The Beekeeper's Apprentice
or, On the Segregation of the Queen
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4.2 • 281 Ratings
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
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).
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Sherlock Holmes has finally met his match. The famous detective is contentedly living in semi-retirement when he meets headstrong teenager Mary Russell whose uproarious sarcasm gives the acerbically witty Sherlock a run for his money. And Mary—who’s been stuck living with her stodgy aunt since her parents died—can match Sherlock’s innate powers of deduction, too, making her the perfect apprentice. We loved being the third wheel for the burgeoning team’s adventure, witnessing them as they bicker, put their heads together on cases, and develop just the perfect touch of father-daughter affection for each other. But someone else has taken notice of Mary’s rare intelligence—and they’d like to make sure she never uses it to solve another crime. Laurie R. King’s suspenseful storytelling captures the spirit of the original Sherlock Holmes mysteries, but it’s Mary’s spirited first-person perspective that really makes her book sparkle. Funny, brave, and scary-smart, King’s heroine adds a wonderful new dimension to the legendary sleuth. We can’t wait to join this unlikely duo on their next outing.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Sherlock Holmes takes on a young, female apprentice in this delightful and well-wrought addition to the master detective's casework. In the early years of WW I, 15-year-old American Mary Russell encounters Holmes, retired in Sussex Downs where Conan Doyle left him raising bees. Mary, an orphan rebelling against her guardian aunt's strictures, impresses the sleuth with her intelligence and acumen. Holmes initiates her into the mysteries of detection, allowing her to participate in a few cases when she comes home from her studies at Oxford. The collaboration is ignited by the kidnapping in Wales of Jessica Simpson, daughter of an American senator. The sleuthing duo find signs of the hand of a master criminal, and after Russell rescues the child, attempts are made on their lives (and on Watson's), with evidence piling up that the master criminal is out to get Holmes and all he holds dear. King ( A Grave Talent ) has created a fitting partner for the Great Detective: a quirky, intelligent woman who can hold her own with a man renowned for his contempt for other people's thought processes.
Customer Reviews
Not gripping for me
Love to get into a book I cannot put down or wait to open it again. I loved the story and want to read some Arthur Conan Doyle books on Sherlock Holmes to compare literary styles. Just didn’t grab me but it did hold my interest and will read more on Mary Russell.
I loved this book
I thought the characters created a sense of fun and sarcasm with them everywhere which made it very entertaining I loved this book
Hooked on the series
I started reading these books during a fall bout of pneumonia and read all 12 books in the series in 6 weeks!! I love this series! Better written than Conan Doyle's originals.