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Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes
Stately Holmes
One of the preeminent figures in the realm of mystery fiction, New York Times best-selling author Laurie R. King is perhaps most widely celebrated for her works featuring the amiable, if often contentious, partnership between Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes. 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.
1 pages, Audiobook
Published October 11, 2016
2 people are currently reading
190 people want to read
About the author
Laurie R. King
136 books6,853 followersEdgar-winning mystery writer Laurie R. King writes series and standalone novels. Her official forum is
THE LRK VIRTUAL BOOK CLUB here on Goodreads--please join us for book-discussing fun.
King's 2018 novel, Island of the Mad, sees Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes travel from London's Bedlam to the glitter of Venice's Lido,where Young Things and the friends of Cole Porter pass Mussolini's Blackshirts in the streets. The Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes series follows a brilliant young woman who becomes the student, then partner, of the great detective. [click here for an excerpt of the first in the series, The Beekeeper's Apprentice] The Stuyvesant and Grey series (Touchstone; The Bones of Paris) takes place in Europe between the Wars. The Kate Martinelli series follows an SFPD detective's cases on a female Rembrandt, a holy fool, and more. [Click for an excerpt of A Grave Talent]
King lives in northern California, which serves as backdrop for some of her books.
Please note that Laurie checks her Goodreads inbox intermittently, so it may take some time to receive a reply. A quicker response may be possible via email to info@laurierking.com.
THE LRK VIRTUAL BOOK CLUB here on Goodreads--please join us for book-discussing fun.
King's 2018 novel, Island of the Mad, sees Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes travel from London's Bedlam to the glitter of Venice's Lido,where Young Things and the friends of Cole Porter pass Mussolini's Blackshirts in the streets. The Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes series follows a brilliant young woman who becomes the student, then partner, of the great detective. [click here for an excerpt of the first in the series, The Beekeeper's Apprentice] The Stuyvesant and Grey series (Touchstone; The Bones of Paris) takes place in Europe between the Wars. The Kate Martinelli series follows an SFPD detective's cases on a female Rembrandt, a holy fool, and more. [Click for an excerpt of A Grave Talent]
King lives in northern California, which serves as backdrop for some of her books.
Please note that Laurie checks her Goodreads inbox intermittently, so it may take some time to receive a reply. A quicker response may be possible via email to info@laurierking.com.
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
November 11, 2020
Sherlock Holmes with his new partner, Mary Russell. Good stories. Likeable characters. Set in many and varied physical, social, religious, linguistic, and literary environments. Many books in the series, and the stories keep getting more compelling:
Read them in this order:
1 background, optional. A Study in Scarlet (novel, 1887, introduces Sherlock Holmes and his friend Dr. John Watson), The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter (short story, 1893, introduces Mycroft Holmes), The Adventure of the Final Problem (short story, 1893, introduces Professor James Moriarty), The Adventure of the Empty House (short story, 1903, set in 1894, explains Holmes' doings 1891–1894), and The Adventure of the Lion's Mane (short story, 1926, Holmes has retired to Sussex), by Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930). You don't have to read the whole canon, but some familiarity with the Conan Doyle stories makes the Holmes-and-Russell books more enjoyable.
1. The Beekeeper's Apprentice (1994. Events 1915.04.08–1919.07). Sherlock Holmes (b. early 1861), having retired to the East Sussex Downs, meets young Mary Russell (b. 1900.01.02), who becomes his apprentice. (Purported to have been written by Mary Russell in the late 1980s.) (Holmes on 1915.04.08 says he's 54, and on 1920.12.26 that he's 59.) Holmes lives half a mile from the sea (book 9, The Language of Bees, chapters 1 & 8) near Birling Gap, in East Sussex, https://www.google.com/maps/@50.8,0.0... northeast of the mouth of the Cuckmere river: puts him about at the end of what is now Crowlink Lane, southwest of Friston.
5. O Jerusalem (1999. Events 1918.12.30–1919.02) Fifth-written and fifth-published of the Mary Russel/Sherlock Holmes novels, it fleshes out an interlude within the first book. It's also a prequel for book six. If you're reading the Kindle edition of /O Jerusalem/, start at the cover. Not at the table of contents. Not at the beginning, which is chapter 1. Before the table of contents are: Map of Jerusalem and of Palestine; Arabic Words and Phrases; A Note about Chapter Headings; "Editor's Remarks," "Author's Prologue:" 2% of the book is before the table of contents.
2. A Monstrous Regiment of Women (1995. Events 1920.12.26–1921.06)
Mary Russel's War (2016. Events 1906–1925. Ten short stories. Stories #1–9 can be read after book 2. A Monstrous Regiment of Women. Story #10, Stately Holmes, should be read after book 10, God of the Hive.)
"The Marriage of Mary Russell" (2016. Events 1921.02), short story #4 of 10 in /Mary Russell's War/ (2016).
"Mary's Christmas" (2014), short story #1 of 10 in /Mary Russell's War/, (2016). Mary reminisces about her childhood (1906–1913.12)
Background for "Mary Russell's War," optional. The Adventure of the Solitary Cyclist (short story, 1903), and The Valley of Fear (novel, 1915), Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930). Raffles: The Amateur Cracksman (1899), E.W. Hornung (1866–1921) https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4...
"Mary Russell's War" or "My War Journal" (2015. Events of 1914.08.04–1915.04.08), short story #2 of 10 in the collection, /Mary Russell's War/ (2016). Includes spoilers for The Valley of Fear.
"Beekeeping for Beginners" (2011. Events 1915.04.08–1915.05), short story #3 of 10 in /Mary Russell's War/ (2016).
"Mrs. Hudson's Case" (1997. Events 1918.09–1918.10), short story #5 of 10 in /Mary Russell's War/ (2016).
"A Venomous Death" (2009. Set in October, in or after 1921), very short story #6 in /Mary Russell's War/ (2016).
"Birth of a Green Man" (2010. Set sometime between June 1917--see book 10, The God of the Hive, chapter 52--and September 1924), very short story #7 in /Mary Russell's War (2016).
"My Story, or, The Case of the Ravening Sherlockians" (2009, Events of 1989–2009--note that Sherlock Holmes, born early in 1861, is 148 years old in 2009, and still alive. He must still be alive, as his obituary hasn't appeared in The Times of London. Conan Doyle tried to kill him in 1891, and his fans wouldn't have it.), short story #8 in /Mary Russell's War/ (2016).
"A Case in Correspondence" (2010, Events of 1992.05.03–1992.05.19), short story #9 in /Mary Russell's War/ (2016).
3 background, very optional. Almost any Dorothy L. Sayers (1893–1957) mystery.
3. A Letter of Mary (1996. Events of 1923.08.14–1923.09.08)
4 background, optional. The Hound of the Baskervilles (novel, 1902), Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930).
4. The Moor (1998. Events of 1923.10–1923.11) Includes spoilers for The Hound of the Baskervilles.
The moor is Dartmoor, in southwest England, setting of The Hound of the Baskervilles, and almost a character in the book:
6. Justice Hall. (2002. Events 1923.11.05–1923.12.26) Includes spoilers for O Jerusalem, as does this:
Introduces
7 background, optional, but good. Kim (novel, 1901), Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936). Online:
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Kim
7 background, optional. Hind Swaraj (1901), Mohandas Gandhi (1869–1948). Online:
https://www.mkgandhi.org/ebks/hind_sw...
7. The Game. (2004. Events 1924.01.01–1924.02) The game is international espionage, called the Great Game by Kipling in Kim.
Introduces Kimball O'Hara, b. 1875.
8 background, very optional. The Maltese Falcon (novel, 1930), Dashiell Hammett (1894–1961). Sam Spade short stories: "A Man Called Spade," 1932, "Too Many Have Lived," 1932, "They Can Only Hang you Once," 1932, all collected in A Man Called Spade and Other Stories, 1944, and in Nightmare Town, 1994; and "A Knife Will Cut for Anybody," published 2013. Continental Op stories: The Big Book of the Continental Op, 2017, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...
8 background, optional. Entry Denied: Exclusion and the Chinese Community in America, 1882–1943 (1994), Sucheng Chan (1941–).
8 background, entirely optional but well worth reading: Right Ho, Jeeves (novel, 1934), P.G. Wodehouse (1881–1975), online at:
http://www.online-literature.com/pg-w...
Or any similar Wodehouse--Right Ho, Jeeves, is particularly good.
8. Locked Rooms (2005. Events 1924.03–1924.05)
Eighteen years after the San Francisco earthquake and fires, April 18, 1906.
9 background, optional. A Scandal in Bohemia (short story, 1891) and The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter (short story, 1893), Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930).
9 background, very optional. The Varieties of Religious Experience, 1902, William James (1842–1910).
9. The Language of Bees (2009. Events 1924.08–1924.08.30 and 1919.08–1920.03) ends "to be continued" in 10. The God of the Hive (2010. Events 1924.08.29–1924.10.31). Includes spoilers for A Scandal in Bohemia (1891) and The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter (1893).
Background for "Stately Holmes," optional. A Visit from St. Nicholas (1823), Clement Clark Moore (1779–1863): https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem... . A Christmas Carol (1843), Charles Dickens (1812–1870): http://www.gutenberg.org/files/46/46-... (control-+ to make it readable). A Scandal in Bohemia (1891); The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone (1921), Arthur Conan Doyle.
"Stately Holmes" (2016. Events 1925.12), short story #10 in /Mary Russell's War (2016). Includes spoilers for 6. Justice Hall, 9. The Language of Bees, and 10. God of the Hive, and for A Scandal in Bohemia.
The author's website:
https://laurierking.com/author-pages/...
(née Richardson, 1952.09.19– ).
Read them in this order:
1 background, optional. A Study in Scarlet (novel, 1887, introduces Sherlock Holmes and his friend Dr. John Watson), The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter (short story, 1893, introduces Mycroft Holmes), The Adventure of the Final Problem (short story, 1893, introduces Professor James Moriarty), The Adventure of the Empty House (short story, 1903, set in 1894, explains Holmes' doings 1891–1894), and The Adventure of the Lion's Mane (short story, 1926, Holmes has retired to Sussex), by Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930). You don't have to read the whole canon, but some familiarity with the Conan Doyle stories makes the Holmes-and-Russell books more enjoyable.
1. The Beekeeper's Apprentice (1994. Events 1915.04.08–1919.07). Sherlock Holmes (b. early 1861), having retired to the East Sussex Downs, meets young Mary Russell (b. 1900.01.02), who becomes his apprentice. (Purported to have been written by Mary Russell in the late 1980s.) (Holmes on 1915.04.08 says he's 54, and on 1920.12.26 that he's 59.) Holmes lives half a mile from the sea (book 9, The Language of Bees, chapters 1 & 8) near Birling Gap, in East Sussex, https://www.google.com/maps/@50.8,0.0... northeast of the mouth of the Cuckmere river: puts him about at the end of what is now Crowlink Lane, southwest of Friston.
5. O Jerusalem (1999. Events 1918.12.30–1919.02) Fifth-written and fifth-published of the Mary Russel/Sherlock Holmes novels, it fleshes out an interlude within the first book. It's also a prequel for book six. If you're reading the Kindle edition of /O Jerusalem/, start at the cover. Not at the table of contents. Not at the beginning, which is chapter 1. Before the table of contents are: Map of Jerusalem and of Palestine; Arabic Words and Phrases; A Note about Chapter Headings; "Editor's Remarks," "Author's Prologue:" 2% of the book is before the table of contents.
2. A Monstrous Regiment of Women (1995. Events 1920.12.26–1921.06)
Mary Russel's War (2016. Events 1906–1925. Ten short stories. Stories #1–9 can be read after book 2. A Monstrous Regiment of Women. Story #10, Stately Holmes, should be read after book 10, God of the Hive.)
"The Marriage of Mary Russell" (2016. Events 1921.02), short story #4 of 10 in /Mary Russell's War/ (2016).
"Mary's Christmas" (2014), short story #1 of 10 in /Mary Russell's War/, (2016). Mary reminisces about her childhood (1906–1913.12)
Background for "Mary Russell's War," optional. The Adventure of the Solitary Cyclist (short story, 1903), and The Valley of Fear (novel, 1915), Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930). Raffles: The Amateur Cracksman (1899), E.W. Hornung (1866–1921) https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4...
"Mary Russell's War" or "My War Journal" (2015. Events of 1914.08.04–1915.04.08), short story #2 of 10 in the collection, /Mary Russell's War/ (2016). Includes spoilers for The Valley of Fear.
"Beekeeping for Beginners" (2011. Events 1915.04.08–1915.05), short story #3 of 10 in /Mary Russell's War/ (2016).
"Mrs. Hudson's Case" (1997. Events 1918.09–1918.10), short story #5 of 10 in /Mary Russell's War/ (2016).
"A Venomous Death" (2009. Set in October, in or after 1921), very short story #6 in /Mary Russell's War/ (2016).
"Birth of a Green Man" (2010. Set sometime between June 1917--see book 10, The God of the Hive, chapter 52--and September 1924), very short story #7 in /Mary Russell's War (2016).
"My Story, or, The Case of the Ravening Sherlockians" (2009, Events of 1989–2009--note that Sherlock Holmes, born early in 1861, is 148 years old in 2009, and still alive. He must still be alive, as his obituary hasn't appeared in The Times of London. Conan Doyle tried to kill him in 1891, and his fans wouldn't have it.), short story #8 in /Mary Russell's War/ (2016).
"A Case in Correspondence" (2010, Events of 1992.05.03–1992.05.19), short story #9 in /Mary Russell's War/ (2016).
3 background, very optional. Almost any Dorothy L. Sayers (1893–1957) mystery.
3. A Letter of Mary (1996. Events of 1923.08.14–1923.09.08)
4 background, optional. The Hound of the Baskervilles (novel, 1902), Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930).
4. The Moor (1998. Events of 1923.10–1923.11) Includes spoilers for The Hound of the Baskervilles.
The moor is Dartmoor, in southwest England, setting of The Hound of the Baskervilles, and almost a character in the book:
6. Justice Hall. (2002. Events 1923.11.05–1923.12.26) Includes spoilers for O Jerusalem, as does this:
Introduces
7 background, optional, but good. Kim (novel, 1901), Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936). Online:
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Kim
7 background, optional. Hind Swaraj (1901), Mohandas Gandhi (1869–1948). Online:
https://www.mkgandhi.org/ebks/hind_sw...
7. The Game. (2004. Events 1924.01.01–1924.02) The game is international espionage, called the Great Game by Kipling in Kim.
Introduces Kimball O'Hara, b. 1875.
8 background, very optional. The Maltese Falcon (novel, 1930), Dashiell Hammett (1894–1961). Sam Spade short stories: "A Man Called Spade," 1932, "Too Many Have Lived," 1932, "They Can Only Hang you Once," 1932, all collected in A Man Called Spade and Other Stories, 1944, and in Nightmare Town, 1994; and "A Knife Will Cut for Anybody," published 2013. Continental Op stories: The Big Book of the Continental Op, 2017, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...
8 background, optional. Entry Denied: Exclusion and the Chinese Community in America, 1882–1943 (1994), Sucheng Chan (1941–).
8 background, entirely optional but well worth reading: Right Ho, Jeeves (novel, 1934), P.G. Wodehouse (1881–1975), online at:
http://www.online-literature.com/pg-w...
Or any similar Wodehouse--Right Ho, Jeeves, is particularly good.
8. Locked Rooms (2005. Events 1924.03–1924.05)
Eighteen years after the San Francisco earthquake and fires, April 18, 1906.
9 background, optional. A Scandal in Bohemia (short story, 1891) and The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter (short story, 1893), Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930).
9 background, very optional. The Varieties of Religious Experience, 1902, William James (1842–1910).
9. The Language of Bees (2009. Events 1924.08–1924.08.30 and 1919.08–1920.03) ends "to be continued" in 10. The God of the Hive (2010. Events 1924.08.29–1924.10.31). Includes spoilers for A Scandal in Bohemia (1891) and The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter (1893).
Background for "Stately Holmes," optional. A Visit from St. Nicholas (1823), Clement Clark Moore (1779–1863): https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem... . A Christmas Carol (1843), Charles Dickens (1812–1870): http://www.gutenberg.org/files/46/46-... (control-+ to make it readable). A Scandal in Bohemia (1891); The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone (1921), Arthur Conan Doyle.
"Stately Holmes" (2016. Events 1925.12), short story #10 in /Mary Russell's War (2016). Includes spoilers for 6. Justice Hall, 9. The Language of Bees, and 10. God of the Hive, and for A Scandal in Bohemia.
The author's website:
https://laurierking.com/author-pages/...
(née Richardson, 1952.09.19– ).
July 3, 2025
MARY RUSSELL'S WAR was a collection of short stories adding depth and exploring various events that complement the Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes stories by the author.
All of the stories were entertaining. I particularly liked Mary's diary written when she was a child of fourteen living in San Francisco with her family. It includes her searching for German spies with mixed results. It definitely paints Mary as a very intelligent and determined characters.
I enjoyed the story of Mary and Sherlock's wedding as they sneak into a chapel at Sherlock's family home.
I also really enjoyed the last two pieces detailing how Laurie R. King was chosen to be the one who presented Mary's journals to the world. The first is told in Mary's voice about how she and her husband Sherlock outwitted Sherlockians who were trying to break their piece. The 92-year-old Mary and her even older husband Sherlock led them on a chase from Sussex to Oxford and back again. The final story is told in a series of letters and postcards as Mary hunts for the missing Sherlock after they managed to get away from the Sherlockians.
The variety of narrators all brought the characters to vivid life. Listening to it has made me eager to listen to all the novels again.
All of the stories were entertaining. I particularly liked Mary's diary written when she was a child of fourteen living in San Francisco with her family. It includes her searching for German spies with mixed results. It definitely paints Mary as a very intelligent and determined characters.
I enjoyed the story of Mary and Sherlock's wedding as they sneak into a chapel at Sherlock's family home.
I also really enjoyed the last two pieces detailing how Laurie R. King was chosen to be the one who presented Mary's journals to the world. The first is told in Mary's voice about how she and her husband Sherlock outwitted Sherlockians who were trying to break their piece. The 92-year-old Mary and her even older husband Sherlock led them on a chase from Sussex to Oxford and back again. The final story is told in a series of letters and postcards as Mary hunts for the missing Sherlock after they managed to get away from the Sherlockians.
The variety of narrators all brought the characters to vivid life. Listening to it has made me eager to listen to all the novels again.
January 1, 2024
3.5 Stars. Love this series and the audio versions! A treat to have this short story. And coincidentally read it at Chritmas time.
January 27, 2025
I’ve never read any Sherlock Holmes. The Christmas ghost-themed short story as an introduction to Holmes was likely was a poor choice on my part.
Regardless, 1 star because I had to beg myself to finish it and it was only an hour and an audiobook.
Regardless, 1 star because I had to beg myself to finish it and it was only an hour and an audiobook.
June 16, 2020
This short story is only available in the collection. It was never published elsewhere. It takes place later than quite a few of the novels. It has a Christmas theme. Not a very puzzling mystery, though, at least for me.
August 20, 2019
Short but interesting. Good plot twist
June 20, 2020
Mary and Holmes are called upon to discover a ghost - It is fun to have the background information for this enjoyable series.... Kristi & Abby Tabby
September 19, 2020
A little tidbit of a story for Christmas featuring Mary Russell, Sherlock Holmes and his son with Irene Adler and his granddaughter. Enjoyable as are all Mary Russell stories.
September 27, 2020
For diehard fans
November 17, 2020
A lovely short story for when you’ve read the entire series thus far and anxiously await the next - an “amuse bouche” of Mary Russell!
April 7, 2021
a short, cute Christmas tale
Read
October 15, 2021I had read most of these vignettes before that it was nice to hear them narrated.
January 13, 2022
meh - It's ok. Not as good as some of the other novellas in the series. Christmas time.
It's very short though, so if you like the series, you'll want to read it.
It's very short though, so if you like the series, you'll want to read it.
January 17, 2022
Lost the plot (literally) of this pastiche long ago. This was a pointless story but I like the character of the granddaughter.
August 9, 2022
Nice collection of short stories
March 30, 2023
Charming
May 3, 2023
Audio
July 6, 2023
A very good Christmas story in the Mary Russell series.
August 9, 2023
Interesting quick listen.
December 26, 2024
loved this one!
May 30, 2025
Loved this short story--especially after reading Justice Hall & Lantern's Dance!
September 7, 2025
Another Mary+Sherlock amuse-bouche with a Christmas coating.
It's like King is writing her own fan fiction.
Cute.
It's like King is writing her own fan fiction.
Cute.
November 23, 2025
Great little novella or short story set around Christmas with Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes.
September 21, 2022
A delightful short story that brings Sherlock and Mary back to the manor of family friends. It's a sweet morsel for those who've read the stories involving Ali and Mahmoud.
Update: I'd forgotten I had accessed this short story. Still a delight.
Update: I'd forgotten I had accessed this short story. Still a delight.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews