The Beekeeper's Apprentice

The Beekeeper's Apprentice was this month's book for my book group.  It is a new Sherlock Holmes book, but obviously not written by Arthur Conan Doyle.  Like all Sherlock Holmes stories, it is a mystery, and it is the first of a series by Laurie King introducing a young woman named Mary Russell.  Mary, or Russell as Holmes calls her, is Holmes' intellectual equal.  They meet by chance on the moors where Holmes is watching bees and Mary is walking while reading.  She nearly steps on him.  This meeting is the start of a friendship that eventually grows into a romance (but not really until book 2, I'm told, although there are hints in that direction in this book).  Holmes takes Russell under his wing and begins to train her in the art of detection, something she is very good at as she is as observant of small details as Holmes himself.  

I really enjoyed this book.  The mystery was well developed and sustained until the end, the character development was convincing, and I felt King was able to capture the original Holmes very well.  There was nothing objectionable in this book by way of language, sex, or violence, and I finished this book wanting to read more.  At my suggestion, Kent is reading it, and he is enjoying it.