Laurie R. King

[Margaret]

I love historical mysteries, but I'm not usually very faithful about reading every single mystery in a series. An exception is Laurie R. King's Mary Russell series, beginning with The Beekeeper's Apprentice. It's a delight, about a young woman who encounters the semi-retired Sherlock Holmes (the beekeeper) and becomes his assistant and later, his wife.

Anyone else read these?

[Carine]

I actually never heard of it Margaret, but I'm certainly going to check it out, it sounds good !

[Margaret]

I've just posted a review of her latest (#9 in the series), The Language of Bees at http://www.HistoricalNovels.info/Language-of-Bees.html. I enjoyed it, but don't recommend it as the first Mary Russell mystery for someone new to the series. These are probably best read in order, because Mary Russell's relationship with Sherlock Holmes changes over the course of the series, and following the changes adds a dimension that would be missing if one skipped and hopped among the books.

[Anna Elliott]

I really enjoyed The Language of Bees, too--although as you say, starting with that book would be a disservice to the series; they're best read in order from The Beekeeper's Apprentice on.

What did you think of the ending? So difficult to wait a full year for the next book (The Green Man, I think?) to come out!

[Margaret]

I prefer novels not to end with the words "to be continued." A lot of mystery series do involve villains who escape to wreak havoc again in future installments, so I didn't mind that in itself so much as the way this particular ending verged a bit on the "Perils of Pauline." (Trying to avoid spoilers here, since this is not a "group read" thread.) On the other hand, the basic story of Russell, Holmes, et al., did end in a satisfying way.

What I really loved about The Language of Bees was the first big chunk of the novel about Holmes's beehive, his reflective monograph on bees, and Russell's solution to the bee mystery (with its overtones of foreshadowing and its implications about Holmes's character and the world at large). I don't know if other readers will feel this way (though fans of the series probably will), but I found it totally absorbing, and food for thought. Because of that, I will forgive the novel any and all of its other flaws.