Dreaming Spies finds Mary Russell and her husband Sherlock Holmes in three separate settings during the years 1924-25; on a ship from India to Japan, in a small inn along the ancient Japanese Kisokaido Road, and in Oxford, London and the countryside of England. On board the ship from India Holmes sees the Earl of Darley, his young new wife, and his adult son. He remembers the Earl from before the war when he was involved in blackmailing. Mary Russell meets a Japanese woman who is returning home from her studies in England and asks her to teach Russell and Holmes some Japanese language and culture.
Laurie King takes the readers slowly into a finely-crafted mystery filled with great attention to detail. She brings to life first the confined life on a steamship, then the turbulent changes sweeping over Japan as it transitions from a traditional to a modern culture, and also the academic community of Oxford and the Bodleian Library. Each chapter is introduced by a haiku written by King. This story of international blackmail at the highest levels of political life increases in intensity as it builds to a surprising and satisfying conclusion.
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