The Beekeeper's Apprentice

The Beekeeper's Apprentice

by Laurie R. King

A retired Sherlock Holmes takes on a young, female apprentice. While this scenario is quite plausible, and lends itself to a unique twist on the Sherlock Holmes genre. The one area I would question is the age at which King introduces her protagonist, Mary Russell. Mary Russell is just 15 years old, when she comes across a gaunt, elderly man sitting on the ground, "watching bees.'' This gentleman turns out to be Sherlock Holmes, and the resulting acquaintance evolves into a mentoring experience for the young woman. As a Sherlockian, I had difficulty accepting the premise that Holmes would have too much to do with a 15 year old with a smart mouth on her. I believe King should have made her protagonist a couple years older to make it more plausible.

However, the novel quickly ages Mary Russell and has her attending Oxford and coming of age for her inheritance. I will add that as the relationship between Russell and Holmes matures, you will find yourself naturally buying into the apprenticeship and the crime solving partnership. King has created an original and entertaining series for any Sherlock Holmes fans. The story is funny, heartwarming, and full of intrigue, with Holmes and his young apprentice, Mary Russell, matching wits with some of the finer criminal minds of the times.

The novel flows well and the suspense is building appropriately, until suddenly, King chooses to have her two main characters flee England for Palestine to escape an unknown assassin. This one chapter slows down the narrative and does nothing to carry the story forward. It is almost as if the author, King, wanted to find a way to comment on Palestine and Jerusalem and the future Jewish homeland.

Everything else about this book rings true, from the ambience of World War I England to the intriguing relationship between Holmes and Mary Russell...enough for me to seek out the second in the Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes partnership.