Mary Russell - Definition

Mary Russell is a fictional character in a book series by Laurie R. King. The daughter of a Jewish merchant and an American millionaire, Russell returns to Devon, after the death of her parents and brother, where she becomes the partner to Sherlock Holmes. Mary Russell is an Oxford scholar of theology and chemistry.

All the novels are told in first-person retrospective from Mary Russell's point of view. King's introductions to each novel form part of an ongoing frame story about a mystery writer who is anonymously sent Mary Russell's memoirs in manuscript form and attempts to determine who sent them and why.

Books in the series

1. The Beekeeper's Apprentice (1994) begins in 1915 as Mary Russell literally stumbles across the retired detective, who keeps an apiary. Holmes, astonished to meet someone who can match his own powers of observation and deduction, decides to teach her more about it before Mary goes to college. His training becomes vitally important when Russell is caught up in an old enemy's vendetta against Holmes.
2. A Monstrous Regiment of Women takes place in the years just after World War I. Russell and Holmes investigate a new religious movement based on the idea of the "Sacred Feminine", whose wealthier followers are developing a tendency to die suddenly after willing their fortunes to the cause. A sub-plot leads up to the revelation that Holmes had another reason for cultivating Russell's acquaintance beyond being impressed by her detective talents.
3. A Letter of Mary closely follows the events of Monstrous Regiment. Russell and Holmes investigate the death of a friend who may have discovered a letter written by Mary Magdalene.
4. The Moor takes the partnership out to Dartmoor, the location of original The Hound of the Baskervilles. Russell and Holmes stay at the home of the Rev. Sabine Baring-Gould and investigate the appearance of a new "ghost" on the moor.
5. O Jerusalem revisits events mentioned in The Beekeeper's Apprentice in more detail. Working with two of Mycroft's agents, Muhammad and Ali, the partners seek out spies in post-WWI Palestine.
6. Justice Hall takes place in Berkshire, where Russell and Holmes must help uncover a murderer plotting to kill the Duke of Justice hall.
7. The Game takes Russell and Holmes to India, on the trail of a missing English spy, Rudyard Kipling's Kimball O'Hara.