Laurie R. King

Congratulations to Lori D. in Redwood City and Bruce C. of Stratham New Hampshire, in the sun and in the snow, who won copies of “A Venomous Death” for their brilliant jobs in, well, joining into the Twenty Weeks of Buzz fun—Lori read her newsletter and Bruce is on Goodreads. Enjoy the Further Adventures of Russell and Holmes, Lori and Bruce!

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And just to let you know, the new broadside, “Birth of a Green Man,” is going to look amazing. Spine-tingling, eye-popping amazing. Details probably next week.

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If you’re in San Francisco this weekend, join us for SciFi in SF, when Jedidiah Berry and I will talk about our books, and our writing, and our city.

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Finally, if I may blow my own horn, just a tootle?  Booklist is one of my favorite reviewers, not just because they usually give me a positive review, but because it’s connected with the American Library Association.  It’s therefore a great pleasure to have them lodge the first (starred) word for The God of the Hive:

Using short chapters and wielding her virtual pen like a burnished sword, King allows readers to race through this gloriously complex second half of last year’s Language of Bees. Sherlock Holmes is trying to get his gravely wounded son, the artist Damien Adler, out of England. Holmes’ wife, Mary Russell, is trying to protect Estelle, Damien’s small daughter. Mycroft Holmes, recovering from a heart attack, suddenly goes missing. The madman responsible for Damien’s injury was once married to Damien’s recently murdered Chinese wife. A woodland character who could be the Green Man has a shell-shocked Great War past. The attacks on the Holmes family are specific, devious, cunning, and widespread. How Mary, Holmes, and Mycroft solve this conundrum—usually while separated from one another—is delineated in resplendent prose. The nascent and rocky development of air travel and international telephone lines; the effect of a winsome and intelligent child on perhaps overintellectual adults; descriptions of locales and places via scent, texture, and color—all of it makes for utterly absorbing reading. The end is both puzzling and uplifting. Things may not be quite what they seem. A few ends are left dangling: one can only imagine purposefully. Devoted King fans will probably reread both The Language of Bees and The God of the Hive and wonder about Holmes’ bees and what might come next.