Mary Russell is a fictional character in a book series by Laurie R. King. The Beekeeper's Apprentice is the first book in the Mary Russell series by Laurie R Locked Rooms is the eighth book in the Mary Russell series by Laurie R Laurie R King (born 1952 is an American Author best known for her Detective fiction. Laurie R King (born 1952 is an American Author best known for her Detective fiction. Most of the novels are told in first-person retrospective from Mary Russell's point of view. See also First person First-person narrative is a Narrative mode in which a Story is narrated by one character, who explicitly Locked Rooms is the exception, with approximately a third of the book in the third person. So far the novels have been set in the Teens and Twenties of the early 20th century. The 1910s decade ran from January 1 1910 through December 31 1919 The 1920s is sometimes referred to as the " Jazz Age " or the " Roaring Twenties " when speaking about the United States and Canada King's introductions to each novel form part of an ongoing frame story about a mystery writer who is anonymously sent Mary Russell's memoirs in manuscript form and attempts to determine who sent them and why. A frame story (also frame tale, frame narrative, etc is a narrative technique whereby an introductory main story is composed at least in part for the purpose of for other uses see Memoir (disambiguation As a literary Genre, a memoir (from the French: mémoire

The daughter of a British Jewish mother and an American millionaire father, the fifteen-year-old Russell is sent to Sussex, after the death of her parents and brother in a car accident, to live with her aunt on the eve of World War I. Sussex is a historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All There she becomes the partner, and later wife, to Sherlock Holmes. Sherlock Holmes is a famous fictional detective of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries who first appeared in Publication in 1887 Mary Russell is an Oxford scholar of theology and chemistry. The University of Oxford (informally "Oxford University" or simply "Oxford" located in the city of Oxford, Oxfordshire, England is the Theology is the study of a god or the gods from a religious perspective Chemistry (from Egyptian kēme (chem meaning "earth") is the Science concerned with the composition structure and properties She is tall and slim, with strawberry-blonde hair, and blue eyes. She usually wears glasses, due to poor eyesight. She considers herself Jewish like her mother, though her father was a member of the Episcopal Church. The Episcopal Church is the official name of the Province of the Anglican Communion in the United States.

Books in the series

1. The Beekeeper's Apprentice opens in 1915 as a young Mary Russell literally stumbles across the retired detective Sherlock Holmes on Sussex Downs. The Beekeeper's Apprentice is the first book in the Mary Russell series by Laurie R Russell impresses Holmes with her powers of deduction, and he begins to informally train her as a detective. This training becomes vitally important when Russell is caught up in an old enemy's vendetta against Holmes. A feud (ˈfjuːd (referred to in more extreme cases as a blood feud or vendetta) is a long-running argument or fight between parties&mdashoften through Guilt
2. A Monstrous Regiment of Women takes place in the years just after World War I. A Monstrous Regiment of Women is the second book in the Mary Russell series of mystery novels by Laurie R World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Russell becomes involved in a Christian feminist movement concerned with philanthropy and political activism. When the wealthier followers of the group start to die under mysterious circumstances after willing their fortunes to the cause, Russell and Holmes are drawn into a deeper mystery. In Common law, a will or testament is a document by which a person (the Testator) regulates the rights of others over his or her Property A sub-plot deals with the deepening relationship between Russell and Holmes. The title is a reference to the 16th century pamphlet The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women. The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women is a work by the Scottish Reformer John Knox, published in 1558
3. A Letter of Mary closely follows the events of Monstrous Regiment. A Letter of Mary is the third in the Mary Russell mystery series of novels by Laurie R A first-century manuscript surfaces that would turn Christianity on its ear, and its discoverer, a friend of Russell and Holmes, turns up dead. While they investigate the death, they must also evade those who are looking for the manuscript.
4. The Moor takes the partnership out to Dartmoor, the location of original The Hound of the Baskervilles. The Moor is the fourth book in Mary Russell series by Laurie R Dartmoor is an area of Moorland in the centre of Devon, England. The Hound of the Baskervilles is a crime novel by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle featuring the detective Sherlock Holmes. Another hound is stalking the night, and they must discover how and why. Russell meets Holmes' old acquaintance, the Rev. Sabine Baring-Gould, the squire of Lew Trenchard, when he asks their help in ridding the Moor of the ghostly hound. The Reverend Sabine Baring-Gould ( 28 January 1834 &ndash 2 January 1924) was an English Hagiographer, Antiquarian, novelist
5. O Jerusalem revisits a visit to Palestine which was glossed over in The Beekeeper's Apprentice. O Jerusalem is the fifth book in the Mary Russell series by Laurie R Palestine is a name which has been widely used since Roman times to refer to the region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River. Working with two of Mycroft's agents, Mahmoud and Ali Hazr, the partners seek out spies in post-WWI Palestine. Mycroft Holmes is a Fictional character in the stories written by Arthur Conan Doyle.
6. In Justice Hall, Mahmoud and Ali Hazr reappear in England, as two English noblemen. They are brought back to the life they left behind by Mahmoud's sudden inheritance of a dukedom. Russell and Holmes help search for Mahmoud's nephew, so he can pass on the coronet and return to Palestine. While there, the pair dig into the past to discover the truth behind Mahmoud's other nephew's mysterious wartime death.
7. The Game In the early days of 1924, Russell and Holmes are given an urgent task by his brother Mycroft: Find a British spy gone missing along India's northwest frontier, where men are dying and trouble is brewing. Year 1924 ( MCMXXIV) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The spy is one whom Holmes knows from his travels in India long ago, under the name Siegurson: Kimball O'Hara, known to the world by the name Rudyard Kipling called him, Kim. Joseph Rudyard Kipling (30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936 was an English Author and poet Kim is a novel by Rudyard Kipling. It was first published serially in ''McClure's Magazine'' from December 1900 to October 1901 as well as in
8. Locked Rooms Setting sail from their adventures in India during the spring of 1924, Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes turn their faces toward San Francisco. Locked Rooms is the eighth book in the Mary Russell series by Laurie R The time has come to close up the house and business interests she inherited on the death of her family, ten years before. But disturbing dreams and painful memories make the visit more difficult than she expected, and Holmes suspects that there are dark secrets in his wife's past that even she is not aware of. A young Dashiell Hammett makes a cameo appearance. Samuel Dashiell Hammett ( May 27, 1894 — January 10, 1961) was an American Author of Hardboiled detective

See also

External links

• Laurie R. King's homepage
• "Letters of Mary", Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes fan fiction
• Mary Russell's Blog and MySpace profile
• The Mary Russell Mystery Crossword, appearing in the July 4, 2005 New Yorker.