The Beekeeper's Apprentice: or, On the Segregation of the Queen (Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes Book 1)

by Laurie R. King

Guessing is a weakness brought on by indolence and should never be confused with intuition.”

“The lust for murder is not a rational thing. In queens, it is an instinctual response.”

Bitterness is an aftertaste that comes when the sweetness has had time to fade,

Her voice broke and in an instant Holmes was before her, with that compassion and understanding for a soul in trouble that was so characteristic of him, yet which for some reason always took one by surprise.

You cannot help being a female, and I should be something of a fool as well were I to discount your talents merely because of their housing.”

“That’s what tears are for, you know, to wash away the fear and cool the hate.”

“When faced with the unthinkable,” I said shakily, “one chooses the merely impossible.”

“I was merely going to say that I hope you realise that guilt is a poor foundation for a life, without other motivations beside it.”