This novel series poses a young Holmes apprentice showing up in the detective’s early old age and becoming a beloved niece kind of character. The book quickly dispels any sense of attraction or impropriety by establishing a chaste and avuncular relationship. But what it does establish is Mary Russell’s capacity as the same kind of thinker and detective as Holmes. She’s sometimes criticized as a “Mary Sue”, that old misogynistic canard, because she’s so good. But really she’s good at three things, really: detection, chess, […]