Pirate King by Laurie R King

This is the promo poster, isn't it divine?

I bought this bad boy in hardcover the week it came out. I'm a library girl, so the fact that I just went and bought it without reading it is high praise, indeed. 

It is the latest installment of the Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes series and I enjoyed every second. King has taken a slight turn with this one - it's almost a comedy. It's certainly humorous (even when the suspense is ratcheting up, the situation is still amusing) and still a page-turner.

I suspect that King has introduced a character we'll see again - one of the actresses in the movie Russell has sought employment with gets a lot of play.

Yes, you read that right. The premise here is that an assistant to a rather popular production company has gone missing and Scotland Yard (via Holmes) would like Russell to investigate - under cover, of course. So she buy fashionable shoes and boards a steamer to suss out what's happened. And it's not quite a comedy of errors from then on out. More like...a comedy of coincidences? A comedy of ironies? At any rate - it's many chapters of suspenseful fun.

This series just keeps getting better and better - after the last pair of novels (one ending with a cliff-hanger and the next wrapping up that adventure) it was nice to read a lighter tale about my favorite sleuthing duo.

The biggest downside that I could see arrived on the very last printed page of the book - the part where it talk about the author. I'll just quote it for you: "She lives in Northern California, where she is at work on her next novel of historical suspense, Garment of Shadows, to be published by Bantam in 2013." I will be quite miffed if this bruhaha about the Mayan calendar winds up being correct and I don't get a chance to read Garment of Shadows. I'll just have to stalk King in the afterlife to find out what happens.


If you haven't read this series, do start at the beginning, with The Beekeeper's Apprentice. It helps to read in order of publication.

Keeping Watch by Laurie R. King

So this is a companion book to Folly - there is character and setting overlap, but aside from that you can read it without having first read Folly. (Warning, though: one of the characters that overlaps is Rae, the main character from Folly, so there are spoilers there.)

Keeping Watch follows Allen Carmichael, a haunted Vietnam vet whose sole mission now is to atone for his wartime sins and then retire comfortably with his girlfriend to a life of quiet relaxation. His career is on the fringes of the law - he helps children and wives (and the odd husband) escape their abusers. Keeping Watch centers on the final case of his career.

There are many, many flashbacks to Vietnam - it is fully half the book. They help round out the character and often give vital...if not actual plot points, then they plant the seeds for what unfolds in present-day narration. The parallel plots set up two climactic events - one which serves to undo Carmichael in his early 20s, and one which might undo him all over again now in his mid 50s. Peripheral characters serve as harbors for the plot and relief from the chaos of the war and abuse stories.

There is a third line of narration - that of the young man who is Carmichael's final case. Full of its own violence and emotional turmoil, it is a nice anchor for Carmichael's own story. Being inside Jamie's head helps keep everything in perspective.

King winds this story in a way that is so intricate and compelling you just can't put it down. It is thrilling, violent, agonizing, and heart warming. I almost walked away - war stories are not my cup of tea - but I gave King the benefit of the doubt and I am very glad that I did.


*Spoilerish note: when I say that it is violent, I mean it. Vietnam was a bloody, heartless war and King doesn't hold back. There is also a subtle (and at the same time, not-subtle-at-all) commentary on the atrocious way the returning soldiers were treated. This book is not for the faint of heart. I'll just come right out and say it: there is violence against children. It is hinted at, danced around, and alluded to and then outright described. It is heartbreaking because it is real. This story is not real, but it echoes hundreds that are. You have to be prepared and then you have to read to the end, where you will have hope in humanity again. I promise.

Folly By Laurie R. King

This is one of King's earlier novels. Considering that, I was all "I bet I can figure out what the deal is before the character does!"

I failed. Well, I partially failed. I continue to be humbled by the genius that is Laurie R. King.

Folly is a stand-alone novel (there is a later companion, Keeping Watch, which I will be reading soon, but to my knowledge it is not a sequel. Do not, however, read it first or Folly will be somewhat spoiled for you.) I say this because we all know how much I love her Mary Russell and Kate Martinelli books. King does not disappoint even when there aren't several books of backstory and character development to add nuance to her work.

Folly is full of nuance and rich layers. It's full of suggestion and emotion, memories and ghosts. Rae (the heroine) is a 52 year old widow recovering from a mental breakdown. The book opens as she is being deposited - at her request - on a private island, deserted save the birds who find sanctuary there. She has two main goals: rebuild her mind and rebuild the lone structure on the island, an architectural folly built by her great-uncle...both now little more than charred remains.

Kings portrayal of mental instability and of the aching loss felt by her character is heart-rending. Here before you is a broken woman, hell bent on righting herself despite what every other person in her life thinks. Of course there are other characters who round out the world of Folly - the surviving family members, sometimes more of a drain than anything - save the granddaughter whose existence is what propels Rae to heal rather than succumb. There are the deputies, couriers, and park rangers who keep her from being completely isolated on the island. There are the shadows from her professional life hovering in the background. There is the island itself - much more than merely a setting.

King sprinkles chapters with excerpts from Rae's journal and letters, letters from her granddaughter, and the journal of Rae's great-uncle - also a person who came to Folly in need of repair.

The plot is suspenseful, but not in the nature of a traditional crime novel. Were crimes committed? Yes. Are things tense and vaguely creepy? Yes. But mostly this is a novel about a woman who needs to heal. It is eloquent and rich and well worth your time. Curl up in front of a fire and get absorbed.

God of the Hive by Laurie R. King

Read. This. Book.

Ok. Really, what you need to do is start with the first in the series (Beekeeper's Apprentice) and read in order of publication. At the very least you need to read The Language of Bees because this one starts literally minutes where the prior leaves off.

And it is so so so so good.



I'm not sure how to talk about this book without giving away major series spoilers. MAJOR. So let me say this for those of you who aren't caught up: go read the prior books and then read this one. Trust me.
Laurie King makes Robert Downey's Holmes look like a buffoon. Her adaptation is respectful, well researched, and intelligent. 

"The great marvel of King's series is that she's managed to preserve the integrity of Holmes's character and yet somehow conjure up a woman astute, edgy, and compelling enough to be a partner of his mind as well as his heart." - Washington Post Book World.

There. And at the risk of being redundant: read this.

SPOILERS!





We left with the family split apart - arrest warrants, Mycroft has been questioned and then abducted, Brothers may or may not be dead (depending on who you're asking,) Holmes has fled with Damian in search of medical attention, and Russell is the unlikely care-taker of Holmes's (SURPRISE!) granddaughter. They're in the far reaches of Scotland, headed in different directions and this is a time when phones are hard to find and cell phones are unheard of. They may or may not have murderous madmen on their tails and both are hampered. Over the course of the next few days, plots are created, revealed, and cast aside. There's a funeral, a man who seems to have walked out of a fairy tale, an unlikely surgeon, an equally unlikely confidant, and a mastermind...there's also gunfights, snipers, disguises, and secret messages.

The God of the Hive is King herself.

(Ok, it's not but you couldn't have imagined that I would spoil it THAT MUCH for you, right?)

The Language of Bees by Laurie R. King

Book Nine of the Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes series is every bit as good as book one. Better, even. King has matured and honed her craft to an even sharper edge (pick up The Beekeeper’s Apprentice and you won’t think it a possible feat, her writing already being top-notch.) As we open this latest installation we feel like we’re coming back to meet old friends as the return from a trip - they are literally returning from San Francisco via Japan - and we know their backstory and what to expect. And we like it.

Don’t worry, though. If this is your first foray into this series of unauthorized Holmes sequels, King gives you enough detail so that you’re not foundering. The unfamiliar reader would be able to read this one as a stand-alone novel, save for the need to read the next one.

On the cover, plain as day, this book brands itself as “a novel of suspense” and it doesn’t disappoint. From the inexplicable failure of one of Holmes’ beehives to the shadowy figure who appears on their porch asking for their help.The reader is grateful for the map in the opening of the book, because the adventure starts on the Southern Coast of England - in Sussex, where Russell and Holmes live - and takes us up to the northern tip of Scotland (in a hurricane, no less) with many, many stops in between.

We meet Holmes’ brother, Mycroft, again - perhaps his largest appearance in a single novel - and are also introduced more thoroughly to Sherlock’s sentimental side. Yes, it is told in the first person through the eyes of Mary Russell, but she would be no match for Sherlock Holmes if she were not brilliantly observant...and it helps that she becomes very emotionally involved in this particular case as well.

Because she is Laurie R. King, I have to say that I pick up her books merely based on her byline. I have never been disappointed. King falls into that category that only a handful of writers manage: “Books I Wish I’d Written”...or, on my more cynical writers-block filled days: “Stop Now Because You Will Never Be This Good.” Luckily, those days are few and far between and instead she is inspiration. Even if you’re not a writer, I have a feeling that you’ll find inspiration.

Ok - I don’t generally like spoilers, but I want to call attention to a particularly timely scene...so if you don’t want even the hint of a spoiler, stop reading now and go get this book. Otherwise:

There is a scene where Mary has apprehended a suspect...at the very least he is a man who has information that she very badly needs. So she trusses him up and threatens to leave him for dead. The setting is one in which not even the reader is positive she won’t. Yes, we all know that she would call to let someone know his whereabouts, but we can’t be sure she’ll do it in a very timely manner. Under the tenets set out by the Geneva Convention - what she does to extract information could be termed “torture.” Given the situation, I was completely on board. I rooted for her. Granted, what she did wasn’t appalling by any means, but her suspect was terrified and genuinely afraid for his life. Emotional/Mental torture, then. Granted, it is a work of fiction. And we all give fiction a lot of leeway because it’s made-up. But her situation is one that even the most mundane woman could find herself in. And if that woman were me...let’s just say I was taking notes. So go and read, and then come back and tell me what you thought. I have feeling it won’t be a debate, though...which makes me wonder about what anyone would do when pushed far enough.

That being said: READ THIS BOOK.