Beekeeping for Beginners

Written by Laurie R. King

Narrated by Robert Ian Mackenzie

Best-selling, award-winning author Laurie R. King's tales featuring Sherlock Holmes and Mary Russell are among the most popular mysteries being published. Here, King explores the great detective's initial meeting with Russell. Holmes is in a decidedly dark temper as he searches the countryside for wild bees, until he meets the headstrong young woman who will become his apprentice and eventual bride.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
• Release date: Apr 13, 2012
• ISBN: 9781464041891

Laurie R. King

Laurie R. King is the Edgar Award–winning author of the Kate Martinelli novels and the acclaimed Mary Russell-Sherlock Holmes mysteries, as well as a few stand-alone novels. The Beekeeper’s Apprentice, the first in her Mary Russell series, was nominated for an Agatha Award and was named one of the Century’s Best 100 Mysteries by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association. A Monstrous Regiment of Women won the Nero Wolfe Award. She has degrees in theology, and besides writing she has also managed a coffee store and raised children, vegetables, and the occasional building. She lives in northern California.

Reviews for Beekeeping for Beginners

[kathy89_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is the first thing I've read on my Kindle and I loved it. Hated the last book in this series, "The Pirate King" so this story takes us back to the beginning, a prequel, but told from Sherlock Holmes side. Apparently, the day he met Mary Russell he intended to commit suicide. He found in this young lonely girl a muse and a student. Very entertaining with Watson and some of Sherlock's irregulars making an appearance to lend a hand for the protection of an unaware Mary.

[jamesfallen · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I thoroughly enjoyed this novella covering the time when Sherlock Holmes met Miss Mary Russell.

[fuzzi_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Downloaded and read "Beekeeping for Beginners". It's an alternate beginning to "The Beekeeper's Apprentice", with some changes to the plot that I am glad were not part of the final edition.Russell and Holmes meet in almost the same fashion as in the final version of the novel, but the perspective is all Holmes, no first person by Russell. Also, she is less capable and more vulnerable than the published character.Still, it was an engaging read, and Ms. King's Holmes is in fine fettle for an adventure!

[mrslee_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A little snippet from Holmes memory of his first meeting with Russell. A sweet little interlude, and the "tweets" at the end of the tale are fun as well.

[cyderry · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

So many times when we read a book we are given story from one viewpoint and often wonder what the other characters are thinking. Laurie R. King's first book in the Mary Russell series and all subsequent books are from Mary Russell's point of view but here in this book, we see and feel Sherlock Holmes perspective. Having read the Beekeeper's Apprentice - the meeting and developing relationship between Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes - told by Mary, this added little account of the events by Sherlock Holmes just makes their blossoming relationship that much more fun. Highly recommended to the followers of Mary Russell.

[krumbs_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

A short story of the beginning of Holmes' and Russell's relationship from his point of view. The author gives us a little adventure that was hidden from Mary, so it's not a complete retread. Not bad. Quick, best to get from the library.

[boxesofpaper · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I am shamefully behind on my Mary Russells. I've been faithfully buying them in hardcover as I wish to do my part in keeping the author well fed, but with the addition of Pirate King this September, I will be three books behind. I'm starting to find myself daunted enough that inertia is threatening to set in.

Luckily, there was another Russell-related offering released just this week. An e-book exclusive, Beekeeping for Beginners, which is a short story from (mostly) Holmes' point-of-view, taking place at the time he first meets Russell.

The story was, well, adorable. I don't know that we expressly needed to leave Holmes' first person narration, and I was jarred a couple of times by the changes, but any discomfort is soothed by one line that with its rhythm tells the reader just how much Holmes is already coming to care for his new apprentice.

It's also made me pull The Language of Bees down from my shelf. Perhaps if I keep it out and in sight, my other required reading with vanish out of deference to the master.

[john257hopper · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A novella that introduces a series where the retired Sherlock Holmes, keeping bees on the Sussex Downs, meets a young would be sleuth Mary Russell.  In this introductory story, he foils a plot against the young girl's life. Good, with a generally authentic Conan Doyle style, this started very powerfully, but didn't in my view quite live up to its initial promise. I will try the first full length book in the series, though. 4/5

[joycepa_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Depending on what you read, this work is described as either a short story or an e-novella (about 50 pages long). To me, it’s a little long for a short story and maybe just shy of a novella, e-book or otherwise. Also, it’s important to know that I am not a fan of short stories; with few exceptions I find them unsatisfying--not enough length to develop either a solid plot or satisfactory characters.In this case, character development is not important--IF you are a fan, as I am, of King’s Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes series, one of the most consistently excellent of the crime fiction genre. We all know who these two are. What makes is doubly delightful is that, in the first book of the series, The Beekeeper’s Apprentice, the story of Homes and Russell’s first meeting is told at some length--from Mary Russell’s point of view. In this story, we get a very different picture of that momentous first encounter--that of Holmes himself.However, that’s takes up about a quarter of the book. The rest is devoted to the recounting of an episode of those early days, an episode that none of us knew about before--because Mary Russell herself, whose memoirs the series is, never knew. It’s not a question of the solving of a crime, but of preventing one--the early demise of the 15 year old Russell in order to get at her wealth. In it, Homes returns to London and employs his now grown-up Baker Street Irregulars.It’s very good writing and mildly interesting but light-weight, at least for me, thanks to the length. The book is really two short stories, the first being the meeting and the second the London episode. While I enjoyed both immensely, I was left unsatisfied, feeling that it would have been better if each had been part of a longer work. There is an unresolved feeling to the book for me as a result.Also, to my surprise, I found myself wishing that the book had been edited a little more. There are redundancies in the early part that could have been avoided, it seems to me. This is all the more apparent because I have NEVER felt that way about King’s works before; as far as I’m concerned, there is not an extra word in any of her other works.So yes, I enjoyed it. But I have a feeling it would not “turn on” any readers who are new to the series with a thirst to find out more. And that’s too bad.Included at the end of the book are an “interview” with Mary Russell but Tweet (a "Twinterview"), and two chapters of her forthcoming book, the next in the series, The Pirate King. The former was uninteresting while the latter leaves me impatiently waiting for the arrival of the new book!Recommended for fans of the Holmes/Russell series.