LAURIE R. KING

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERLaurie R. Kings novels of suspense featuring Mary Russell and her husband, Sherlock Holmes, are critically acclaimed and beloved by readers for the authors adept interplay of history and adventure. Now the intrepid duo is finally trying to take a little time for themselvesonly to be swept up in a baffling case that will lead them from the idyllic panoramas of Japan to the depths of Oxfords most revered institution.After a lengthy case that had the couple traipsing all over India, Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes are on their way to California to deal with some family business that Russell has been neglecting for far too long. Along the way, they plan to break up the long voyage with a sojourn in southern Japan. The cruising steamer Thomas Carlyle is leaving Bombay, bound for Kobe. Though theyre not the vacationing types, Russell is looking forward to a change of focusnot to mention a chance to travel to a location Holmes has not visited before. The idea of the pair being on equal footing is enticing to a woman who often must race to catch up with her older, highly skilled husband.Aboard the ship, intrigue stirs almost immediately. Holmes recognizes the famous clubman the Earl of Darley, whom he suspects of being an occasional blackmailer: not an unlikely career choice for a man richer in social connections than in pounds sterling. And then theres the lithe, surprisingly fluent young Japanese woman who befriends Russell and quotes haiku. She agrees to tutor the couple in Japanese language and customs, but Russell cant shake the feeling that Haruki Sato is not who she claims to be.Once in Japan, Russells suspicions are confirmed in a most surprising way. From the glorious city of Tokyo to the cavernous library at Oxford, Russell and Holmes race to solve a mystery involving international extortion, espionage, and the shocking secrets that, if revealed, could spark revolutionand topple an empire.

Mary Russell is well used to dark secrets - her own, and those of her famous partner and husband, Sherlock Holmes. Trust is a thing slowly given, but over the course of a decade together, the two have forged an indissoluble bond. But what of the other person Mary Russell has opened her heart to, that third member of the Holmes household: Mrs Hudson? Blood on the floor, a token on the mantelpiece, the smell of gunshot in the air: all point directly at Clara Hudson - or rather, at Clarissa, the woman she was before Baker Street. The key to Russells sacrifice lies in Mrs Hudsons past, and to uncover the crime, a frantic Sherlock Holmes must put aside his anguish and push deep into his housekeepers secrets, to a time before her disguise was assumed, before her crimes were buried away. There is death here, and murder, and trust betrayed.

The latest adventure for the intrepid Mary Russell and her husband, Sherlock Holmes takes readers into the frenetic world of silent films, where the pirates are real and the shooting isnt all done with cameras. In Englands young silent-film industry, the megalomaniacal Randolph Fflytte is king. Nevertheless, Mary Russell is dispatched to investigate the criminal activities that surround Fflyttes popular movie studio. So Russell is traveling undercover to Portugal, along with the film crew that is gearing up to shoot a cinematic extravaganza, Pirate King. But as movie make-believe becomes true terror, Russell and Holmes themselves may experience a final fadeout.

1923. Mary Russell Holmes and her husband, the retired Sherlock Holmes, are enjoying summer on their Sussex estate when they are visited by Miss Dorothy Ruskin, an archeologist just returned from Palestine. She leaves in their protection an ancient manuscript which hints that Mary Magdalene was an apostle--an artifact certain to stir up a storm in the Christian establishment. When Ruskin is suddenly killed in a tragic accident, Russell and Holmes find themselves on the trail of a fiendishly clever murderer.

In this crackling novella, New York Times bestselling author Laurie R. King reveals an unforgettable new twist in the adventure that led supersleuth Sherlock Holmes to discover his first (and finest) apprentice, Mary Russell. Sherlock Holmes is fending off a particularly dark mood as he roams the Sussex Downs, in search of wild bees. The Great War may be raging across the Channel, but on the Downs, the great detective nears terminal melancholia - only to be saved by an encounter with headstrong, yellow-haired young Mary Russell, who soon becomes the Masters apprentice not only in beekeeping but in detection. Holmes instantly spots her remarkable ability, but his sharp eyes also see troubling problems. Why is this wealthy orphan who lives with her aunt so shabbily dressed? Why is she so prone to illness and accident? Is she herself the center of a mystery? These are questions that the great detective must answer quickly lest his protegee, and his own new lease on life, meet a sudden, tragic end. The tale of their meeting has been told from Russells point of view, but even those who have never met the famed Russell-Holmes pair will read this tale with delight - and, as its climax builds, with breathless excitement.

In nine short stories, seven of which have never previously been available in print, and one brand new, never-before-seen Sherlock Holmes mystery - available together for the first time - Laurie R. King blends her long-running brand of crime fiction with historical treats and narrative sleight of hand. At the heart of the collection is a prequel novella that begins with Englands declaration of war in 1914. As told in Mary Russells teenage diaries, the whipsmart girl investigates familial mysteries, tracks German spies through San Francisco, and generally delights with her extraordinary mind - until an unimaginable tragedy strikes.

When Mary Russell returns with her husband, the renowned Sherlock Holmes, home from abroad, her plans for peace and tranquillity are soon thwarted with the arrival of enigmatic painter Damian Adler. Adler, searching for his missing wife and child, leads them on a dangerous journey for answers. As the dynamics between right and wrong shift, Russell soon finds that the power of the sting can be more treacherous than she ever imagined.

It is 1921 and Mary Russell--Sherlock Holmess brilliant apprentice is on the verge of acquiring a sizable inheritance. Independent at last her most baffling mystery may now involve Holmes and the burgeoning of a deeper affection between herself and the retired detective. Russells attentions turn to the New Temple of God and its leader, Margery Childe, a charismatic suffragette and a mystic, whose draw on the young theology scholar is irresistible. But when four bluestockings from the Temple turn up dead shortly after changing their wills, could sins of a capital nature be afoot?

It began as a problem in one of Holmes beloved beehives, led to a murderous cult, and ended - or so theyd hoped - with a daring escape from a sacrificial altar. Instead, Mary Russell and her husband, Sherlock Holmes, have stirred the wrath and the limitless resources of those theyve thwarted. Now they are separated and on the run, wanted by the police, and pursued across the Continent by a ruthless enemy with powerful connections.

1925. Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes arrive home to find a stone. The stone is inscribed with the same name that they last saw in the Tokyo garden of the future emperor of Japan. It is the first indication that the investigation they did for him a year ago might not be as complete as they had thought. In Japan there were spies### in Oxford there are dreams. In both places, there is a small, dark-haired woman, and danger . . .

London, 1926. Harris Stuyvesant, agent of the US Bureau of Investigation, is on a mission. A series of bomb attacks on American soil, thought to be the work of an up-and-coming British politician, have left him with a vendetta more personal than professional. But when his search for answers leads him to government official Aldous Carstairs, the US agent may find himself in over his head. At Carstairs recommendation, Stuyvesant enlists the help of Bennett Grey, a man with unique abilities. After the Great War left him with an excruciating sensitivity to human deceit, Grey has withdrawn from the world. Now, however, he must help the American insert himself into the terrorists rich and radical social circle. Here Stuyvesant uncovers hidden secrets, a horrifying conspiracy, and wonders if he can trust his touchstone, Grey, to reveal the most dangerous player of all . . .

In a strange room in Morocco, Mary Russell is trying to solve a pressing mystery: Who am I? She has awakened with shadows in her mind, blood on her hands, and soldiers pounding on the door. Out in the hive-like streets, she discovers herself strangely adept in the skills of the underworld, escaping through alleys and rooftops, picking pockets and locks. She is clothed like a man, and armed only with her wits and a scrap of paper containing a mysterious Arabic phrase. Meanwhile, Holmes is pulled into the growing war between France, Spain, and the Rif Revolt led by Emir Abd el-Krim-who may be a Robin Hood or a power mad tribesman. The shadows of war are drawing over the ancient city of Fez, and Holmes badly wants the wisdom and courage of his wife, whom hes learned has gone missing. As Holmes searches for her, and Russell searches for herself, each tries to crack deadly parallel puzzles before its too late for them, for Africa, and for the peace of Europe.

Paris, 1929. For Harris Stuyvesant, his current assignment is a private investigators dream - hes getting paid to trawl the cafés and bars of Montparnasse, looking for a pretty young woman. The missing person in question is Philippa Crosby, a twenty-two-year-old from Boston, whose family have become alarmed at her lack of communication. As Stuyvesant follows Philippas trail through Paris, he finds that she is known to many of its famous - and infamous - inhabitants, from Shakespeare and Companys Sylvia Beach to the surrealist photographer Man Ray. But when the evidence leads Stuyvesant to the Theatre du Grand-Guignol in Montmartre, his investigation takes a sharp and disturbing turn.

September 1925 After their recent adventures in Transylvania Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes look forward to spending time with Holmes son the famous artist Damian Adler and his family in the French countryside But when they arrive at Damian s house they discover that the Adlers have fled from a mysterious threat In the ominously empty house Russell discovers several crates packed with memorabilia related to the artist Horace Vernet including an old journal written in a nearly impenetrable code Intrigued Russell sets about deciphering the intricate cryptograph The secrets of the past appear to be reaching into the present Could there be things about Holmes own history that even the master detective does not perceive

Through the mists of the moor there have been sightings of a coach made of bones carrying a woman long-ago accused of murder--and of a hound with a single glowing eye. Returning to the scene of one of his most celebrated cases, The Hound of the Baskervilles, Holmes and Russell investigate a mystery darker than the moors themselves.

1925. Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes arrive home to find a stone. The stone is inscribed with the same name that they last saw in the Tokyo garden of the future emperor of Japan. In Japan there were spies in Oxford there are dreams. In both places, there is a small, dark-haired woman, and danger...

The brand-new adventure featuring the much-loved duo Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes.

Gabriel Hughenfort died during the Great War, amidst scandalous rumors that have haunted the family ever since. But its not until Holmes and Russell arrive at Justice Hall, a home of unearthly perfection, that they fully understand the irony echoed in the family motto, Justicia fortitudo mea est: "Righteousness is my strength."