Showing results by author "Laurie R. King" in All Categories

Over the course of a decade together, Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes have forged an indissoluble bond. But what of the other person Mary Russell has opened her heart to, Mrs Hudson? Blood on the floor, and the smell of gunshot in the air: both point directly at Clara Hudson. The key to Russell's sacrifice lies in Mrs Hudson's past, and to uncover the crime Holmes must put aside his anguish and push deep into his housekeeper's secrets.

When an old archeologist friend gives Mary Russell a curled scrap of papyrus, Mary is startled to see that it is covered with Greek symbols. The writing may be a letter from an unknown-female-apostle. Soon the old friend has been murdered, the Holmes' cottage has been ransacked, and Mary is faced with a particularly dangerous and painful investigation. From the solitude of the English countryside to the dark teeming streets of London, A Letter of Mary carries the two quick-witted sleuths through a maze of clues and cul-de-sacs.

Mary Russell, assistant and protégée of the great Sherlock Holmes, finds herself and her partner once more mired in mystery. When Mary is given a scrap of papyrus by an old archaeologist friend, she has no inkling of what it contains. Written in Greek, it could be a letter from a previously unknown apostle - who just happens to be female. However, the situation moves from being curiously exciting to chillingly perilous as the archaeologist is murdered and Mary and Sherlock's home is ransacked.

It began as a problem in one of Holmes' beloved beehives, led to a murderous cult, and ended - or so they'd hoped - with a daring escape from a sacrificial altar. Instead, Mary Russell and her husband, Sherlock Holmes, have stirred the wrath and the limitless resources of those they've thwarted. Now they are separated and on the run, wanted by the police and pursued across the continent by a ruthless enemy with powerful connections. Unstoppable together, Russell and Holmes will have to survive this time apart, maintaining tenuous contact only by means of coded messages and cryptic notes.

From the collection Mary Russell's War, "Mary's Christmas" delivers the author's signature blend of narrative mastery and historical detail while shining light on previously unexplored corners of the Russell-Holmes universe. Laurie R. King blends her long-running brand of crime fiction with historical treats and narrative sleight of hand.

London, 1926. Harris Stuyvesant, agent of the US Bureau of Investigation, is on a mission. A series of bomb attacks on American soil, thought to be enacted by an up-and-coming British politician, have left him with a vendetta more personal than professional. But when his search for answers leads him to government official Aldous Carstairs, the US agent may find himself in over his head. 

The Gardener Estate is one of the most storied and beloved places on the West Coast: a magnificent house in vast formal grounds, home to a family that shaped California—and fought hard to conceal the turmoil and eccentricities within their walls. And now, just as the turmoil seems buried and the Estate prepares to move into a new future, construction work unearths a grim relic of the estate's history: a skull, hidden away some fifty years ago.

A string of shocking murders has occurred in a small community outside of San Francisco, each victim an innocent child. For Detective Kate Martinelli, just promoted to Homicide, and her partner Alonzo Hawkin it's going to be a difficult case.

Inspector Kate Martinelli has worked the SFPD's Homicide Detail for nearly 30 years. One day her 15-year-old daughter, Nora, asks about an aunt she'd never met. Kate's kid sister died in the 1980s, a wild young woman who lost control of a car and hit a tree, end of story...except it isn't. Because once Kate begins to look, seeking to reassure Nora that it was only a senseless accident and not the suicide a small town's gossip made it, she starts to find pieces that don't fit the picture.

Mary Russell is used to dark secrets - her own and those of her famous partner and husband, Sherlock Holmes. Trust is a thing slowly given, but over the course of a decade together, the two have forged an indissoluble bond. And what of the other person to whom Mary Russell has opened her heart: the couple's longtime housekeeper, Mrs. Hudson?

Using a premise pulled from the headlines - the very real vulnerability of students and teachers - the best-selling author of the Mary Russell mysteries delivers a contemporary novel of psychological suspense. The various presenters at a local school career day prepare for a day in class, not knowing that someone with a thirst for revenge is in their midst.

Award-winning author Laurie R. King writes mysteries featuring Sherlock Holmes and Mary Russell. In this short story, King explores their very first meeting... Sherlock Holmes is fending off a particularly dark mood as he roams the Sussex Downs, in search of wild bees.

From the collection Mary Russell's War, "Stately Holmes" delivers the author's signature blend of narrative mastery and historical detail while shining light on previously unexplored corners of the Russell-Holmes universe. Laurie R. King blends her long-running brand of crime fiction with historical treats and narrative sleight of hand.

Only the elders of the Valley remember life the way it used to be, when people travelled in automobiles and bought food others had grown. When the ratio of male to female was nearly the same. Before the bombs fell, and a deadly virus claimed the world's men. Now, civilization's few surviving males are guarded by women warriors like Dian, the Valley's chief protector, as fierce and loyal as the guard dogs she trains. When an unexpected convoy of strangers rides into her village, it is Dian who meets them, ready to do battle....

Homicide detectives Kate Martinelli and Al Hawkin are investigating the death of a man whose cremated remains are found in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. Implicated in the death is Erasmus, a wandering soul and latter-day Shakespearean Fool who Kate doubts is guilty. He will say nothing to point the investigation away from himself, and Kate must not only prove his innocence, she must also nail the real killer.

Rae Newborn is a woman on the edge: on the edge of sanity, on the edge of tragedy, and now on the edge of the world. She has moved to an island at the far reaches of the continent to restore the house of an equally haunted figure, her mysterious great-uncle; but as her life begins to rebuild itself along with the house, his story starts to wrap around hers. Powerful forces are stirring, but Rae cannot see where her reality leaves off and his fate begins. 

In nine short stories, seven of which have never previously been available in print, and one brand-new, never-before-seen Sherlock Holmes mystery - available together for the first time - Laurie R. King blends her long-running brand of crime fiction with historical treats and narrative sleight of hand.

Though she cannot entirely discount the effects of the head injuries they were both suffering at the time, Mary Russell is delighted by Sherlock Holmes’ proposal of marriage. After all, they have become partners in crime, and she has recently come into her inheritance: what remains but to confirm the union with her mentor-turned-partner through a piece of paper? Russell’s pragmatic side tells her to head straight to the registry office - until Holmes surprises her with a sentimental wish to be married in the chapel of his ancestral manor. There’s just the small issue of ownership: the house is not exactly his, and he is most definitely not welcome there.

Kate Martinelli has seen her share of peculiar things as a San Francisco cop but never anything quite like this: an ornate Victorian sitting room straight out of a Sherlock Holmes story - complete with violin, tobacco-filled Persian slipper, and gunshots in the wallpaper that spell out the initials of the late queen. 

Sherlock Holmes has not only captivated readers for more than a century and a quarter, he has fascinated writers as well. It is little wonder, then, that when the renowned Sherlockians Laurie R. King and Leslie S. Klinger invited their writer-friends and colleagues to be inspired by the Holmes canon, a cornucopia of stories sprang forth. Now, King and Klinger have invited another 15 masters to become In League with Sherlock Holmes. The contributors to this volume include award-winning authors of horror, thrillers, mysteries, westerns, and science fiction.