Knave of Diamonds

The twentieth novel in Laurie R. King's Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes mystery series, set in 1925, opens with a prologue narrated by Jacob "Jake" Russell, Mary Russell's uncle and a career confidence man. Jake admits partial responsibility for events that "rattled governments and destroyed lives" (xi). Disguised among photographers outside the Paris wedding of Damian Adler, the illegitimate son of Sherlock Holmes, Jake has come to glimpse his niece, whom he has not contacted in over a decade. He admits the wisest move would be to vanish, but he has never been sensible.

Mary narrates the boisterous wedding. When the bride, Aileen, asks about her family, Mary explains that her parents and brother died in a car accident when she was 14. She mentions Uncle Jake, a charming rogue her mother called the Knave, who sent bizarre gifts from around the world and disappeared after a brief letter in 1914. Holmes tells Mary that his brother Mycroft, a powerful figure in the British government, has summoned him to London about an old case.

Back in Sussex, Holmes departs. Patrick Mason, Mary's farm manager, arrives and calls someone out of his car: a short, middle-aged man who tips back his hat-brim with his thumb, a gesture Mary recognizes instantly. It is Uncle Jake, whom she last saw in 1911. She embraces him.

Over mead, Jake tells his story. His hands tremble and his hearing is impaired from a recent explosion. He describes traveling to Dublin in 1907 at the invitation of Francis Shackleton, the charming, debt-ridden younger brother of Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton. Jake was recruited into what became one of the Crown's most embarrassing scandals: the theft of the Irish Crown Jewels. These were the diamond-encrusted Regalia of the Order of St. Patrick, a chivalric order honoring Ireland, stored in a safe at Dublin Castle under Sir Arthur Vicars, the Ulster King of Arms. Vicars kept one key on his person and another in a drawer at the home he shared with Shackleton, and security at the castle was farcically lax. Mary deduces Jake's role: he was the unidentified blond "Australian" Shackleton introduced around the castle, the third conspirator the police never found.

In London, Mycroft tells Holmes that Richard Gorges, a volatile Boer War veteran and Shackleton associate recently released from prison, has been visited by a blond man matching the Australian's description. Holmes is still furious that King Edward suppressed the original investigation to avoid a scandal linking Vicars' circle and the Viceroy's son to homosexual networks among high officials. The Crown buried Inspector Kane's report and threatened Holmes with arrest for treason. Holmes initially refuses to reopen the case, but curiosity and professional pride win out. The retired Detective Chief Inspector John Kane walks him through the investigation, confirming that Shackleton had motive and access and the blond man vanished completely after the theft.

Jake confesses to Mary that he entered the castle at night, opened the safe, and handed the Jewels to Shackleton in London. The plan to break down the gems in Amsterdam collapsed when Shackleton panicked and buried the Jewels in a Dublin park with Gorges. The two quarreled; Gorges reburied them 20 feet away. Years later, Shackleton recovered the Jewels and hid them in a secret drawer of Vicars' own desk. Vicars discovered them but was too humiliated to come forward. In 1921, the Irish Republican Army (IRA) shot Vicars and burned his country house, Kilmorna, to the ground.

Jake asks Mary to help him search the ruins, as his damaged hands prevent him from cracking a safe. Mary, recognizing that the adventure appeals to the part of her trained in illicit skills alongside justice, agrees. Holmes returns to find a vague note, deduces the visitor was Jake, and gives them two days.

On the ferry, Jake tells Mary about their ancestress Maria Russell, who in 1720 unearthed a Celtic filigree brooch near the family estate. The family gave it to a royal society in Dublin, a loss Jake still resents. In Kerry, they find Kilmorna reduced to a shell. Mary discovers a hidden safe in the strong-room and cracks it in total darkness, only to find it empty. They trace the trail to Lady Gertrude Vicars, Arthur's widow, now living at a house called Fairview in Clevedon, Somerset. Jake has been cultivating her companion, Kathleen Walsh, for weeks and suspects Lady Vicars had a second safe installed during renovations.

Holmes intercepts them at Fishguard. The three plan the operation: Jake will distract Mrs Walsh, Holmes will watch from the garden, and Mary will enter through an upper window. Mary finds a second safe in the dressing room, but Mrs Walsh appears silently behind her, having outsmarted Jake. Mary opens the safe using the date of Vicars' murder as the combination. It contains only papers.

At a nighttime meeting, Mrs Walsh reveals she helped retrieve heavy velvet bags from the Kilmorna safe after the fire. She theorizes the Jewels are in one of three places: with The O'Mahony, Lady Vicars' brother-in-law and an ardent Irish Nationalist who keeps houses in County Wicklow; in a Whitehall office; or already sold in Amsterdam. In exchange for floor-plans of The O'Mahony's houses, she asks for a year's use of a Sussex house to study natural history.

Events accelerate when Jake spots someone resembling Shackleton in a passing car. That night, an intruder breaks into Fairview; Lady Vicars shoots him, and he flees with Mrs Walsh's sketches. Holmes and Jake leave for Ireland immediately. On the journey, they play Three-Card Monte, a contest that doubles as a measure of mutual respect. Holmes reveals he has tracked Jake's career for years and tells him the family car crash was murder. Mary, unable to stay behind, gives Mrs Walsh instructions and a letter for Patrick arranging her passage to Sussex, then follows independently. With help from locals, she reaches Aughrim, where she learns a man arrived before her and stole a motorcar. She hires a donkey-cart to Coolballintaggart.

Holmes and Jake arrive together in Aughrim, walk to Coolballintaggart, and find the stolen car hidden near the gate. Mary, approaching from the other direction, spots a figure with a raised pistol creeping toward a lighted window. She shouts a warning. The O'Mahony's three wolfhounds charge the gunman, and Mary tackles him. The intruder is Shackleton. The O'Mahony refuses police involvement, fearing publicity. Holmes delivers a severe ultimatum, and Jake quietly refuses his former friend's overture.

Over whiskey, The O'Mahony warms to the group and asks if they would like to see the Jewels. He retrieves a linen bag from behind books on a shelf and upends it onto a tray. A loose diamond rolls across the carpet. In morning light, the Regalia is breathtaking: the eight-pointed Star blazing with diamonds around an emerald shamrock, the oval Badge with its crowned harp, and five massive gold collars. He declares the Jewels belong to the people of Ireland and will remain hidden until the country is free and united.

While Holmes and The O'Mahony leave to bury the Jewels, Jake separates a Tudor Rose decoration from one collar with jeweller's pliers, revealing a small Celtic brooch hidden behind it: Maria Russell's brooch, taken from the family in the 18th century and concealed within the collar when the Regalia was crafted. This was Jake's true goal all along. He gives the brooch to Mary as a family heirloom and a promise he is changing, then reattaches the collar before the men return.

Jake vanishes at Victoria Station. On the train home, Mary shows Holmes the brooch. He reevaluates Jake's motives and reveals he will not report the Jewels' location, partly from professional pride and partly as revenge for the suppression of his original investigation. He admits he likes Jake. The next morning, Mrs Walsh arrives at the Sussex house, declaring herself the new housekeeper. She cooks wild Amethyst Deceiver mushrooms in a dish so extraordinary it wins over Mary, Holmes, and Patrick alike. When asked what she wishes to be called, she chooses "Mrs Hudson," after the previous housekeeper, and the household gains a gloriously original second Mrs Hudson.