Laurie R. King Virtual Book Club discussion
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Dreaming Spies
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Dreaming Spies - Q&A with Laurie
Will Haruki Sato continue to live in future Mary Russell - Sherlock Holmes books by Laurie R. King? Haruki and Mary Russell could be good BFFs!
Laurie, I love your books! I first found them on a business trip and loved them. Ironically, I had a random business trip to Japan late last year. When I got home I saw the info on Dreaming Spies and was thrilled! I was fated to love the series. Ever since God of the Hive, Mary has expressed a deep distrust of Mycroft (for obvious reasons) while Holmes has maintained that he trusts his brother. There have also been mentions of Holmes going off on his own to London and other locales on cases of importance (I assume assignments from Mycroft) without Mary.
Will something come of this standoff between Mary and Mycroft? Will there ever be a time where Mary and Holmes are pitted against each other because/by Mycroft or otherwise?
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Did Russell and Holmes stop off in France on their way home from North Africa and Turkey (?) to see Damian, Estelle, and the red headed doctor (name escapes me) before they returned to England ? I have a residual concern for them as Damian seems to attract challenges.I assume Mary finished her degree at Oxford … is she working on another, or is she a "gypsy scholar" who carries on with her own research on her own schedule? Is she publishing? Did she ever get to give that paper?
Should we expect a book on Holmes' and Russell's adventures in Turkey, eventually?
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My question is about the provenance of the book they are trying to recover and what is the map/document hidden inside? I lost track of the copies and the original in the switching back and forth. And how did the Darleys obtain the original? I am reading an ARC and have not yet found a loaner book to read the last chapter Laurie mentioned last week. Thanks. I love this series
Let me add my voice to those who want to know what the mysterious document was. Unless, as Merrily suggests, it called into question the dynasty's right to the throne, I have difficulty imagining what kind of document 300+ years old could still be so dangerous. (But that doesn't mean that there couldn't be be such a document, just that MY imagination is having a problem with it.)
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Laura, somehow I thought that switch out of the real book happened when the Bodleian sent it out to be restored and the crooked craftsman then sold it to the blackmailer, along with a copy of it he'd made. But it wouldn't be the first time I got totally confused in a mystery!
I'd like to ask the author why Holmes and Russell tell the Prince that Russell was born in America.
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Cathy, at least we'll see if Laurie's answer differs from our speculations!
Merrily -on my second read I am getting the same impression but so many copies floating around git me a bit bewildered.
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I understand, Laura!
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I thought I was putting my question in a spot for questions for the author- not in the general discussion. Did I put my question in the wrong place?
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Merrily wrote: "No, this is the right place, Cathy, I just meant that we'd discussed this over on the DREA thread and it would be interesting to see if Laurie's response was along the lines of what others had spe..."It's what happens when you get a bunch of excited, talkative people together! Our remarks are not easily categorized into threads -- which I think may actually be a good thing.
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Yeah, we're not Thread Obedient, are we, Sabrina?
Thank you for doing a Q and A, Laurie! I have two questions, one about the ending and one about the Bodleian. Did you intend from the beginning for Haruki to "play" Russell? Please comment, if you will, about this surprising twist. Also, I am wondering if previous Bodleian thefts influenced your ending? (I love that Russell just puts the original Basho in the RETURNS pile.)
I may be setting myself up for a crushing disappointment, but my curiosity has gotten the better of my discretion. As you may have observed from reading the GARM and DREA threads, I'm a defender of Mycroft. Granted that he may have erred in setting up an off-the-books spy agency with no oversight, but he appears to have done it with the best of motives. Granted that he's a little manipulative, but so are Holmes and Russell, and again, his motives are the defense of the realm. But there are some big unanswered questions. So:1. Where WAS Mycroft during PIRA? We know from Canon and Kanon that he never goes anywhere other than his flat, his office, his club, and occasionally out with Mrs. Melas. So why couldn't Holmes locate him?
2. DID Mycroft send the telegram ordering the assassination of Abd-el-Krim? I have argued that he could not have done so -- he was sick when the telegram was sent to the Hazrs in Marseille, and, knowing Russell's current views, he would not be foolish enough in the second message to suggest that they join forces with Russell and Holmes for the purpose of assassinating a man fighting for freedom for his people. Am I right, or am I just a sucker? (Or do you need to keep this under wraps until the next time Mycroft makes an appearance?)
And, whatever the answers or non-answers, thanks very much for doing the Q and A.
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Well, since Haruki has apparently left Britain, and since I don't know that Russell went back to Japan (for a long time anyway) I'm not sure we'll see her again. However, one never knows, in the Russell universe.
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You think I know? All I can say is, that theme doesn't appear to be a part of THE MURDER OF MARY RUSSELL. Yet.
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It's clearly something that ties the Imperial house to the Sato clan and the world of ninja. That it lays bare the Emperor's willingness to act behind the backs of his official advisors is clearly where the danger of the thing lies.
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Well, they took their sweet time between leaving Morocco in January and arriving home in April, didn't they? I believe that after Morocco they found themselves headed briefly east, although whether Venice or Istanbul I'm not sure. And whether they stopped in Paris or not may have to do with how they went home, by sea or by rail.
As for Mary's work, I suppose eventually we'll get to the summer of 1925 and we'll see what she's up to after Haruki leaves and Holmes heads back to London and Sussex. But yes, a gypsy scholar does indeed describe her nicely.
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See the above. And note that Miss Russell's editor has yet to go to Turkey, so...
Love the series, starting the new one this week! Who is your favorite screen Sherlock Holmes? Mine is Benedict Cumberbatch.
I was mildly surprised at the ease Mary had in donning Buddhist monk's robes and impersonating a mendicant of a religion other than her own. Does she find no theological conflicts with Buddhism or does she feel there are no ethical conflicts in impersonating a member of the religious leaders of another faith? On the surface it seems dismissive of Buddhism as if it is not a legitimate faith. I just wondered what her thoughts might have been since she is a religious scholar.
Loyd wrote: "I was mildly surprised at the ease Mary had in donning Buddhist monk's robes and impersonating a mendicant of a religion other than her own. Does she find no theological conflicts with Buddhism or ..."She didn't don monk's robes, but rather pilgrim's clothes. See, e.g., p. 55. So she was not impersonating a religious leader.
Lenore wrote: "Loyd wrote: "I was mildly surprised at the ease Mary had in donning Buddhist monk's robes and impersonating a mendicant of a religion other than her own. Does she find no theological conflicts with..."Thank you. I guess I missed that. I was thinking that Holmes' disguise might have put Mary on the horns of a dilemma: to refuse an offer of food, shelter, water or other assistance from people they passed on the way would have blown their disguise but to accept might have caused an ethical problem for her depending on her understanding of Buddhism and and its relationship to her own religion, although I'm not sure I know what that is.
No matter. It's a wonderful book and I've always loved tales about Japan and the interaction between Eastern and Western culture that seems to come together there as no where else. Miss Sato is such an engaging character.
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It's the shell game, isn't it?
This question is made more complicated by some of you working off an ARC and others the final version, in which I clarified the switching around. I don't have time to dig out my notes today, I'll try and do that this week and do the slow-motion A/B/C version of events. Sorry.
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What page is this on?
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Maybe what we need is a flow chart...(-:
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What page is this on?"
Laurie, it's when they first meet Hirohito in the exceedingly hot bath, and he gets angry about American immigration policy re Japan (when he hears that Russell is an American).
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From the beginning (Beekeeper's Apprentice) we knew that Sidney Paget's drawings, based on Paget's older brother (though this was later denied by another brother) depicted Holmes as older than he in fact was. I think Russell is saying here that the lack of resemblance goes farther than just age.
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I thought it about time for Russell & Holmes to have a failure of sorts, since Holmes himself had a few of them under Conan Doyle's auspices and turn about is fair play. And surely there have never been any thefts from the Bodleian? I am shocked at the very thought.
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Well, hmmmm....yes. I shall take this as meaning that Holmes is even better looking than the Paget drawings.
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2. DID Mycroft send the telegram ordering the assassination of Abd-el-Krim? I have argued that he could not have done so -- he was sick when the telegram was sent to the Hazrs in Marseille, and, knowing Russell's current views, he would not be foolish enough in the second message to suggest that they join forces with Russell and Holmes for the purpose of assassinating a man fighting for freedom for his people. Am I right, or am I just a sucker? (Or do you need to keep this under wraps until the next time Mycroft makes an appearance?)"
1. Seems to me old Mycroft is making some changes in his life, what with the heart attack and the weight loss. Still, I imagine that the only reason his younger brother wouldn't be able to find him is because Mycroft does not wish to be found…
2. Why do you imagine I, the editor and literary agent, know everything about Miss Russell's memoirs? There are any number of volumes yet to be transliterated, and more arrive every so often… However, I anticipate that the pressure from these questions is building, somewhere in the background of Russell's (1925) life, and that they are leading to a confrontation of some sort.
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Favorite for canonical interpretation is Jeremy Brett, for an accuracy to the original personality. Favorite adaptation is the BBC one, for the intelligence of the writing and the brilliance of the actors.
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It could be argued that Buddhism is not a religion but an approach to living, since it lacks a concept of God as such. Shinto would be somewhat more problematic, since it incorporates local "gods" or spirits which has at least a surface conflict with Judaism. However, on many levels the great religious traditions speak the same language, asking the same questions and embracing the same attitudes.
When it comes to conflict, the task of a pilgrim is to learn from teachers along the way, and that is a goal any religious tradition may approve of.
This whole thread makes my heart sing. Thank you Laurie!
This whole thread makes my heart sing. Thank you Laurie!
Laurie, I am full of rueful admiration of your deflection of questions you cannot answer at this time.
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Well, Laurie IS only the literary agent, you know. There are some things that only Miss Russell knows.
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Laurie wrote: "Although maybe Miss Russell will reveal a few secrets when I visit her in May."Hope so! :)
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We will look forward to that! Perhaps you could ply her with some American treats she fancies (if there are any) - we know it wouldn't be the coffee although that has improved much since her early travels here.
Thanks for an excellent Q&A, it's always such a pleasure to hear from Miss Russell's literary agent!
How many actual copies were there? I was so confused by the whole musical books part in the end. I enjoyed the book very much, beautifully written as usual.
Roxann wrote: "How many actual copies were there? I was so confused by the whole musical books part in the end. I enjoyed the book very much, beautifully written as usual."Above, Laurie promised an explanation later this week.
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Drop your questions here by Sunday night so Laurie can read and answer on Monday.