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FAQs

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What’s next?

Pirate King, the eleventh Mary Russell novel, will be published on September 6, 2011. Keep an eye on the book page for updates on its publication and our upcoming Laurie Arr! King Festival.

What about movies?

CBS, which had optioned Keeping Watch, has decided it will not be making movies for a while, so there are currently no projects underway, although much discussion in various directions.

How can I get news?

Other than checking this site, do you mean? Sign up for the newsletter here, find Laurie on the web, drop Laurie a note by snail mail, or read Laurie’s Blog.

How can I arrange an event or interview with Laurie?

Contact her Bantam publicist, Sharon Propson, or write to us directly.

How can I get my book signed or inscribed?

The Store page will direct you to my local bookstore, he’s glad to sell you a copy of any of my books. And if you have a book already that you’d like signed, write or call him and ask if he’d do that for you – although please, buy something from him at the same time, okay? He’s a small independent and can’t afford to run a public service!

You can also get signed editions of my most recent book from Capitola Book Cafe in Capitola, CA: (831) 462-4415 or Bookshop Santa Cruz in Santa Cruz, CA: (831) 423-0900.

Of course, if you just want a signed book plate, send me a SASE at P. O. Box 1152, Freedom, CA 95019, and let me know which book you want a plate for. DO NOT send the book itself, I can’t guarantee it’ll get back to you safely.

You write two very different series and stand-alones as well. How can you write so many different kinds of things?

The question should be, rather, how do some people write the same kind of things for so long? Maybe I have a low threshold for boredom, but the thought of writing just one series of characters would drive me to a very early retirement. Immersing myself in the Russell world for the space of a year, England in the 1920s, then going to the San Juan Islands for the next book, keeps me from becoming tired of the characters and myself.

As for how I write them, it’s made easier because the styles are so different. The Russell books are first person, written in a formal English-English down to the spelling (when, that is, the typesetter allows.) The Martinelli books are a straightforward American English, nothing very formal about them, and in the third person. The stand-alone novels contain elements of both, being American English but somewhat more ornate than the Martinelli police procedurals. Each style contains its own world, for me as a writer, and I no more stray from one into another while writing than a person fluent in two languages accidentally throws a foreign verb into a sentence.

Will Califia’s Daughters be part of a series?

When I wrote it I envisioned it as the middle episode in a trilogy, although the first and third are merely in my mind, not on paper. Perhaps if the book does well, the publishers will be interested in those, too.

When will there be another Kate Martinelli book?

There’s none currently scheduled, although Laurie lives in hope.

Why write Sherlock Holmes?

No mystery writer, no matter where she or he stands in the spectrum from “cozy” to “hard-boiled,” can avoid the presence of The Great Detective in the shadowy recesses of the story. I merely chose to bring him forward into the spotlight.

More than that, a number of us have chosen to write homages to the master, to sing in duet with a voice that stirs us to the soul. With attention, with dignity, with skill, and with a lot of luck, what we achieve comes nearer opera than karaoke.

Isn’t Sherlock Holmes under copyright?

No, not any more.

What’s with this age difference between Holmes and Russell?

It’s not as great as you think. See “A Holmes Chronology”in the Mary Russell’s World section of this site.

Why do you write mysteries?

See: “Why the Mystery?” in the Mutterings section.

Isn’t it a little odd to go from an academic theological background into writing crime fiction?

From a life of God to a life of crime, you mean? Yes and no. What interested me most during my theological studies was the Hebrew Bible or Old Testament, which is made up of stories. In them you often find a peculiar importance laid on a word or phrase, or in the absence of some fact one would have thought essential, which act as clues pointing to the underlying meaning. The Old Testament in particular teaches essential truth through the stories of men and women. My own novels strive at a pale imitation of that technique.

Our group is reading one of your books–any suggestions?

The Virtual Book Club will be working its way through the King books, one month at a time, so you might check there to see what people have been talking about.  And here on the site, there’s a section just for reading groups on the Scholar’s Corner page, with discussion questions and–bookmarks!

How can I get you to include my town on your next tour?

A writer generally has very little say in where a tour takes her, those decisions being up to the publisher. If you have an enthusiastic bookstore or library, if you think you can produce enough warm bodies to make it worth my publisher’s time and money, then by all means get in touch with the Bantam publicist, Sharon Propson. If you’d like me to pay a virtual visit to your library or book club via an online conference, please see the Book Clubs page or email us for more information.

Many of your books handle issues of religion and belief. Have you written anything other than fiction about this?

I haven’t published anything other than the essays given on the LRK on: Whatever page. There’s also a rather dauntingly titled pamphlet, “Guidance for Authentic Living in the Mystery Novels of Laurie R. King”, that was written by Professor Michael Duffy of Hanover College in Indiana, following my week there as writer in residence. The pamphlet is available at a small charge from Hanover, at (812) 866-6739 or email.

Did Laurie King write the Mary Russell books, or is she just the editor? Or as one email put it:
“I just read the Editor’s Preface to The Beekeeper’s Apprentice, and it appears that Laurice [sic] R King did not in fact write the Mary Russel [sic] stories, but mysteriously received the manuscripts in a large metal trunk one day. You might want to update portions of your site that reference the stories ‘written by Laurie R King.’”

You’re going to need to play this game by yourself.

What does Laurie like to read?

There’s a list of books on the page Scholars Corner that Laurie recommends both as bibliography and for pleasure. We’ll be updating the list in a while. You can also visit Laurie’s Goodreads page for a more recent and comprehensive list of suggestions.

I’ve just read the “How Laurie Came to Have the Stories” booklet, and I’m wondering how it could be that Russell is 92 years old yet Holmes is still alive. Wouldn’t that put him at about 132 years old? Or did I miss something somewhere?

You’ve seen the web site’s article on Holmes’ age?

A number of years ago, a devout Sherlockian pointed out that, as Holmes’ obituary had yet to appear in The Times (London, of course.) the only possible conclusion was that he was still alive. And in the intervening years, that obituary has not appeared. Considering the infallibility of The Times in all things British, I am forced to conclude that the man lives on in the Sussex Downs.

(This is all part of The Game, the conceit held by Sherlockians and Holmesians–the US and UK, respectively–that Conan Doyle was not a writer of fiction, but a literary agent publishing true stories written by Watson. As Dorothy Sayers, a respected player of The Game, put it, one must treat it as solemnly as a county cricket match at Lord’s. In other words, tongue firmly in cheek and face completely deadpan. And if this makes Sherlock Holmes 148 years old, so be it.)

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