Synopses & Reviews
Edgar Award-winning author Laurie R. King again proves her flair for tantalizing mystery in this first novel of an acclaimed series. Long since retired from his observations of criminal humanity, Sherlock Holmes is engaged in a reclusive study of honeybee behavior on the Sussex Downs. Never did he expect to meet an intellect to match his own until he made the acquaintance of a very modern 15-year-old girl whose mental acuity is equaled only by her audacity, tenacity, and unconventional taste for trousers and cloth caps. Under the master detectives sardonic instruction, Miss Mary Russell hones her talent for deduction, disguises, and danger in the chilling case of a landowners mysterious fever, and in the kidnapping of an American senators daughter in the wilds of Wales. But her ultimate challenge is yet to come. A near-fatal bomb on her doorstep and another on Holmess sends the two sleuths on the trail of a villain whose machinations scatter meaningless clues and seem utterly without motive. The bombers objective, however, is quite clear: to end Russell and Holmes's partnership...and their lives.
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"Amazing first novel with intelligence, intrigue, and intricacy...This work exhibits strong psychological undertones, compelling urgency, and dramatic action. [Laurie King is] a writer to watch." Library Journal
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"Wonderful! An intelligently and imaginatively crafted novel that's also great fun." The Drood Review of Mystery, Editor's Choice of 1994
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"If there is a new P. D. James...I would put my money on Laurie R. King." -The Boston Globe
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"The Beekeper's Apprentice has power to charm the most grizzled Baker Street irregular." Daily News, New York
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"Rousing...riveting...suspenseful." Chicago Sun-Times
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"Nothing in King's brooding debut A Grave Talent (1993) could have prepared you for this uncommonly rich Sherlockian pastiche, in which the great detective is brought out of retirement among the bees of Sussex....Miles above recent pastiches by Carole Nelson Douglas and Nicholas Meyer a surpassingly ingenious companion to Sena Jeter Naslund's Sherlock in Love." Kirkus Reviews
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"King has used...fanciful possibilities to create a wonderfully original and entertaining story that is funny, heartwarming, and full of intrigue, with Holmes and his young apprentice, Mary Russell, matching wits with some of the finer criminal minds of the times, including the brilliantly diabolic daughter of Holmes' old enemy, Professor Moriarty. Everything about this book rings true, from the ambience of World War I England to the intriguing relationship between Holmes and Mary to the surprising final confrontation between Holmes and Moriarty's daughter. Holmes fans, history buffs, lovers of humor and adventure, and mystery devotees will all find King's book absorbing from beginning to end." Emily Melton, Booklist
Synopsis
The first tale in this bestselling series is repackaged. Long retired, Sherlock Holmes never imagines he would encounter anyone whose intellect matched his own--much less an audacious teenage girl with a penchant for detection. Miss Mary Russell becomes Holmes's pupil and quickly hones her talent for deduction, disguises and danger. Reissue.
About the Author
Laurie is a third-generation Californian who emerged on the mystery writing scene in 1993 with A Grave Talent and shortly thereafter won the Edgar for Best First Novel. She has a master's degree in theology and is married to a man thirty years older than herself, whom she fondly describes as "a peripatetic anglo-Indian professor of religious studies." They have two teenaged children, and currently reside in northern California.