By Kai Hsu
Genres: Historical Fiction, Mystery, Adventure
Age Range: 16+
Summary: Long retired, Sherlock Holmes quietly pursues his study of honeybee behavior on the Sussex Downs. He never imagines he would encounter anyone whose intellect matched his own, much less an audacious teenage girl with a penchant for detection. Miss Mary Russell becomes Holmes's pupil and quickly hones her talent for deduction, disguises and danger. But when an elusive villain enters the picture, their partnership is put to a real test.
Let’s move onto something more classical. Published in 1994, The Beekeeper’s Apprentice is a Sherlock Holmes novel where he isn’t the main character. I know, it’s absolutely crazy. Instead, the role of the protagonist goes to Mary Russell, a girl who wanders her way into meeting a retired Sherlock Holmes, and who eventually takes her on as an apprentice. This novel puts a new twist on a Sherlock Holmes story- that is, one where he’s a retiree, while also keeping some old traditions, like using a common character as a narrator to make it easier for the audience to envision themselves in the narrator. I really enjoyed the mysteries and cleverness of the novel, and some of the wittiness that both characters provide to one another. The worldbuilding and mysteries establish the story as one of suspense, but also includes enough daily life outside that suspense to balance out the novel. Overall, this novel is a great spinoff on an original classic.
Comments