they arrive, they find the family has fled after a “Lascar” broke into their house, leaving a trio of worried servants and several mysterious crates sent to the house by a French museum. Russell, suffering from a badly sprained ankle, is left behind to heal while Holmes rushes into the countryside in search of his son.
While recuperating, Russell turns to the crates for entertainment, unpacking Vernet paintings, photographs, a zoetrope, and a journal written in code. I’m sure you can guess which object interests Russell the most. While Holmes catches up to Damien and encourages him to move his family to a safer location, Russell busies herself decoding the journal, written by a half-Indian woman who gives her name only as Lakshmi. The more she reads, the more she is convinced that this journal, and the woman who wrote it, has something to do with their current situation.
Could a journal whose author must certainly have died of old age by now possibly have a connection to Sherlock Holmes and his “art in the blood?” Can Russell figure out the clues in the code before Holmes returns? If you enjoy intriguing puzzles and Sherlock Holmes, you’ll love The Lantern’s Dance. And if you haven’t read the rest of the series, you’re in for a treat.