mary russell came into my life with the front line of the beekeeper’s apprentice and took over. At the time, I had little knowledge of the great war, roaring twenties england, or sherlock holmes, but that didn’t seem to matter to her, she just waited (kindly suppressing her impatience) for me to catch up.
Seventeen books later, I’ve learned a lot about Russell, Holmes and their world. I have learned even more about myself and my world, since a central reason for reading history, even fictional history, is that it is a mirror that reflects unexpected sides of our time and ourselves. Politics, women’s rights, religious expression, government oppression – all these and more pervade Russell’s stories, so that while they are primarily, as Graham Greene called his books, “entertainment,” they also have the determination and dimension of real life that a crime novel demands.
You are reading: Mary russell books in order
but most of all, I enjoy russells because they’re fun, for the writer and (I’m led to believe) for the reader. I hope you agree.
click on any book cover for more information.
for a chronology of russell & holmes stories, click here.
a chronology of russell’s memoirs
Russell’s memoir, which his reading community calls the Kanon (paralleling the “canon” of Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories), includes novels, novellas, and short stories. showing the acronyms used to refer to them, and in order of publication, they are:
- the beekeeper’s apprentice(1994) beek
- a monstrous regiment of women (1995) mreg
- a letter from mary (1997) lett
- el moro (1998) moro
- o jerusalem (1999) ojer
- courtroom (2002) just
- the game (2004) game
- closed rooms (2005) lock
- the language of bees (2009) lang
- the god of the hive (2010) gothic
- pirate king (2011) pyre
- garment of shadows (2012) garm
- dreaming of spies (2015)
- the murder of mary russell (2016)
- the island of fools (2018)
- riviera gold (2020)
- the shadow of the castle (2021) )
short stories and novels
collected in mary russell’s war:
the case of mrs. hudson (1997)
a poisonous death (2009)
my story (2009)
birth of a green man (2010)
a case in correspondence (2010)
beekeeping for beginners (2011)
Mary’s Christmas (2014)
mary russell’s war (2015)
the marriage of mary russell (2016)
majestic holmes (2016)
on deadly anniversaries:
See Also: Memorable Jane Austen Quotes From Her Novels and Letters
ten years later (2020)
internal timeline of all stories:
before 1915:
the murder of mary russell contains the background story, from 1855 to 1881, of mrs hudson and a young sherlock holmes.
locked rooms contains the events of mary russell in 1906 and 1914.
“Mary’s Christmas” is from 1910
“Mary Russell’s War” is the 1914-1915 diary of young Mary Russell.
1915 to present:
The Beekeeper’s Apprentice begins in April 1915 and covers the four years of Russell’s apprenticeship, ending in August 1919.
Beekeeping for Beginners begins at that same meeting in April 1915 and tells the story largely from the point of view of Sherlock Holmes. ends shortly after the first zeppelin bombardment of London on May 31, 1915.
“the case of mrs. hudson” is set in October 1918.
o jerusalem covers a segment of time covered by beek, although it was published out of sequence to link to just. their dates are from December 1918 to early February 1919.
A monstrous regiment of women begins on December 26, 1920, when Russell is about to turn 21, and ends in early February 1921 (with later notes extending over a few months). later). ).
“the marriage of mary russell” (ends february 17, 1921)
“birth of a green man” (early 1920s)
“a poisonous death” (1923)
A Letter from Mary takes place from mid-August to early September 1923.
the moor begins at the end of September 1923 and ends at the beginning of November.
See Also: 50 Best Books About Spain: Novels, History & Culture
courtroom spans from Guy Fawkes Day (November 5) to December 21, 1923, with an epilogue five days later.
The game begins on January 1, 1924 and ends in early March 1924.
dreaming spies (part 1) March-April 1924
closed rooms is set from May to early June 1924.
[the art of detection, a novel not usually included in russell’s memoirs, includes a case from june 1924 that holmes had in san francisco, while russell was dealing with the family businesses in southern california. his own events during this time may see a future post.]the language of the bees covers just three weeks, from August 10 to 30, 1924.
god of the hive, being a continuation of the language of the bees, picks up on August 30 to end the case on September 9, 1924 (with an epilogue dated October 31, 1924 ).
pirate king takes place in November 1924, approximately from the 6th to the 30th.
clothes of shadows covers the last weeks of 1924, and sees the dawn of January 1925.
dreaming of spies (part 2) ends in the spring of 1925
“ten years later” April 1925.
“stately holmes” is set in December 1925.
the murder of mary russell has parts set in the 19th century and the rest in may 1925.
Island of Fools takes place in June 1925.
riviera gold is set in July 1925.
the shadow of the castle takes place in August 1925.
***
“my story” and “a corresponding case” describe events in 1992, when russell is 92 years old and holmes is 131 years old, quite amazingly and remarkably agile.
“the client” meets russell and holmes in arizona in the spring of 1995.
for those who have trouble believing in his longevity, it should be noted that the times of london, the british world’s leading newspaper, has yet to publish an obituary for sherlock holmes or mary russell. and the times of london does not lose things of that importance.
See Also: 10 must-read books for higher education professionals