The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie R. King takes up the story of a retired Sherlock Holmes living quietly with his bees in the country. When a teen-aged neighbor girl literally stumbles upon him as he's studying his pollen-laden friends, he is intrigued by her obvious intelligence and eccentricity. (She was dressed as a boy, after all.) Against all the social norms of 1915 England, he takes young Mary Russell under his wing and proceeds to teach her everything he can about his unique methods of detection. She is a quick study, and is soon off to Oxford University. But Sherlock has many enemies with long memories, and both he and Mary find themselves in mortal peril. Can they solve the puzzle and uncover their devious adversary, or will said foe succeed in putting Sherlock Holmes in permanent retirement?
The Beekeeper's Apprentice was published in 1994. Laurie R. King is my new best friend, because 11 more Mary Russell books follow the first!!! I love it when I find a great series.
And now for a little bit of "Holmes Humor":
“Holmes and Watson are on a camping trip. In the middle of the night Holmes wakes up and gives Dr. Watson a nudge. "Watson" he says, "look up in the sky and tell me what you see."
"I see millions of stars, Holmes," says Watson.
"And what do you conclude from that, Watson?"
Watson thinks for a moment. "Well," he says, "astronomically, it tells me that there are millions of galaxies and potentially billions of planets. Astrologically, I observe that Saturn is in Leo. Horologically, I deduce that the time is approximately a quarter past three. Meterologically, I suspect that we will have a beautiful day tomorrow. Theologically, I see that God is all-powerful, and we are small and insignficant. Uh, what does it tell you, Holmes?"
"Watson, you idiot! Someone has stolen our tent!”
― Thomas Cathcart, Daniel Klein
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