A Case of Correspondence: Part 2

A series of communications (employing means as varied as re-used post cards and the agony columns of the Times) has come to light between Mary Russell and Other Important People, which will be revealed during the Twenty Weeks of Buzz. It follows the 1992 (not a typo!) tale published last year as MyStory (or, The…

Read More

Twenty Weeks of Russell

What’s this I see? Mary Russell has a new post over on her MySpace page? Episodes of “A Case in Correspondence” will appear there Wednesdays, and here Fridays, throughout our Twenty Weeks of Buzz. What on earth are the world’s greatest detective and her husband, Sherlock Holmes, up to now?

Read More

A Case of Correspondence: Part 1

Correspondence has come to light between Mary Russell and Other Important People, which will be revealed during the upcoming Twenty Weeks of Buzz. It follows the 1992 (not a typo—those old folks do get around!) tale published last year as MyStory (or, The Case of the Ravening Sherlockians.) The current saga posts in its prose…

Read More

“The Game”

Almost as long as there have been Sherlock Holmes stories, there have been ardent readers commenting on the stories, speculating on the Conan Doyle chronology, indulging in genteel (for the most part) arguments over the minutiae of time, place, and technique.  For example, several times, Holmes mentions his partner’s recent change in marital status: So,…

Read More

Listening to the story

This part of writing, the rewrite, is why I’m glad I don’t have to produce two or three books a year.  And it’s why I’m glad (well, almost glad) that I’m not a writer who locks herself into an outline.  Because what I’m doing now is listening to the story. The first draft gives me…

Read More

The Adventures in Russell-Land Part V – Wandering Dartmoor

The continuing exploits of two Americans, lost in the moors of south-western England, expecting at any moment to come across a ghostly Hound… (Click on the photos to enlarge.) The next morning we were treated to a wonderful breakfast in Baring-Gould’s study, a narrow room with a massive fireplace in the middle of one of…

Read More

Adventures in Russell-land Part IV

This is the fourth episode, in which Russell’s Faithful Friends Alice and Merrily come to Dartmoor, and surround themselves with the work of Sabine Baring-Gould. (Click on each photo to enlarge.) Also, Miss Russell and her friends wish the author of this post many happy returns of the day. ******* Motoring down from Oxford to…

Read More

Adventures in Russell-Land Part III

The continuing adventures of two faithful Friends of Russell, who recently followed that great lady’s footsteps through the south of England. ******* The lasting impression I have about that very wet day traipsing up and down the streets of Oxford was how close together all the colleges stood.  You would go past one doorway after…

Read More

Adventures in Russell-land – Part II

The Bodelian Library is a must for anyone who is devoted to the Mary Russell mysteries, and traveling with Merrily, the former head librarian at Brown University, opens doors that might otherwise be barred. She knew the current librarian of the Bodley back in the day, and it only took an email to arrange a…

Read More

Friends of Russell, on the road

Two of the long-time Friends of Russell are on a tour of the British Isles, and have sent messages and photos (and, I admit, have assisted Russell herself in the posting of Twitter photos.) Please click on each photo below to enlarge. Here’s Alice: ****** Two Devoted Fans Russellian Pilgrimage The Adventures of Alice and…

Read More