Frank H. (perryfran) reviewed on 7/21/2019 + 1184 more book reviews

It is 1915, a year into the Great War, when young 15-year-old Mary Russell literally stumbles into a retired Sherlock Holmes who is busy studying bees in Sussex Downs. Thus begins the friendship and apprenticeship of Mary to the great Sherlock Holmes. You see, Mary seems to be the equal in intellect to Holmes and thus becomes a very suitable partner for him who can actually help him in any cases he may get involved with in his retirement. This of course is in contradiction to Dr. Watson, who was Holmes chronicler but only participated in his cases to a very minor extent.

So this is the first of a series of books featuring Russell and Holmes. I actually read another one of these several years ago, The Moor, which I remember enjoying but don't remember any of the details of the story. This one actually covers about four years from 1915 thru 1919 with Mary waiting patiently to come of age and receive her inheritance. In the meantime, she becomes fast friends with Holmes and actually works with him on his cases. She is instrumental in rescuing a young girl who has been kidnapped and then comes someone who is out to kill both Holmes and Russell as well as Dr. Watson. But who is this fiendish person who starts out by bombing Holmes' beehives and then sets a bomb for Mary in her rooms at Oxford? And what is the motivation?

I rather enjoyed this Holmes pastiche and I have a few others in the series that I look forward to reading.

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