See More From Book Club Friends

Sign up and log in to post, comment and join the conversation.

Book Club Friends is 100% Canadian 🇨🇦

Laurie R King
Island of the Mad
Book #15 of the Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes series
See the list of Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes books in order

Island of the Mad

Laurie R. King’s New York Times bestselling series featuring Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes is “the most sustained feat of imagination in mystery fiction today” (Lee Child)!

The last thing Mary Russell and her husband, Sherlock Holmes, need is to help an old friend with her mad, missing aunt. Lady Vivian Beaconsfield has spent most of her adult life in one asylum after another, since the loss of her brother and father in the Great War. Although her mental state seemed to be improving, she’s now disappeared after an outing from Bethlem Royal Hospital . . . better known as Bedlam.

Russell wants nothing to do with the case—but she can’t say no. To track down the vanished woman, she must use her deductive instincts and talent for subterfuge—and enlist her husband’s legendary prowess. Together, the two travel from the grim confines of Bedlam to the murky canals of Venice—only to find the shadow of Benito Mussolini darkening the fate of a city, an era, and a tormented English lady of privilege.

Praise for Island of the Mad

“Full of lush details and clever twists.”—Booklist

“Once again validates Laurie R. King as the preeminent Holmes writer working today.”—Bookreporter

“A truly memorable mystery . . . Laurie King brings her always amazing imagination to the page to enthrall readers, as only she can do.”—Suspense Magazine

“Superb . . . shocking . . . Come for the mystery, stay for the sightseeing, the gibes at fascism, and the heroine’s climactic masquerade as silent film star Harold Lloyd.”—Kirkus Reviews

“There’s no shortage of entertainment. . . . If you are a fan of the series, you won’t be disappointed!”—San Francisco Book Review

“Well-plotted . . . This ranks as one of the better recent installments in this popular series.”—Publishers Weekly

Author: Laurie R King
Published: 2018
Page Count: 322

This page may include affiliate links.

Purchase on:

Amazon
Amazon

Book Club Discussion Questions For Island of the Mad

Island of the Mad
Discuss Island of the Mad With Your Book Club Friends

Do you want to take a deeper dive intoIsland of the Mad? Chat about themes, characters, settings, plots and let’s celebrate this book for our Book of the Month discussion!

Suggest Island of the Mad

More Book Club Discussions

A Better Man
A Fatal Grace
A Great Reckoning
A Rule Against Murder
A Trick of the Light
A World of Curiosities
All the Devils Are Here
An Unfinished Love Story: A Personal History of the 1960s
Beautiful Ugly
Bury Your Dead
Glass Houses
How the Light Gets In
How to Stand Up to a Dictator: The Fight for Our Future
Iron Lake (20th Anniversary Edition)
Kingdom of the Blind
On Tyranny
State of Terror
Still Life
The Beautiful Mystery
The Boyfriend
The Briar Club
The Brutal Telling
The Crash
The Cruelest Month
The Frozen River
The Grey Wolf
The Housemaid
The Life We Bury
The Long Way Home
The Madness of Crowds
The Mighty Red
The Nature of the Beast
The River We Remember
The Rose Code
The Searcher
The Thursday Murder Club
Wild Dark Shore
See All Discussions

Highly Recommended Books by Laurie R King Book Club Friends

Master of the Moor
A Burial at Sea
The Case Has Altered: A Richard Jury Mystery
Midnight and Blue
The Night of the Lightbringer
Hemlock at Vespers
Flashback
Tricky Twenty-Two
Callander Square
The Mysterious Bookshop Presents the Best Mystery Stories of the Year 2023
Asta's Book
Paradise Lost
The Neon Rain
The Marco Effect
Hard Truth
Bloodlines: Long And Short Stories
Christmas Is Murder
R is for Ricochet
A Fatal Grace
Crocodile on the Sandbank
Dark Fire
Brunswick Gardens
The Coworker
Missing Joseph
At Risk
In This Bright Future: A DC Smith Investigation
Day of the Dead
The First Eagle
Sharp Objects: A Novel
The Spy Coast
Traitors Gate
Cemetery Dance
What Time the Sexton's Spade Doth Rust
The Concrete Blonde
Abduction of a Slave
The Hunting Party
The Ambitious City
Uncharted Waters
Hard Row
Simply Lies
Judgment Call
Down Among the Dead Men
Open Season
Dead in the Water
The Black Book
Storm Front
The Mary Russell Series: Books 2-4
White Nights
The Secret Hangman
Locked Rooms
Heirs and Graces
Triple
Send Bygraves
Just One Evil Act
The King's Ransom
Dream Girl
The Punishment She Deserves
A Cruel Deception
Children of the Revolution
Black-Eyed Susan
The Cellist
What's Past Is Prologue
Gallows View: The First Inspector Banks Novel
The Woman in Suite 11
Even Dogs in the Wild
Sinister Graves
Pretty Girls: A Novel
The Baby Snatcher
The Silkworm
The Love Talker
The Ghost Marriage
Blood Work
Forsaken Country
Flight of Dreams
The River We Remember
Serpent's Tooth
Lost Prophecies
Moving Target
A Good Fuck Spoiled
Prom Mom
Knots and Crosses
The Truth
The Stolen Queen
Showstopper
Killjoy
Nasty Girls
Earthly Delights
Deception: An Alex Delaware Novel
Blue Labyrinth
An Accidental Death: A DC Smith Investigation
Invisible Girl
Dead Man's Footsteps
Walking Shadows
Chosen Prey
Bless the Bride
A Fatal Thaw
Depraved Heart
Agatha Raisin and The Witch of Wyckhadden
Tigerlily's Orchids
Airship
Therapy: An Alex Delaware Novel
Necessary as Blood
Bruno and Le Pere Noel: A Bruno
The Body Farm
Fleshmarket Close
Report for Murder
Heartwood
Sometimes I Lie
The Book Thing
The Summons
Indemnity Only
A Whisper in the Dark
A Dangerous Mourning: A William Monk Novel
Brat Farrar
Honor Bar
The Safe Man: A Ghost Story
Hell and Back: A Longmire Mystery
Abattoir Blues
The Third Wife
B is for Burglar
The Defector
The Survivors
The Painted Queen
A Pattern of Lies
Waxwork
I Found You
Faking a Murderer: MatchUp Collection
The Law of Innocence
The Pretty Little Box
The Secret Hours
The Mark of the Assassin
The Flood
Dismissed with Prejudice
Slow Dollar
The Breakdown
Metro Girl
The Target
Fire and Ice
One Of Us Is Dead
A Cold Day for Murder
Garden of Lamentations
The Rottweiler
Judgment Prey
The Order
Dance of Death
Knave of Diamonds
Death of a Traitor
3 Truths and a Lie
In Pursuit of the Proper Sinner
A Taste for Vengeance
The Winners' Circle
The Clockmaker's Daughter
I Know Who You Are
The Weaker Sex
Wicked Business
The Shifting Tide: A William Monk Novel
A Sleeping Life
Undone: Will Trent
An Irish Hostage
Twisted Twenty-Six
Trouble
Divorce Horse: A Walt Longmire Story
Final Edition
Death in Darkness
A Christmas Homecoming
Guardian of the Horizon
The Colors of All the Cattle
Never Say Die
A Change of Circumstance
Death at Victoria Dock
V is for Vengeance
The Bullet That Missed
Magpie Murders
The Laughter of Dead Kings: A Vicky Bliss Novel of Suspense
Listen to Me
A Great Reckoning
The Grove of the Caesars
A Christmas Witness
Folly
Burying Ariel
To the Nines
Messenger of Truth
The Summer That Never Was
The Snake
An Enemy in the Village
The Lion and the Rose
An Evil Heart
The Masterpiece
Into the Darkness
Land of Wolves: A Longmire Mystery
Electra
Death at the Sanatorium
Meet and Greet
The Last Good Day
Death of a Witch
Slow Burner
The Dead Ringer: An Agatha Raisin Mystery
Murder Unfolds
Bedford Square
Blood Moon: A Kate Burkholder Short Mystery
The Jealousy Man and Other Stories
In Dublin's Fair City
What Child Is This
The Hanging Valley
Speaking in Bones
The Lie Maker
Murder and Mendelssohn
Shimura Trouble
Beastly Things
Dancing with Demons
A Grave Talent
Simple Genius
Die for Love
The Seventh Trumpet
Fire and Bones
Murder Takes a Vacation
Death of Riley
The Address
Gaslighted
The Impossible Dead
The Perfect Paragon
Shooting at Loons
Cold Vengeance
Lord John and the Hand of Devils
The Front
Ice Cold: A Rizzoli & Isles Novel
Chasing the Dime
To Play the Fool
A Last Goodbye
Thale's Folly
Elevation
A Question of Betrayal
Love and Other Crimes
Night Moves: An Alex Delaware Novel
Potboiler
The God of the Woods
When the Bough Breaks
True Detectives
Crooked River
The Judas Judge
This Dark Road to Mercy
Gone: An Alex Delaware Novel
The Samurai's Daughter
Girl Gone Missing
The Crying Child
The Three Fates
A New Lease of Death
Caravan: A Novel
Wobble to Death
Evil Bones
Silent On The Moor
No Graves As Yet: A Novel
A Killing of Innocents
Desert Star
Under the Color of Law
Means of Evil and Other Stories
The Luckiest Woman Ever
Mrs. Pollifax and the Whirling Dervish
Tamarack County
Jennie
Insidious Intent
The Sisters of Glass Ferry
The Fly on the Wall
Long Road to Mercy
The Mistletoe Mystery: A Maid Novella
The Most Dangerous Thing
Stranded
Borderline
Shoot Don't Shoot
Death of a Dentist
Milk and Honey: A Decker/Lazarus Novel
No Safe House
A Shilling For Candles
Long Bright River
The Kingdom
The Sacred Bridge: A Mystery Novel
Remains of Innocence
Killing Time: An Agatha Raisin Mystery
Death of a Green-Eyed Monster
A Place of Hiding
Midnight Come Again
The Fourth Sacrifice
The Body in the Castle Well
A More Perfect Union
Wicked Prey
Unseen: A Novel
Surfacing
Treachery at Lancaster Gate
Catch Me When I Fall
Death of Yesterday
Cold Wind
A Demon In My View
Death of a Stranger: A William Monk Novel
The Thursday Murder Club
A Simple Murder: A Kate Burkholder Short Story Collection
The Lions of Fifth Avenue
In Their Footsteps
Hell Is Empty: A Longmire Mystery
Moriarty
Angel of Vengeance