** spoiler alert ** Holy crap, this was wonderful. I both lost it laughing and actually wept, and I haven't cried at a book in ages. Happily, I was completely unspoiled for this, and I'm so glad for it. I think what I loved most is that this is a book about families and secrets and love FAR more than it's a whodunnit. The mystery itself is well-done, but so many mysteries -- especially in the Holmes genre -- are exercises in "ha-ha, look how clever the detective is!" This book is great because Russell and Holmes aren't at all aloof from everyone else involved. They care deeply, and as a reader, you get invested in all of them, so that even if you do figure out who did it by the midway point (or earlier), the emotional payoff of the end is completely worth the journey.

I love this SO HARD, OMG.

tag notes:
glbt interest tag: 1. awesome lesbian major character (Iris) in a 20-year relationship with a woman (Dan, short for Danielle)
2. and this exchange:
He [Holmes] smiled to himself. "It is a rather interesting variation on a marriage, is it not?"

[Russell:] "Do you mean Marsh and Iris, or all three of them?" [Meaning Mahmoud/Marsh, Iris, and Ali]

But his smile only deepened.

disability tag: minor character (Ben O'Meary) - positive portrayal, if brief.

Canada: transatlantic sideline to rural Ontario! (The geeky part of my brain that digs setting so hard was so, so happy.)

*happy sigh*

This book is, effectively, a dozen of my favorite things on a platter: mystery! strong female protagonist! Holmes! Mycroft! revisiting characters from earlier in the series -- continuity yay! gorgeously drawn settings! secret passages! ancient ruins! war story! awesome non-anachronistic women! queer people! friendly nontraditional marriages! hilariously-dealt with nosy children (without a shred of smarm)! nefarious intrigue both for ill and for justice! ancient scholarly library! creepy Biblical references! Action plots demanding action and travel and people thinking on their feet instead of sitting in chairs and thinking for 300 pages! And, like I said, a whole book full of people to get personally invested in! (Er, that's a bit more than a dozen. Yay? *g*)