A couple of books before this one, in the wonderful Russell-Holmes series, the pair spend several involuntary months in Palestine with brothers Ali and Mahmoud, dependent on them, but never quite sure what they're doing there. By the end of that one, the four have become close, and together helped solve several mysteries. Five years later, Russell and Holmes are back home, just having finished another case. A knock on the door brings drama, as a bloody stranger literally falls into their home. This man turns out to be Ali, now a perfectly turned out English gentleman. Once they tend to Ali's wounds, he tells them they're needed, immediately, to help Mahmoud, now called Marsh. He's just inherited a dukedom and all that goes with it. Ali believes Marsh doesn't want to be the duke, but his sense of responsibility has brought him home from Palestine, along with Ali, because there are no other heirs. While this plot has lots of subplots and complexities, it is in many ways one of the most straightforward and satisfying of this lovely series. The return of characters we thought we knew, and seeing them in a different setting, yet still growing and changing, is gratifying. I'd like to see more of this pair and interaction with Russell and Holmes.

(NOTE: contains cryptically worded potential but not outright spoilers)
The premise is very far-fetched, and I was ready to dislike it when I saw that it was yet another set-in-a-mansion inheritance story, but the story lured me in. I ended up growing very attached to the restless man at the centre of the story. I love the way Laurie King wrote this character -- the complex personas (shall we say) of the two characters from book 5 somehow became not only credible but unforgettable in King's very capable hands. Still, without giving away the story, there is someone on whose shoulders a lot has just fallen -- he will be needing their example and moral support, but it sounds as though they won't be there to give it. Who will give it? The idea that he could manage all this tradition and responsibility and not be vulnerable to other family influences makes for a fairy tale. Oh, and either King forgot or an editor "corrected" this and it stayed that way -- an important little technically correct word in the last sentence should have been changed.

Another captivating mystery involving returning characters from O Jerusalem!, ducal heirs, surprising marriages, and heartbreaking World War I diaries. While I'm not one of those readers who try to solve the mystery, I am always anxious for the solution of the last pages and the freedom to move onto the next story.

Wonderful, as usual. Just a tad bit... disappointing. Our favourite Arabic duo aren't who they appeared to be and, in consequence, their character dulls dramatically. They became almost unlikable to me. Well, it's against the rules to skip a book in a series, so you'll still have to read it, I'm afraid.