The Game by Laurie King

The Game by Laurie R. King. New York: Bantam Books, 2004. ISBN: 0-553-80194-5

Here’s another of Laurie King’s wonderful Sherlock Holmes and Mary Russell novels! I list all of the previous titles in one of my previous blog entries, or you can look in the author index along the side. And now, having finally gotten my chance at The Game, how long will it be before I can get my hands on the brand NEW adventure, Locked Rooms? These books are always so popular that there is a long waiting list at my local public library.

In this one, Ms. King takes the liberty of not only reusing Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes character, she appropriates Rudyard Kipling’s Kim, as well. Holmes and Russell are off to India, where they run into Kim’s own son, a character much like the original Kim himself. It turns out that Holmes had an adventure with the much younger Kim years before. A seemingly innocent if slightly decadent mahajarah turns out to have hidden depths of evil. This is one of the most dramatic story lines yet for one of these new Sherlock Holmes tales, reading more like a thriller than a mystery. As usual, though, highly recommended.