Rating: 
Summary: Enjoyable book in the series
Review: Though not as good as the first two, this book doesn't disappoint. It still keeps the reader enthralled from beginning to end. However, the marriage between Holmes & Russell seems even more odd in this chapter of their lives. There's something awkward about it certainly. It does seem odd that he calls her Russell and there's a certain lack of physical affection. But overall, a good book with a red herring. I can't wait to read The Moor and O'Jerusalem.
Rating: 
Summary: Somewhat disappointing, like Episode 6 of Star Wars
Review: What is it about #3? Third books always fall flat, as do third movies (see above), In my opinion and A Letter of Mary is no exception. I read the teaser at the end of Monstrous Regiment and I couldn't wait until I got the book! But the historical center of this work--a letter purporting to have been written on papyrus by Mary of Magdala--which could have been so exciting and important, I felt was consigned to a lesser role in the plot development. The long awaited marriage of Holmes and Mary was also disappointing. Mary and Holmes are bored (Mary repeatedly worries about this), and that lassitude really permeated the book for me. The character development that has been so exciting in the series so far is largely irrelevant here. My fingers are tightly crossed that the jinx will be broken in book 4, The Moor...
Rating: 
Summary: King Runs Out of Narrative Steam
Review: While I enjoyed the first two books as light reading, this third one puts an end to my reading of the Mary Russell series. The first two books proved entertaining despite various problems with characters and grating little errors, but the thin plot sinks this third book. The characters seem less developed and less interesting here, and most of the book is given over to false trails and irrelevant theological musings. I have decided after finishing this third book to stick with Elizabeth Peters as my mystery writer of choice; her Amelia Peabody series does a lot more with the same time period and features stronger, more lively writing and characters. If you like academic period mysteries with female detectives, I suggest the Peabody books or Stephanie Barron's Jane Austen series instead.
Rating:
Summary: Flashes of Brilliance
Review: With A Letter of Mary, Laurie King continues the ever-intriguing Mary Russell series. Again, she didn't quite live up to the first book, The Beekeeper's Apprentice, but there were those moments where everything was just right, and those moments to make this a wonderfully entertaining read. The plot of this novel begins with Russell and Holmes' married life. Their tranquil life in Sussex is interrupted by a visit from a friend they knew from their days in the Holy Land, Dorothy Ruskin. After the visit, Ms Ruskin is murdered, and of course, Holmes and Russell set out to find the facts behind the crime. There are a lot of plot twists and red herrings thrown in to complicate the process. The previous two novels in the series have contained and interesting mixture of elaborate character sketches, suspenceful plots, and the delightful relationship between Sherlock Holmes and Mary Russell. In The Beekeeper's Apprentice, King found just the right balance between the three aspects. In A Monstrous Regiment of Women, she leaned too heavily on Mary Russell's development, almost ignoring the plot and Holmes. In A Letter of Mary, King develops the plot more thoroughly, but again, does not have enough of that repartee between Holmes and Russell. Despite that problem, the novel, as did A Monstrous Regiment of Women, does have those moments of brilliance when the intriguing and insightful characters of Russell and Holmes are together and the plot is moving along. Chapters 11 and 19 both have some of these wonderful, somewhat subtle moments. These beautiful scenes alone would make the novel worth reading. Overall, the novel is an extremely entertaining (if slightly flawed) read, and I will be rushing out to read the next in the series.
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