Not-Quite-A-Review (Since I’m Still Reading It): The Beekeeper’s Apprentice by Laurie R. King

Oh my goodness – I’m LOVING this one… I’m a huge fan of the Sherlock Holmes concept – and I say concept because it’s not just about the actual stories for me, although I really enjoy those (even the totally random bits, like the Mormon stuff in A Study in Scarlet), but also about the movies (from Basil Rathbone to Robert Downey Jr.) and television shows (especially Jonny Lee Miller in Elementary and of course Benedict Cumberbatch’s Sherlock) as well as many of the spin-off/non-canonical books (there are so many I can’t even list a sample, but if you want suggestions let me know!)… I started this series not that long ago – the book is glorious and Mary Russell (a mini-me in the best possible way) is a marvelous addition to the genre. There are, fortunately, a slew of books in the series and more are being written (a new one just came out recently), so I’m terrifically excited to keep reading them – many of the really good Sherlockian post-Conan Doyle books seem to be one-offs or to only have two books to their series – so it’s especially happy-making to see a prolific author take the character on. I hope they continue to live up to the extraordinary series beginning – this book is fantastic. It’s written in segments that can almost be read as short stories (like most of the original canon) but they are all pieced together seamlessly into the novel. It doesn’t feel like short stories (which is good, I don’t often like stories because they like the character development I think is the hallmark of a truly great book), but it does allow you to set it aside and read it over time without worrying about losing most of what has happened before and needing to reread chapters and chapters before you can regain the thread… This is especially important to me these days, both as the mother of a toddler and because I do so many reviews that I often have to juggle the books I choose to read (like this one) with the books I’ve obligated myself to read. A first world problem to be sure, teehee, but a problem at times nevertheless.

Mary Russell is marvelous. It’s a very refreshing change to see a prominent, non-support-role and non-villainous woman in the series. Plus she’s just a great character – sassy and complicated and brilliant and multi-talented… She’s the perfect compatriot for Sherlock. It’s also nice to see Mrs. Hudson come into her own a bit more in these books; I love the way they’ve portrayed her in the Elementary show, and she gets to be a deserving bit more than Conan Doyle allowed her in here as well (albeit in a different way). The Sherlock in these books is both what you expect and not quite so; it’s delightful because it feels like revisiting an old friend but not like reliving the old days. The game is all new and it is definitely afoot!