The beekeeper's apprentice : or on the segregation of the queen

A story of Mary Russell, a recently orphaned teen-aged girl who meets Sherlock Holmes after he has retired and moved to Sussex. She befriends him, and becomes his apprentice.

I loved the writing style, I loved Mary's search for her identity as a woman, scholar, and Jew; I loved the descriptions of the Sussex Downs, and I loved the depictions of Sherlock Holmes. I thought it was spot on.

Dozens of authors have taken on the challenge of creating new adventures for Sherlock Holmes, and Laurie King has created some of the most believable about the Great Detective. More importantly, she has brought to life one of the most endearing heroines of mystery fiction in Mary Russell. It's so refreshing, in this first installment in the ongoing series, to read about an intelligent young woman who isn't mooning after boys or worrying about her looks. Instead, she is smart, capable, practical, and resourceful. One could do much worse than to emulate Miss Russell.