When Mary Russell’s dear friend asks for her help tracking down her aunt, who vanished while on leave from Bedlam, Russell cannot say no. Lady Vivian is an artistic waif who has spent her adult life drifting between asylums. To find her, Russell will have to follow in her footsteps, from her childhood home now run by her tyrannical dolt of a brother, to Bedlam where she seemed to find peace, to Venice, scene of her youthful delight. At Russell’s side is her famous husband Sherlock Holmes, an able helpmeet when he’s not hunting fascists for his brother. A fun read full of colorful period detail and characters.

The plot of this book revolves around the search for Lady Vivian Beaconsfield, the young aunt of Mary Russell's college friend Ronnie). Specifically, Lady Vivian has gone missing from (sorta) Bedlam. She's spent most of her adult life in various mental institutions, at first against her will and then eventually by choice (of a sort) because it is where she is safe.

As per usual, Laurie R. King weaves together a few distinct threads into one story. In Island of the Mad we've got mental institutions (specifically Bedlam), fascism, Venice, and Cole Porter (really, if you haven't seen De-Lovely, just watch it first). It can feel a bit hodgepodge as there is a fine line between character profile and caricature. However, the saving grace is the amount of love and curiosity King brings to her subjects, specifically Venice and Cole Porter, in this book. If it works for you and you are interested in these subjects, it'll be great. If you aren't then hopefully, by the fifteenth book in this series, you are able to enjoy what you enjoy and leave the rest.

My favorite parts of Island of the Madwere the interactions between Russell and Holmes, the Holmes pov sections (brief, but well used), and recurring consideration of what safety means especially for people in vulnerable situations. Through all of the romp through Venice with Cole Porter, King still *says* something worthwhile in Island of the Mad. It isn't my favorite of the series, but it is a strong addition to a longstanding and fun series.

Laurie R. King’s Island of the Mad is the fifteenth entry in the Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes series, which imagines the characters as a married couple who are always willing to dive into a new case. This episode is set in 1925 and sees the pair on the trail of a woman who, formerly an inmate of Bethlem Royal Hospital, disappears into thin air during the festivities of her marquess brother’s birthday.

Vivian Beaconsfield is the aunt of Mary’s good friend so, when that friend asks Mary to find out where Vivian went, Mary can only agree. Besides, if Russell and Holmes don’t have a case, they tend to get a little itchy. Mary starts asking questions at the family estate—Vivian’s last known location. Holmes snoops around London to see if Vivian pawned her share of the family jewels. The trail leads to Venice and Mary and Holmes set off in hot pursuit.

Unlike some of the other books in the series, Island of the Mad doesn’t seem to be about solving a mystery so much as it is about the setting. Mary and Holmes—who also has a task from his brother, Mycroft, to perform—decide to divide and conquer. Mary puts on the disguise of a Bright Young Thing and hangs around Venice’s Lido, hoping to catch word of Vivian among scads of people intent on having a great time. Holmes sidles up to Cole Porter, where he might catch word of Vivian through the artistic crowd. Readers who know the songwriter’s oeuvre will be tickled pink at all the references to his songs.

The pairs’ points of view show the frenetic decadence of the Roaring 1920s. Everyone drinks and parties like it’s their last day on earth. As a dark counterpoint to all this high-octane frivolity, Blackshirts roam the city in increasing numbers and throwing their weight around. It doesn’t take too long to see the dichotomy of the times. On the one hand, you’ve got the live-and-let-live crowd. On the other, there are fascists who will violently assert their version of how they think people should live.

Island of the Mad is a mostly languid mystery, with most of the action crammed at the end. Readers should be prepared for regular doses of Venetian history and plenty of foreshadowing about what the fascists are going to get up to in about a decade. Even though it’s not the most gripping of mysteries, Island of the Mad is an entertaining jaunt to the height of the 1920s in always popular Venice. The scenery is so richly described that I started to feel like I should put on some sunblock as well as Russell as she zips up and down the canals. This is very much a summer read.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley, for review consideration. It will be released 19 June 2018.

The Russell and Holmes series by Laurie R. King is one of the best in the Sherlock Holmes world continued by a new flock of authors. Her Holmes is older and a bit slower. Feeling his age and being bored he met a young Mary Russell brimming with intelligence and wit. Russell lit a fire in Holmes and at first they were a mentor apprentice relationship that bloomed into love.
The setting is now in the Roaring 20s and moves from England to Venice. Trying to find a missing heiress who could be mad while dodging Fascists is tricky. Slip in a bit of Cole Porter and you have a rollicking good time Thwarting evil relatives and making the Fascists look silly.

Another great Mary Russell mystery by Laurie King, with enough drama plus a plunge into the mad life of Venice in the 1930s to amuse and delight as well. Russell's wry tone, as voiced by King, provides, as always, a dryly witty commentary on life in the modern world.

I've followed the Mary Russell series since the very beginning, and have enjoyed watching her character blossom into a full-fledged investigator, not just a side-kick to the famous Sherlock Holmes. Frankly, I've never been a Holmes fan, finding him too stiff and stuffy, but Ms, King gives us Holmes in an entirely different, more human light. I enjoyed this entry to the series largely for the location (Venice!), but also for the joy of re-encountering Russell and Holmes.

Opening a new Russell and Holmes book is like visiting old friends. In this one, the year is 1925 and Mary helps out a friend by looking into the disappearance of her aunt, who goes missing after arranging a home visit from the mental institution where she normally lives. Tracking her down takes them inside the scary mental institutions of the time period all the way to Venice and it's wild party scenes, with some politics thrown in as well. A rollicking good time!

I was incredibly excited and thankful to read the next book in the Mary Russell series--thanks, Netgalley!!

Island of the Mad follows the same vein as many of the recent Mary Russell books in that the book starts off pretty introspectively. It takes several chapters of character-building to get to the action, but (as usual) the depth of her foundation-setting pays off, and we get explore Bedlam and Venice (VENICE!) with Russell and Holmes.

This book is written from two POV, Mary and Sherlock, and it's full of shenanigans reminiscent of The Pirate King. Don't let that fool you, though, because King tackles some really sensitive topics in this book, particularly within their historical context: sexual abuse (definite trigger warning), mental illness, sapphic romance, treatment of female hysteria and "insanity."

I really enjoyed this book. In the wake of The Murder of Mary Russell, I was concerned that the Gaping Hole left at the end of that book was going to be felt a lot more keenly in Island of the Mad. (I know that is such a cryptic sentence, but those who have read it will understand...no spoilers!) Instead, I got to enjoy Russell and Holmes each busy with their own projects and playing to their strengths--including false identities, Russell's Young Thing routine, elaborate traps, and boat chases. You know, the usual Russell/Holmes adventure.

I'm going to flesh this review out more later but for now:

Pros:
-Mary acting her age is a bit that kills me every time. Holmes is always so taken aback, and it's wonderful.
-Venice. Gondolas. Wandering the city. Canals. Insert heart-emoji here.
-Russell and Holmes are pretty much on their own for this one; no archeologists or Indian children or trapeze artist/assassins. It's great to see how well they work as a team and as individuals. And don't worry--there isn't any sappy romance involved.
-The characters in this book are a lot of fun. Whether based on historical figures or completely fictional, the dialogue is dripping with witty humor. If you read the Russell books for snark, you'll like this one. Great female characters with agency, a few male characters who aren't just foils. Also, rich expats = costume parties for days, which is always fun to read. Even if the trope has shown up before in The Game.
-Did I MeNTioN VENICE?!
-I figured out the "plot twist" before Mary did. Feel free to judge this as a con if you prefer, but it's always exciting when that happens--even when, like this one, the twist is pretty obvious..

Cons:
-Trying not to give away spoilers, people, so in as general a way as possible, I will say that the ending felt very contrived. Possibly other people will feel differently, but the "wrap-everything-up-and-slap-a-bow-on-it" explanation of the "mystery" of the island seemed rushed compared to King's usual careful crafting.
-I knew next to nothing about Cole Porter before I read Island of the Mad, and he ends up being a very central character. This isn't exactly a con I suppose, but I'd recommend doing a basic Wikipedia search, because there were a lot of nods to his work that I didn't understand--and others that I'm sure I missed.
-I saw the big plot-twist almost immediately. While that sometimes happens, what started out as a being disappearance ended up identifying a crime that should have demanded justice. What happened instead (in my opinion) is that the justice kind of got swept under the rug in order to wrap up all the loose ends. I would have been happier with a less fleshed-out Cole Porter, and a more fleshed-out ending.

That being said, Island of the Mad was a really fun read, despite the heavy topic. I'd recommend it for anyone who loves this series, HOWEVER serious trigger warning for sexual abuse and hospitalization for mental illness. I didn't think this was the best Russell book, but it was in the top half. And let's face it--even an average Mary Russell tops a normal book any day.

Summary (from LaurieRKing.com)
A June summer’s evening, on the Sussex Downs, in 1925. Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes are strolling across their orchard when the telephone rings: an old friend’s beloved aunt has failed to return following a supervised outing from Bedlam. After the previous few weeks—with a bloody murder, a terrible loss, and startling revelations about Holmes—Russell is feeling a bit unbalanced herself. The last thing she wants is to deal with the mad, and yet, she can’t say no.
The Lady Vivian Beaconsfield has spent most of her adult life in one asylum after another, yet she seemed to be improving—or at least, finding a point of balance in her madness. So why did she disappear? Did she take the family’s jewels with her, or did someone else? The Bedlam nurse, perhaps?
The trail leads Russell and Holmes through Bedlam’s stony halls to the warm Venice lagoon, where ethereal beauty is jarred by Mussolini’s Blackshirts, where the gilded Lido set may be tempting a madwoman, and where Cole Porter sits at a piano, playing with ideas…
Review:

I'd just finished another (modern, high school-aged) Holmes adaptation when I received an e-ARC of ISLAND OF THE MAD, so I happily dove into the latest in the series I had discovered as a high schooler myself.

I read the first Russell and Holmes book as a teenager, over a winter break when a personal tragedy had struck my life. Going with Mary Russell on her adventures, the greatest starting over her winter break at Oxford, was a lifeline. Mary was better than me, but similar in ways not many girls were in the few teen girl protagonist books I got my hands on were. Going to see Laurie King at a book signing was the first author event I attended outside of school author visits. These books, therefore, have always held a special place in my heart. I've also enjoyed King's other series, some of which cross over with her Sherlockian exploits.

Each book offers clearly copious historical research, arch humor, and a certain twist, whether it's exploring the romance of Russell and Holmes, shining a light on the darker dealings of the British Empire, or digging into the psychological damage of trauma and addiction. ISLAND OF THE MAD seems to give a vacation to the poor Russell and Holmes, who have been on one grueling adventure after another in the last several books. During their efforts to ascertain the safety of a friend's aunt, they get to enjoy themselves, helping to invent water skiing and Cole Porter lyrics. (In this way it's more in the vein of THE PIRATE KING than some of their darker adventures, though there are heftier themes present as well.)

King's writing is always engaging and utterly readable. I noted down several lines that had me bursting out laughing, as Russell contemplates attacking her boorish dinner companion with a fork and runs through her own feminist thoughts to herself. The dinner with the awful lord is like Facebook with your parents' cousins, except you're hoping the lord will be a murder victim, rather than just blocking the distant family members.

The book delves into downright chilling discussions of fascism taking hold in democratic nations and thugs succeeding and taking power, and the very real implications this has on people's lives, especially queer people and women. In this way King makes this historical book relevant to today's unfortunate political situation as well as providing a cathartic response in the success of Russell and Holmes' and the friends they enlist to help.

I attended a panel at a book festival this weekend and at the "Thrillers" panel someone mentioned Laurie King's method of using a spreadsheet to ensure clues are dropped at a good pace and the characters' lives are fully worked out. The care she takes is evident in the clear presentation of her plots. This book has the bonus fun of (often short) chapters from Holmes' (third person limited) POV, which, ultimately, delightfully intersects with Russell's efforts on the behalf of her friend's relative.

I can't speak specifically to the representation of mental illness--it appears respectful--but as always King brings in positive viewpoints on the reality of life for queer characters living in a less accepting time. This makes King's books some of my favorite historical mysteries. If you haven't read any of King, I do recommend starting with THE BEEKEEPER'S APPRENTICE, but when you do make it through the first few you could skip ahead to ISLAND OF THE MAD for a fun adventure.

Link to posted review:
http://www.leanneschwartz.com/2018/05/summary-from-laurierking.html

Also tweeted: https://twitter.com/lifebreakingin/status/993653814640103424

Thanks Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine and netgalley for this ARC.

King is amazing, undescribe, awesome author. This is the most fun of her books in a while. Always surprising, intense, and unputdownable.

Mary gets a phone call from a college friend which sends her off on her next case. Ronnie Beaconsfield Fitzwarren is concerned about her Aunt Vivian who has disappeared. Vivian has spent years in and out of asylums, most recently Bedlam for a series of mental health issues. Mary met her once when she accompanied Ronnie and her new baby son to Bedlam to show him off to her aunt.

Apparently, she and a nurse got a weekend pass to visit her older brother Edward, Marquess of Selwick, on the occasion of his fiftieth birthday. She disappeared along with jewels she inherited from her mother and a few other trinkets from the family safe. She had a pretty good head start since she left before the birthday celebration and wasn't noted as missing until she didn't return to Bedlam some days later.

Mary goes down to Selwick to investigate and get a better picture of Lady Vivian than her one meeting afforded her. She meets the Marquess and takes an immediate dislike to him as he is a rather unintelligent misogynist in love with his own opinions and the sounds of his own voice and who has taken a strong interest in Benito Mussolini who is bringing fascism to Italy. Her other interviews with staff who remembered her don't really give her any clues to where she might be.

Meanwhile, Holmes has been looking for Lady Vivian in London including checking jewelers and pawn shops which might have received her jewelry. Mary decides she needs to check Lady Vivian's medical files at Bedlam and manages to get herself committed - briefly. Speaking with other inmates and checking Lady Vivian's files leads her to think that she might have gone to Venice.

Holmes was all set to let her go to Venice alone until Mycroft drafts him to go along and look into the fascists who are gaining control there. Together and separately, Russell and Holmes investigate with Holmes becoming an acquaintance of Cole Porter and his wife and Russell becoming part of Elsa Maxwell's Lido set.

Secrets are discovered and the two cases come together. Along the way, the reader sees what Venice was like in 1925, what is was like to be a woman at that time, what the social and sexual mores were, and what fascism was doing to Italy. The clever conclusion allows right to triumph and villains to get their well-earned comeuppance. This was another wonderful entry into a long-running series.

I totally enjoyed Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes on their latest case. Mary agrees to find a college friends's "mad" aunt when she and her nurse disappear on an asylum-approved family visit home. Husband and wife eventually wind up in Venice, navigating the social and political waters. Elsa Maxwell and Cole and Linda Porter make delightful cameo appearances in the story. The Fascisti and blackshirts lend a real air of menace as Mussolini heads the government. It is fun to read how the Holmes's plan and carry out their investigations to find the aunt and avoid discovery.

I have been a fan of Laurie R. King’s Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes books since I stumbled across O Jerusalem many, many years ago. I love stories set in Israel/Palestine and Jerusalem is my favorite city in the world.

In Island of the Mad, King once again takes you on an adventure that is worthy of the best mystery writers. What I appreciate more than anything else is her constant sense of detail. When we are taken inside Bedlam I could smell the place and hear the sounds that were going on. And having never been to Venice, I felt like I have been and can’t wait to go.

The thing that surprised me the most is how well King did and bringing some of the issues that we are struggling with today with the wit and wisdom of 1925. There are some lessons to be learned if we are willing to open our eyes and ears.

I was sucked in by the cover and the title, but in the end, this wasn't the book for me.
Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes are asked to oversee the case of one of Russell's friends. It seems her aunt went missing while on a day pass from a mental asylum. I had never read the series before (nor did i know it was a series at first), and was excited to see Holmes have a female partner. But then I learned they were married and calling each other by their last names. I was turned off by the fact that everything has to be romance. But I did give the book a shot.
I wasn't big on the way the book was written and teh chapter had no discernable rythm in length. But I really enjoyed the history included in teh story. I love that the author included an addendum at the end about the historical aspects of the novel.

Great book, the latest in a series by King. This tale involves Russell and Holmes in the disappearance of the aunt of a friend, an inmate at Bethlem Hospital. The Lady had obtained a pass to visit for her brothers birthday bash, and disappears, nurse escort in tow. There is no trace of them in England, and Russell endeavors to find out more information on her reason for hospitalization, including having herself taken in as an inmate to the asylum. The story eventually leads to Venice, post WWI , during the rise of fascism, with the lives of the rich and famous at play . Holmes is also doing some research for his brother, Mycroft on the black shirts on the side. Immensely entertaining story, lots of details on the time period, and brought to life the atmosphere of the city. Looking forward to reading the entire series.

It didn't take much to have a woman parked in an insane asylum back in 1925. Standing up for yourself, would be called hysteria. Being gay or wanting to be independent or a million other reasons that showed just how few rights women had.

When Vivian, the aunt of Mary's friend, goes missing after a week-end at her half-brother and guardian's home, it becomes a race to find Vivian before her greedy and mean brother can.

From the dark gloominess of Bedlam to the beauty and freedom of Venice, they follow their clues. Sherlock and Russell are so good because they have entirely different ways of investigation and those two ways gel quite nicely.

With a lot of help from some famous and even not so famous people they may have come up with a plan that will protect Vivian and other women live their lives on their own terms.

Very well Done!

Netgalley/ Bantam  June 12, 2018

Mary Russell & Co are back in the latest installment of this popular series. When an old friend of Russell's calls her to ask for help finding a missing relative from Bedlam, she gets back on the trail and as usual, discovers all is not as it seems. Ms Laurie R King outdoes herself as usual in this well-written, page-turning book.

This historical mystery takes place in the years following WWI with the increasing influence of Mussolini as a backdrop to a missing person mystery. Followers of the Holmes/Russell series will welcome this new adventure. Though lack of background slowed me down in the beginning, once the action picked up, I got into the story and enjoyed following the thoughts and actions of the famous pair as they pieced together the truth.

This the 16th book in the Mary Russell series, and finds Russell and Holmes in Venice in search of the aunt of a friend who has disappeared from a birthday party. What ensues thereafter is patently Russell.

Russell and Holmes follow the missing aunt, Vivian, and her nurse, Rose, to Venice on a gut feeling by Russell. Holmes plays a secondary role here much as Russell played a similarly secondary role in the early books of the series. As Russell slowly puts together the puzzle of Vivian is, she and Holmes find themselves wondering what they will do when they find Vivian.

In this outing, King’s writing is well done and the characters, both old and new (Cole Porter, Elsa Maxwell, Mussolini, etc.), are finely drawn with Venice becoming one of the new characters.

What didn’t work for me were the leaps in logic that occurred when Russell begins her search for Vivian. This book gives Russell’s gut a workout because it seems she has no hard evidence for many of the leaps of faith she takes.

I found the ending was unsatisfactory for reasons that can’t be stated lest I give too information. Suffice it say it made sense to me.

Regardless of the ending, this book reminds me of many of the first books in the series in that Russell solves complex puzzles using her wits.

I always enjoy reading about the antics and cases of Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes. Ms. King takes them on adventures all ove the world, this one to Venice., where they cleverly use disguise and other tricks of the trade to solve their mysteries and thwart their adversaries. Highly entertaining.