Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful new book for all Sherlock Holmes fans
Review: If you are a Sherlock Holmes fan, or just love a good mystery,
this book is for you! Laurie King has breathed life anew into Doyle's consulting detective. Holmes takes on an
apprentice when young Mary Russell stumbles across him on Sussex downs, where he has retired to keep bees and write his magnum opus on detecting. All of the wonderful Doyle characers are on hand, including Mrs. Hudson, Dr. Watson and
Mycroft Holmes. This delightful book has already inspired a loyal following and its own internet newsletter, The Beekeeper's Holmes Page, and its own weekly internet email digest, RUSS-L.
I read this book in one sitting and then immediately read it
again. Then I bought the second book in the series, A Monstrous
Regiment of Women, and read it in one sitting, too. Buy this wonderful book now, but don't start it just before bedtime!
Rating:
Summary: HOW MUCH LONGER TILL THE NEXT ONE??!! ***********STARS
Review: This is a great book! Waiting for the next one has been absolutely awful! Sherlock is no longer a dry and boring
character. He has an attitude and some depth! Mary adds to the story, by not putting up with Sherlock's
attitude, since she has one of her own! The book has endless twists and turns, and the ending will suprise and
shock you! Don't be turned of by the fact that the book
is a Sherlock Homles story. It's a lot more!
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful new book for all Sherlock Holmes fans
Review: If you are a Sherlock Holmes fan, or just love a good mystery,this book is for you! Laurie King has breathed life anew into Doyle's consulting detective. Holmes takes on an apprentice when young Mary Russell stumbles across him on Sussex downs, where he has retired to keep bees and write his magnum opus on detecting. All of the wonderful Doyle characers are on hand, including Mrs. Hudson, Dr. Watson and Mycroft Holmes. This delightful book has already inspired a loyal following and its own internet newsletter, The Beekeeper's Holmes Page, and its own weekly internet email digest, RUSS-L. I read this book in one sitting and then immediately read it again. Then I bought the second book in the series, A Monstrous Regiment of Women, and read it in one sitting, too. Buy this wonderful book now, but don't start it just before bedtime!
Rating:
Summary: King takes the next step...and the game is truly afoot.
Review: As a dedicated Holmesian, I have read all, and I do mean all, of the various contributions to "the Canon" written in the years since Conan Doyle's death. While these works captured the spirit of Holmes, none of them have ever deepened what we know about the man, none have ever really truly contributed to legacy. Laurie King has--finally--created and achieved such a contribution. Mary Russell, King's creation, is the refreshing new counterpart for Holmes and their meeting and subsequent relationship is one of the most naturally described and most believable this reader has encountered. Through Russell's eyes, we learn more about Holmes, begin to sense his depth, begin to actually feel his emotions, an achievement which cannot be said of Conan Doyle. In addition, Mary Russell is one of the most fullest female characters in recent literature, and the reader, over the course of this and the subsequent Russell books, learns to admire her as much as her partner. Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy, and rest satisfied knowing the Holmes legacy is in very sure hands.
Rating:
Summary: A Keeper
Review: I was introduced to this book by my sister, who got it from a friend. I finnished the book, and promptly started to look for the next book, The Monstrous Regiment of Women. If you are looking for a book that you can't put down, and makes you feel like you are actually there with Mary Russel and Sherlock Holmes, then this is the book for you!!
Rating:
Summary: A spectacular piece of work!
Review: I read "The Beekeeper's Apprentice" about a year ago. When I first glanced at the blurb, I was tempted to laugh. Imagine undermining the great Sherlock Holmes by teaming him up with a fifteen-year old girl! It was almost too ridiculous to believe. Nevertheless, I borrowed the book from my local library, and since then, it has become one of my fabourite books ever. I bought my very own copy of it three months ago. The story is amazing. Supposedly written by an aged Mary Russell (a fifteen year-old girl at the beginning of the story), the book is a recount of her life from her meeting with the fifty-three-year-old Sherlock Holmes, to when she is about 19. Her narration, what she chooses to dwell on in her telling, and what she merely skips over, not only reveals to the reader which incidents most live in her memory, but also makes the story fast-paced, and vividly exciting. The book also shows a quite different Sherlock Holmes to the stories of Conan Doyle. While every bit as brilliant and perceptive, the Holmes we see through Mary Russell's eyes is very much human, capable of mistakes and intense emotion. Much as I tend to idolise the Legend of Conan Doyle, I can't help but warm towards the picture painted by Mary Russell far more than that of the good Doctor. I was miserable when I finished "The Beekeeper's Apprentice", so much so that I was almost crying. And I have to admit that I cried during the book, too, and still do when I reread it. I have read the other Russell-Holmes novels, but none come close to this, the first. Such is the fate of all but the most brilliant of serials. This is Laurie R. King's masterpiece, her other works cannot compare.
Rating: 
Summary: A good read
Review: I don't normally read mystery books but was pleasantly surprised by this book. It is a quick read that draws you into the plot.
Rating:
Summary: Great fun!
Review: This was a book club selection for me - wasn't sure about it at first, but once I picked it up had trouble putting it down. I managed to put it down long enough to run out to the bookstore and buy the rest of the series. Good stuff!
Rating:
Summary: A Wonderful, Realistic View of Sherlock Holmes' later years
Review: This is one of the RARE Holmes pastiches that actually have a realistic story line. The idea of Holmes taking on a FEMALE apprentice is almost appalling to some Sherlockians, but it is quite the appropriate action in this case! Not only is Mary Russell proved to be Holmes equal in the intellectual department, she also has his dry wit and enormous observative powers. The entire series by King is highly recommended by this girl.
Rating:
Summary: The book that made me a Laurie R. King Fan
Review: The Beekeepers Apprentice was recommended to me by a fellow avid reader and with great doubt, I hesitantly and reluctantly began to read. With the first page, Ms. King's writing grabbed me and held on till until the end of the book. Thus began a love affair with everything she writes. I avidly wait and watch for her next novel, especially in this sublime series and gobble it up as soon as I get it.
Beekeeper's Apprentice is a great book for any Conan Doyle fan, a lover of literature or just about anyone. It is intelligent and witty, funny and suspenseful. The historical background is well researched and wonderful.
I loved re-visiting Dr. Watson, loved seeing Sherlock Holmes as bored out of his mind with retirement, loved Mary Russell.
Buy this book, read it and then buy the next. Better yet, buy them all so that you can read them one after the other in total book gluttony.
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