In this era of public domain, there has been no literary character more written about in fictional adventures than Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes. One of the cleverest and best written of these new Holmes series has come from the mind of Laurie R. King, who has had enormous success with her tales starring an older Holmes and his young wife, Mary Russell.

In KNAVE OF DIAMONDS, Mary is attending the wedding of Holmes’ son, Damian Adler. While there, she chats with a friend about her own family and admits that she has no one left to speak of. She also mentions her long-lost uncle Jake, who the family had once tabbed with the moniker “The Knave.” So imagine Mary’s surprise when Jake shows up, admitting that he had been looking after her from afar on several occasions since he last saw her as a child. Their reintroduction is unique, especially when Jake hints at his involvement in the scandalous theft of the Irish Crown Jewels from Dublin Castle a number of years ago.

"KNAVE OF DIAMONDS proves to be a delight for all Sherlock Holmes fans and particularly those who faithfully support Laurie R. King’s stellar series. It is full of everything you would expect or want from a Holmes tale, and so much more."

Those who investigated the theft, including Holmes and his brother, Mycroft, were unable to locate the jewels or catch those who were responsible. Mary does not need to press Jake for information as he is more than happy to tell his story. It involves his friend, Francis Shackleton, whose brother is the famous explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton. Francis was in Dublin, having befriended Arthur Vicars and Richard Gorges, who were prominent in the Royal Castle at that time. Each of these figures, along with Jake, would play a part in the theft that shook the entire UK.

Mary, of course, tells her husband all about this meeting. Holmes then reaches out to Inspector Lestrade, who directs him to John Kane, the now-retired detective who initially worked the case. Kane does not have much new information to add other than to say that a fair-haired Australian gentleman was hanging around with the aforementioned characters in the weeks leading up to the theft. Mary now has confirmation that Jake was mostly telling the truth as he had indicated that his years as a conman made him a master of disguise worthy of Holmes himself. One of those disguises was of an Australian man with a prominent mole on his face.

At one point, Jake had the jewels in his possession. But handling that much wealth was intimidating, so he handed them over to Francis, who claimed to have a contact in Amsterdam who could move them safely. However, Jake kept one item for himself before surrendering the rest. Things do not go as planned, and Francis and Jake end up back in Dublin, still with the jewels. They bury them in a location that only they know of, only to find them gone upon revisiting the spot later. It takes a few years of working on Gorges, but Francis is able to convince him to give up the jewels. They hide them again, this time in the desk at Vicars’ home office.

The problem is that Vicars was shot dead in an IRA skirmish, and his house was burned to the ground. Jake now admits that his primary reason for reaching out to Mary is to get her and Holmes’ aid in possibly finding the jewels, if there is anything left of them. Mary is too shrewd to believe everything that her uncle has shared. But Holmes is never one to back away from a challenge, and the opportunity to wrap up a rare cold case that confounded him is too much to turn down. The game is afoot!

KNAVE OF DIAMONDS proves to be a delight for all Sherlock Holmes fans and particularly those who faithfully support Laurie R. King’s stellar series. It is full of everything you would expect or want from a Holmes tale, and so much more.