The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie R King

The Beekeeper's Apprentice (Mary Russell Mystery, #1)

by Laurie R King

First in Laurie King's acclaimed Mary Russell crime series: ' Beguiling variation on Sherlock Holmes sequels...King's novel is civilized, ingenious and engrossing. Best of all, it has heart' -- Literary Review What would happen if typical Victorian man Sherlock Holmes came face to face with a twentieth-century female? And what if she grew to be a partner worthy of his legendary talents. In The Beekeeper's Apprentice, Laurie King tells the story of Mary Russell, who in 1914 meets a retired beekeeper on the Sussex Downs. His name is Sherlock Holmes. Pompous, smug and misogynistic, the Great Detective can still spot a fellow intellect, even in a fifteen-year-old woman. At first he takes Mary on as his apprentice on small, local cases, gradually working up to larger investigations. All the time Mary is developing as a detective in her own right, but then the sky opens on them, and Holmes and Mary find themselves the targets of a slippery, murderous and apparently all-knowing adversary. Together they devise a plan to trap their enemy -- a plan that may save their lives, but may also kill their relationship...

Reviewed by Amber (The Literary Phoenix) on

2 of 5 stars

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For a little while, I was ready to tear apart The Beekeeper’s Apprentice. I found the writing bit flat and there was a scene early in the book that involved characters tinting the color of their skin for a disguise. Still generally intrigued, I waited it out. This review is going to be mostly informative – no passion one way or the other. To be honest, I’ve never been intrigued enough by Sherlock Holmes to pick up Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s work, and The Beekeeper’s Apprentice was very much a cover pick. Seriously – that honeycomb cover is gorgeous.

Despite my initial misgivings, The Beekeeper’s Apprentice stepped back from racist undertones and addressed a bit of the prejudice against the Romani people. The deeper I got into the book, the more it felt like not only was Laurie R. King honoring the Sherlock Holmes character, but also addressing the unfortunate choices that had been made by Doyle in writing in the first place. More than once does Holmes appear in a garish and unnecessary disguise, which Mary Russell internally tears apart. At one point, she finds herself in a safe house and spends some time pondering the unlikeliness of the location. Without reading the original Holmes work, I got the impression that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle made a lot of ridiculous choices, and while Laurie R. King respected her source material, she also spent some time correcting it. And I appreciated that.

The writing, as I said, felt flat to me. Again, this could be King trying to emulate Doyle’s writing style, which I could certainly see. The characters are guarded and there’s a lot of dialogue. I didn’t get a sense for what Mary Russell, our protagonist, looked like until we were about halfway through the book. The story also ambles, and while it all comes together at the end, I felt like it took the scenic route in getting there. To be honest, I kept speeding up my audiobook because while I didn’t want to DNF it – I wasn’t quite that bored and had already invested a lot of time – I just really wanted the story to get on with it already.

I suppose The Beekeeper’s Apprentice does just fine for its genre and while it wasn’t my particular cup of tea, I can appreciate it as a successful next-generation evolution for a beloved classic character. Fans of Sherlock Holmes will most likely enjoy Mary Russell’s tales and seeing their favorite sleuth brought back to life. For myself, the pacing was just murder and the voice dull, so I don’t think I’ll be continuing on with the series. But it was a good book for what it was, and I can appreciate that.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 22 February, 2020: Finished reading
  • 22 February, 2020: Reviewed