Laurie R. King

King is a witty, literate author with two continuing series of mysteries. The better of the two concerns a feminist woman named Mary Russell who, in the early part of this century, first befriends and then marries Sherlock Holmes. This series does not consist of Holmes pastiche, by any means; this is, so to speak, the real Holmes, not the caricature presented by one Arthur Conan Doyle. The effect strikes me as a cross between Dorothy L. Sayers' Peter Wimsey and Elizabeth Peters' Amelia Peabody. I've enjoyed the series immensely to date, and look forward to any future books.

The second series concerns a present-day homicide detective with the San Francisco Police Department, one Kate Martinelli. The series is grittier and less fun than the Mary Russell books, and I don't like them as well, but they are nevertheless well-written.

Mary Russell

• The Beekeeper's Apprentice

Reviews: 1 January 1999, 1 October 1999, 1 April 2002, 1 October 2004

• A Monstrous Regiment of Women

Reviews: 1 January 1999, 1 October 1999, 1 April 2002

• A Letter of Mary

Reviews: 1 January 1999, 1 November 1999, 1 April 2002

• The Moor

Reviews: 1 February 1999, 1 April 2002

• O, Jerusalem

Reviews: 1 July 2000, 1 April 2002

• Justice Hall

Reviews: 1 May 2002, 1 May 2003

Kate Martinelli

• A Grave Talent

Reviews: 1 February 1999, 1 May 2004

• To Play the Fool

Reviews: 1 February 1999, 1 May 2004

• With Child

Reviews: 1 February 1999, 1 May 2004