The Beekeeper's Apprentice - (Mary Russell Mystery) by Laurie R King (Paperback)

About the Book

In 1915, long since retired from his crime-fighting days, Sherlock Holmes is engaged in a reclusive study of honeybees on the Sussex Downs. Never did the Victorian detective think to meet an intellect matching his ownuntil his acquaintance with Miss Mary Russell, a young twentieth-century lady whose mental acuity is equaled only by her penchantfor deduction, disguises, and danger. Under Holmess reluctant tutelage, Russell embarks on a case involving a landowners mysterious fever and the kidnapping of an American senators daughter in the wilds of Wales. Then a near-fatal bomb on her doorstepand another on Holmesssends the two sleuths on the trail of a murderer who scatters bizarre clues and seems utterly without motive. The villains objective, however, is quite unequivocal: to end Russell and Holmess partnershipand then their lives.

Book Synopsis

The Twentieth-Anniversary Edition of the First Novel of the Acclaimed Mary Russell Series by Edgar Award-Winning Author Laurie R. King.

An Agatha Award Best Novel Nominee - Named One of the Century's Best 100 Mysteries by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association

In 1915, Sherlock Holmes is retired and quietly engaged in the study of honeybees in Sussex when a young woman literally stumbles onto him on the Sussex Downs. Fifteen years old, gawky, egotistical, and recently orphaned, the young Mary Russell displays an intellect to impress even Sherlock Holmes. Under his reluctant tutelage, this very modern, twentieth-century woman proves a deft protégée and a fitting partner for the Victorian detective. They are soon called to Wales to help Scotland Yard find the kidnapped daughter of an American senator, a case of international significance with clues that dip deep into Holmes's past. Full of brilliant deduction, disguises, and danger, The Beekeeper's Apprentice, the first book of the Mary Russell-Sherlock Holmes mysteries, is "remarkably beguiling" (The Boston Globe).

Review Quotes

"King has stepped onto the sacred literary preserve of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, poached Holmes, and brilliantly brought him to life again." --The Washington Post Book World

"A fascinating and often moving account of a friendship so unusual and so compelling that one almost accepts it as being historically real." --The Denver Post

"Enchanting...The Beekeeper's Apprentice is real Laurie R. King, not faux Conan Doyle, and for my money, it's better than the original." --San Jose Mercury News

"Rousing...Riveting...Suspenseful." --Chicago Sun-Times

About the Author

Laurie R. King is the Edgar Award-winning author of the Kate Martinelli novels and the acclaimed Mary Russell-Sherlock Holmes mysteries, as well as a few stand-alone novels. The Beekeeper's Apprentice, the first in her Mary Russell series, was nominated for an Agatha Award and was named one of the Century's Best 100 Mysteries by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association. A Monstrous Regiment of Women won the Nero Wolfe Award. She has degrees in theology, and besides writing she has also managed a coffee store and raised children, vegetables and the occasional building. She lives in Northern California.