Locked Rooms by Laurie R. King

Laurie King is a clever, clever woman.  I love her Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes series, of which Locked Rooms is the eighth.  It was a re-read for me before reading the ninth, The Language of Bees.


Russell and Holmes, after their escapades in India (The Game), head for San Francisco.  Mary hasn't returned to California since the accident that killed her parents and younger brother ten years earlier -- and left her alone in the world.  She is ready (she thinks) to take care of the legal matters related to her parents' estate and then put it all behind her.

As she and Holmes begin exploring San Francisco, however, her memories of her childhood become clearer while only creating even more questions.  Why doesn't she remember living in San Francisco during the earthquake?  What do her dreams -- of flying objects, a faceless man, and locked rooms only she is aware of -- signify and are they related to her return to the city where she lost her family? 

I love that King includes a meeting and eventual partnership between Holmes and Dashiell Hammett at the same time that she captures the spirit of San Francisco just 18 years after the 1906 earthquake.  I'm so glad I re-read this one before picking up The Language of Bees and I'm also glad that the next one, The God of the Hive is already out so I can pick it up soon!