The God of the Hive (2010)

Russell and Holmes have worked together to solve the most perplexing of cases. Now, The God of the Hive picks up where The Language of Bees left off: with the duo and those they are protecting scattered to the winds, Scotland Yard after them from one side and a shadowy faction of the government from the other—in rickety airplanes above Scotland and on boats in the North Sea; in hidden rooms above London shops and rustic woodland cabins. Chased by those who want them dead, chasing answers to deadly mysteries, the consequences of what they find will circle the globe, and involve a man with a curious identity and a dangerous past. With the God of London’s hive watching them, it will take more than deduction if they ever want to see each other alive again.

US Hardcover

Click here to read an excerpt of The God of the Hive 

ISBN (US): 9780553805543

ISBN (UK): 9780749008475

ISBN (US paperback, available August 9, 2011): 978-0-553-59041-8

ISBN (UK paperback, available 6 June 2011): 978-0-7490-0981-6

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What They Say

Booklist (starred): Using short chapters and wielding her virtual pen like a burnished sword, King allows readers to race through this gloriously complex second half of last year’s Language of Bees….How Mary, Holmes, and Mycroft solve [their] conundrum—usually while separated from one another—is delineated in resplendent prose. The nascent and rocky development of air travel and international telephone lines; the effect of a winsome and intelligent child on perhaps overintellectual adults; descriptions of locales and places via scent, texture, and color—all of it makes for utterly absorbing reading.

UK Hardcover

Seattle Times: The writing of new Holmes stories is a thriving cottage industry within the mystery-fiction genre, but King’s series stands out for several reasons. Her storytelling is robust, confident and lightly sprinkled with grace notes reflecting the author’s background in theology. Her characters, major and minor alike, are always vivid.

Moreover, the partnership between Holmes and Russell is satisfying, intelligent and affectionate. And then there’s King’s ability to merge two-fisted action with scenes of tenderness — as when, at the close of this book, the great detective and his wife take a break from their ripping adventures to attend a tea party their not-always-burdensome granddaughter holds in honor of her dollies.

Publishers Weekly: Those who enjoyed the 2009 film Sherlock Holmes starring Robert Downey Jr. may appreciate bestseller King’s heavy-on-action, light-on-deduction 10th novel featuring Mary Russell and her much older husband, Conan Doyle’s iconic detective. The plot picks up in the summer of 1924 right after the previous entry in the series, The Language of Bees. A religious fanatic, Rev. Thomas Brothers, who seeks to unleash psychic energies through human sacrifice, has shot Holmes’s artist son, Damian Adler, seriously wounding the young man. Holmes’s desperate quest for medical help to save his son’s life takes him to Holland, while Mary travels throughout Britain in an effort to keep Damian’s half-Chinese daughter, Estelle, safe from Brothers and his allies. Cliffhanging situations abound as both leads benefit from the convenient appearance of extremely helpful strangers.

US Paperback

Links

Panorama of Westminster Bridge

Explore Mary Russell’s World.

Read Laurie’s thoughts on writing The God of the Hive on her blog, Mutterings.

Pictures

The Stones of Stenness, Orkney	The meeting of sea & land, Orkney
The hill dividing the halves of Mainland Orkney	Ferry on Lake Windermere
Wray Castle, near Lake Windermere	House in the Lake District
One of many stone walls in the Lake District	Lake District fells
London park	The Treasury, where Mycroft Holmes works
The Houses of Parliament	Westminster Hall and the Houses of Parliament
The Houses of Parliament from Westminster Bridge	An Outrageously Named Pub