From Publishers Weekly

Echoing King's narrative, Bresnahan's reading takes the leisurely route, bypassing the thrills and chills of the average mystery-thriller in favor of a more scenic tour. Her voice—soft, mellifluous, eminently reasonable—provides a pleasing carriage for a listener's journey. King's novel merges characters from her two best-known series: San Francisco detective Kate Martinelli and Sherlock Holmes's wife, Mary Russell. Martinelli is conducting an investigation of the mysterious death of an avid collector of Holmesian memorabilia. Bresnahan is assisted by Mackenzie, whose plummy Oxbridge tones in the Holmes story chillingly echo the twists and turns of Martinelli's investigation. The admixture of Bresnahan and Mackenzie makes for an occasionally surprising but mostly enjoyable combination, as if King's novel, two different books conjoined into one, was also supplied with two paired readings. It is Bresnahan, though, who is the more pleasurable to listen to, her unorthodox delivery outshining Mackenzie's Masterpiece Theatre diction.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Product Description

In this thrilling new crime novel that ingeniously bridges Laurie R. King's Edgar and Creasey Awards-winning Kate Martinelli series and her bestselling series starring Mary Russell, San Francisco homicide detective Kate Martinelli crosses paths with Sherlock Holmes-in a spellbinding dual mystery that could come only from the "intelligent, witty, and complex" mind of New York Times bestselling author Laurie R. King. Kate Martinelli has seen her share of peculiar things as a San Francisco cop, but never anything quite like this: an ornate Victorian sitting room straight out of a Sherlock Holmes story-complete with violin, tobacco-filled Persian slipper, and gunshots in the wallpaper that spell out the initials of the late queen. Philip Gilbert was a true Holmes fanatic, from his antiquated dEcor to his vintage wardrobe. And no mere fan of fiction's great detective, but a leading expert with a collection of priceless memorabilia-a collection some would kill for. And perhaps someone did: In his collection is a century-old manuscript purportedly written by Holmes himself-a manuscript that eerily echoes details of Gilbert's own murder. Now, with the help of her partner, Al Hawkin, Kate must follow the convoluted trail of a killer-one who may have trained at the feet of the greatest mind of all times.

From AudioFile

This Kate Martinelli police procedural, which involves a first-person narrative by Sherlock Holmes, cleverly combines King's two ongoing mystery series. Martinelli investigates a murder related to a newly discovered manuscript written by Arthur Conan Doyle on a visit to San Francisco. Alyssa Bresnahan excels in voicing Martinelli and the other female characters, but she's less successful with males, who often sound prepubescent. Robert Ian MacKenzie, who reads the Holmes sections, makes a plausible Sherlock. In fact, he so successfully lures listeners into the story-within-a-story that one often forgets about the "real" murder. Both of the interrelated stories are intriguing, though, and all in all, this is a satisfying production. R.E.K. © AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine