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Oct 07, 2018DorisWaggoner rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
A couple of books before this one, in the wonderful Russell-Holmes series, the pair spend several involuntary months in Palestine with brothers Ali and Mahmoud, dependent on them, but never quite sure what they're doing there. By the end of that one, the four have become close, and together helped solve several mysteries. Five years later, Russell and Holmes are back home, just having finished another case. A knock on the door brings drama, as a bloody stranger literally falls into their home. This man turns out to be Ali, now a perfectly turned out English gentleman. Once they tend to Ali's wounds, he tells them they're needed, immediately, to help Mahmoud, now called Marsh. He's just inherited a dukedom and all that goes with it. Ali believes Marsh doesn't want to be the duke, but his sense of responsibility has brought him home from Palestine, along with Ali, because there are no other heirs. While this plot has lots of subplots and complexities, it is in many ways one of the most straightforward and satisfying of this lovely series. The return of characters we thought we knew, and seeing them in a different setting, yet still growing and changing, is gratifying. I'd like to see more of this pair and interaction with Russell and Holmes.