An interesting aspect of having a long-lived and highly detailed series of stories about a set of characters is how those characters take on lives of their own in the eyes of their readers–even if they don’t belong to an already established world such as that of Sherlock Holmes. Circles within circles take form: Laurie King writes…
Read MoreAt long last, by popular request: new Russell swag on the Cafepress store. The Mary Russell Companion t-shirts, mugs, iPad cases, and Other Stuff: All about the world’s greatest detective …and her husband, Sherlock Holmes. Maybe your companion dog needs a Companion Shirt? Or you just want to be cool with water from a Dreaming…
Read MoreOne of the fun things I put into the Mary Russell Companion was a document written by my husband’s father, William King, regarding an intriguing possible overlap between the family of Laurie King and that of Mary Russell. William King laid the first telephone line into Lhasa; Sherlock Holmes, during the “Great Hiatus” following his…
Read MoreFabulous event coming on Saturday, an afternoon of crime, at Kepler’s in Menlo Park, CA: Mysteries & Thrillers, at each others’ throats. Ten great writers (or anyway, nine and me) getting down and dirty about crime–the list of writers is here, and this is the program: 1:00 The “Rules” of the Publishing Game: The Times…
Read MoreIt’s no secret that I have a weakness for odd plants. And a while ago I posted images of my front entrance, the thing that sold me on the house from my first step in the front door. But the house still manages to surprise me. When I got back from a trip to England…
Read MoreAmong other things, The Mary Russell Companion offers back-story for the dramatis personae of the Memoirs, including the quizzical Mr Goodman of The God of the Hive. Not that we can ever know quite how the man came to be as he was, but a previously unpublished short-short story, “The Birth of a Green Man”, appears…
Read MoreIn the twenty years since The Beekeeper’s Apprentice introduced Mary Russell to the world, many questions have been raised about the good lady, and about her relationship with Sherlock Holmes, her religious beliefs, her Oxford college, what kind of car she drives—and just where on the Sussex Downs is that house of hers, anyway? In a fervent…
Read MoreWe have had (for those of you with short attention spans and/or memory loss) two contests celebrating both April’s National Library Week and Mary Russell’s 20th birthday (Miss Russell’s popularity over this score of years also owing much to the enthusiasm of libraries.) The first celebration was Book Club in a Box, weekly drawings of Russell…
Read MoreToday’s your last day to tell me “How The Beekeeper’s Apprentice Changed my Life” or: “When I First Met Mary Russell, She…” This year’s celebration of libraries, whose theme for National Library Week this year has been: Lives Change @ Your Library. (And yes, there will be Extra Points Given for a mention of libraries…
Read MoreThe Mary Russell Companion is many things to many people: research tool (What year did “Mrs Hudson’s Case” take place?); source of amusement (Fernando Pessoa, pirate!); extended, free-form Laurie R. King novel (gasp: the Memoirs, fiction? Never!). Tirade against accusers..? A Protest: Russell and the Mary Sues Since the Memoirs first began to appear,…
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