Monstrous Regiment of Women

 

I didn't like the second book in the Mary Russell series by Laurie R. King as much as the first. One of my friends at work, who has read the whole series, said that some of them are better than others, so I'm not ready to throw the towel in just yet, I'll give book 3 a chance.

Mary is about to turn 21 and gain her independence from her much hated guardian aunt, as well as her substantial inheritance. She's also about to graduate from Oxford. Very exciting times! A friend of hers, Ronnie, introduces her to the Temple of God, run by a female preacher named Margery (shades of Aimee Semple McPherson). Several wealthy young women have died recently under suspicious circumstances who were associated with the Temple, leaving large bequests to Margery's church. Mary decides to offer herself up as bait to see if the deaths were really accidental or not. I don't want to say too much and spoil the book, but the whole mystery aspect wasn't really interesting, Margery was just a weird character, and Sherlock was acting bizarre. I had a lot of "WTF just happened?!" moments while reading this book. Oh well. Like I said, here's hoping book 3 is better.