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Type of bind: Mass Market Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN num: 9780553581058
ISBN number: 0553581058
Label: Bantam
Manufacturer: Bantam
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 464
Printing Date: June 06, 2000
Publishing house: Bantam
Release Date: June 06, 2000
Sale Popularity Level: 48495
Studio: Bantam
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Amazon.com:
Although O Jerusalem is Laurie King's fifth book in her Holmes-Russell series, it actually takes us back to the era of her very first book, The Beekeeper's Apprentice. Perhaps King was afraid that her characters, Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes, were becoming too cozy as an old married couple, and she wanted to recreate the edgy sexual tension of their very first encounter.
It's 1918. Nineteen-year-old Mary and her fiftysomething mentor are forced to flee England to escape a deadly adversary. Sherlock's well-connected brother Mycroft sends them to Palestine to do some international sleuthing. Here, a series of murders threatens the fragile peace.
Laurie King connects us, through details of language, custom, history, and sensual impressions, to this very alien environment. Russell, Holmes, and two marvelously imagined Arab guides named Mahmoud and Ali trek through the desert and visit ancient monasteries clinging like anthills to cliffs. They also find time to take tea with the British military legend Allenby in Haifa and skulk through or under the streets of Jerusalem. King puts us into each scene so quickly and completely that her narrative flow never falters.
Stepping back in time also gives King a chance to show us Holmes through the eyes of a Russell not yet as full of love as a honeymooner, nor as complacent as a comfortable wife. 'There it was--sardonic, superior, infuriating,' Mary says about Holmes's voice at one point.
Wisdom is knowing when, and how much, to shake things up--even in a successful series. Laurie King is a wise woman indeed. --Dick Adler
Product Description:
With her bestselling mystery series featuring Sherlock Holmes and Mary Russell, Laurie R. King has created 'lively adventure in the very best of intellectual company,' according to The New York Times Book Review. Now the author of The Beekeeper's Apprentice and The Moor--the very first writer since Patricia Cornwell to win both the American Edgar and British Creasey Awards for a debut novel (A Grave Talent)--unfolds a hitherto unknown chapter in the history of Russell's apprenticeship to the great detective.
At the close of the year 1918, forced to flee England's purple and pleasant land, Russell and Holmes enter British-occupied Palestine under the auspices of Holmes' enigmatic brother, Mycroft.
'Gentlemen, we are at your service.' Thus Holmes greets the two travel-grimed Arab figures who receive them in the orange groves fringing the Holy Land. Whatever role could the volatile Ali and the taciturn Mahmoud play in Mycroft's design for this land the British so recently wrested from the Turks? After passing a series of tests, Holmes and Russell learn their guides are engaged in a mission for His Majesty's Government, and disguise themselves as Bedouins--Russell as the beardless youth 'Amir'--to join them in a stealthy reconnaissance through the dusty countryside.
A recent rash of murders seems unrelated to the growing tensions between Jew, Moslem, and Christian, yet Holmes is adamant that he must reconstruct the most recent one in the desert gully where it occurred. His singular findings will lead him and Russell through labyrinthine bazaars, verminous inns, cliff-hung monasteries--and into mortal danger. When her mentor's inquiries jeopardize his life, Russell fearlessly wields a pistol and even assays the arts of seduction to save him. Bruised and bloodied, the pair ascend to the jewellike city of Jerusalem, where they will at last meet their adversary, whose lust for savagery and power could reduce the city's most ancient and sacred place to rubble and ignite this tinderbox of a land....
Classically Holmesian yet enchantingly fresh, sinuously plotted, with colorful characters and a dazzling historic ambience, O Jerusalem sweeps readers ever onward in the thrill of the chase.
From the Hardcover edition.
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Rated by buyers 
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Both these books deal with the Holy Land, from the perspective of a scholarly young woman, Mary Russell, wife of Sherlock Holmes. A Letter of Mary has to do with a letter from Mary Magdalene discovered by an archaelogist, and O Jerusalem with the travels of Russell/Holmes in the Holy Land as spies. Both books are theological, historical and quite fascinating. Mystery is involved with A Letter of Mary as the archaeologist/discoverer of letter is murdered and Russell/Holmes sort it out. O Jerusalem deals with spying for Mycroft Holmes (brother of S. Holmes and big deal in the English Government) Lots of action and people wounded but all works out OK in the end.
Linda Sheean
Rated by buyers -
Laurie King has swiftly become one of my favorite authors -- the sort who make you grab any book with their name on the cover, without even reading what it's "about." She's an extremely powerful writer who puts you into the middle of the story/world she's writing about, and your "real life" goes away.
If you've found your way to this page, it's likely that you've read at least one of the books in the Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes series. If not, I strongly urge you to start with the very first book, the Beekeeper's Apprentice. This story takes place chronologically in the middle of that book (with an arm wave to "after our adventures in Palestine" in the very first novel), and I believe you really do need to have that foundation to get the most out of O Jerusalem. You don't, however, need to have read the other books in the series; in fact, I've found myself wondering if I'd have liked this one even better if I'd read it second.
What King does very well, here, is present a mystery story against a backdrop of history which most of us (including me) know only vaguely. During the action of O Jerusalem, the British have recently gotten control over the area, and we see the tensions and cultural clashes between Arab, Jew, Turk, British, and anybody else passing through. By the end, and without the pain of a history lesson, I'd learned a lot more about early 20th century problems and gotten a clue about how they affect us today.
Other reviewers have criticized King for creating a pre-feminist Mary Russell who magically raises the consciousness of the Arab men around her. P'shaw. She is drawn to be an exceptional woman (otherwise she'd never have attracted Sherlock Holmes' attention), and I find it completely believeable that a logical and caring person can earn the respect of other people from another culture.
This is a book that I dove into, and didn't emerge until I'd turned the last page. Only a few days later I went to the bookstore and picked up the subsequent one in the series. Yeah, I like this book. I like it a lot. If you like your historical mystery to teach you history while it also entertains, it'll be high on your list as well.
Rated by buyers -
I have to admit I'm kind of surprised at the number of negative reviews here. I am a huge fan of the Mary Russell series, and to be honest, this is probably my favorite book in that series, though I love the others as well. Maybe because I enjoy re-reading my books, the emphasis on a clever mystery is less important than the overall story: mystery, adventure, characters, description, phrasing... I have probably read this book seven or eight times now (I read about a book a day even on a tight schedule) and each time I savor the feeling of becoming absorbed in the bright gem of a story.
Something a number of people have mentioned is the lack of 'motive' for the bad guy. That astonishes me, because I felt that King did a fabulous job of describing the political situation and therefore the motive. I think the people who felt there was no motive skimmed over much of the detail because it seemed loud and clear to me: Middle East is in turmoil (now there's a big surprise), there are Christians, Jews, Arabs, and Turks who all live there and no native power base. The Brits have walked in and removed the reigning Turkish leaders but haven't established a new infrastructure or anything other than an unstable military occupation. The big question up in the air is - who will come out of all this chaos in power. Perfect situation for an unscrupulous bastard to take up power behind the scenes. Now, without giving too much away, if that person were able to KEEP things unstable, they would continue to have power. Once everything settled down, the opportunity to take control would dry up. The bad guy couldn't take control openly, but what about... Seems fairly well worked and complex to me with a great, if subtle motive.
No, this book doesn't have an open, obvious motive (she killed her husband, why? to inherit the money...), but the motive along with a lot of fascinating historical and political detail make this a book that I will probably read another seven or eight times. I highly recommend this book to readers who enjoy complex and subtle plots and fabulous description and character development.
Rated by buyers -
It's just a great story, told with wit and humor, sheer adventure but just clever enough to make you feel like you are a little bit better and richer for having read it. Everyone I have given it to likes it, and they are very different kinds of people. Basically one of my favorite books.
Rated by buyers 
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O Jerusalem is the very first Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes novel I have read. I think that it was a good choice considering that although it is the fifth in the series, chronologically it follows the Bee Keepers Apprentice which is the very first in the series. I had no other books in the series to compare it too so from that point of view I have to remark that I really enjoyed this story. Mary Russell is a wonderful character, full of life, intelligence and courage. I love how King envisions her relationship with Holmes it is right on the mark. I am an historical fiction lover so I was in heaven reading the descriptive archeological passages written about Palestine from Russell's perpective in 1919. All the characters in the book are strong and well developed. It is less of a suspense mystery during the very first half of the book and more of a series of adventures that occur between four unlikely companions; Russell, Sherlock Holmes,and brothers Mahmoud and Ali. The later half of the book gains momentum and the writing becomes more urgent and taut with the conclusion being exciting. I'm looking forward to reading the whole series.
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