I love the whole Mary Russell thing but I might have to take a break after reading 5 of these books in a row. This one took me FOREVER to read, and I felt like the plot never really got going. The description of bedouin life and disguises and Arabic and the craziness of Jerusalem in 1915 was super interesting, but I just got tired of Russell's descriptions of going to sleep, getting dressed, being dirty, killing time, Holmes' exasperating behavior, etc. It seemed like a lot of the same over and over. Plus Holmes didn't snoop, Russell didn't do anything smart, and the climax, in addition to being tacked on, was totally anti-climactic. Wa!

On the plus side, repetion drilled the arabic into my head, so I'm good on effendi, m'alessh, wallah, abayya, souk as well as the layout of the Holy City and how Arabs make coffee. Thanks, Laurie King!

ETA: I'm reading Justice Hall now and I might have to revise this review in light of that book.