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Author Laurie R. King booklist (click here)

Book Review By David Loftus
The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie King

Born with the 20th century, Mary Russell has been sent to live with her aunt on a farm in Sussex after the death of her parents in an auto accident in Northern California. She is 15, and World War I is commencing on the continent. Bookish, extremely intelligent, and proto-feminist, Mary encounters the retired private detective Sherlock Holmes on the downs, where he keeps bees and occasionally consults for the British government. He challenges and teaches her for the next several years, and by the time she has entered Oxford she is ready to accompany Holmes on a case when an American senator's little girl is kidnapped in Wales. An even bigger case looms when someone plants bombs at Holmes's country home, Mary's rooms at Oxford, and even Doctor Watson's domicile. The adventure even entails a trip to Palestine and Jerusalem. Laurie King's first (1994) in a series about the unusual partnership of a feisty young woman and a critical elderly legend is remarkably successful. She evokes place, character, and the growing relationship beautifully, and though Holmes is of course the draw (and as well done as in any of the pastiches by Nicholas Meyer, Michael Dibdin, or John Gardner's Moriarty books), her greatest achievement is the narrator and heroine Mary.


Plot & Themes
Tone of story - suspenseful (sophisticated fear)
How difficult to spot villain? - Difficult, but some clues given
Time/era of story:
Misc. Murder Plotlets - Big focus on forensic evidence - Killer purposely leaves clues
What % of story relates directly to the mystery, not the subplot? - 60%
Kind of investigator
Kid or adult book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
descript. of violence and chases - 20 %
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 40 %
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 30 %
How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 10 %
Crime Thriller Yes
Murder Mystery (killer unknown) Yes

Main Character
Gender - Female
Profession/status:
Age: - a teen
Ethnicity/Race

Main Adversary
Identity: - an organization
Profession/status:
Motive of antagonist - revenge
How sensitive is this character?
Sense of humor - Cynical sense of humor

Setting
Europe Yes
European country: - England/UK
Asia/Pacific Yes
Asian country: - Israel
Water? Yes

Writing Style
Accounts of torture and death? - moderately detailed references to deaths
Unusual forms of death - perforation--bullets - exploded into bits
Unusual form of death? Yes
Amount of dialog - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
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