Cold cases that heat up,
past events that seize the present,
family issues on an international stage…
SFPD Inspector Raquel Laing wasn’t expecting this.
September 8, 2026
About Laurie
Laurie R. King is a bestselling, award-winning author of mystery novels, short stories, anthologies, and works of nonfiction. She sets her stories all over the world, especially the Mary Russell-Sherlock Holmes series, but her family has lived in Bay Area California for generations.
Mary Russell’s knavish uncle and the theft of the Irish Crown Jewels.
Sherlock Holmes’ bohemian son and a crime spanning the ages.
Why are families never simple for Russell & Holmes?
Inspector Raquel Laing is handed a fifty-year-old cold case involving a reclusive heir, a counterculture Eden, and a serial killer in the shadows.
Good thing she has a particular set of skills...
Praise
“A brilliant and extraordinary book.”
—Madeleine L'Engle
“Funny and fearless.”
—The Houston Chronicle
“The most sustained feat of imagination in mystery fiction today.”
—Lee Child
“Mesmerizing—another wonderful novel etched by the hand of a master storyteller.”
—Michael Connelly
“Historical fiction doesn’t get any better than this.”
—The Denver Post
“Fabulous reading, breathless excitement, and the myriad pleasures of watching great minds at work.”
—Booklist, starred review
The Series
Russell & Holmes
Raquel Laing
Kate Martinelli
Standalone Novels
Other Books
Stuyvesant & Grey
Latest Blog Post
In an attempt to compromise between saying nothing and saying everything (with fury and outrage), I’m going to post once a week: a series of citizen responses on Facebook and Instagram, Wednesdays. Some live videos, some recorded, others graphics, individual or with others. Because this is a community, and in 2025, we need to be…
Maryorama
The endless delight of the Victorian card game called Myriorama, where a few cards of scenery join at the edges to create a thousand different landscapes, now has a video interpretation. The Maryorama (formerly “Russellscape”) literally brings the LRK community together, with fan images from the Memoirs make a visual record of the travels of Russell & Holmes.
Reader Tools
Book Club Tools
One of the pleasures of novels is learning about different times, other places, unexpected ways of seeing the world. View book club kits and discussion guides to explore the worlds of Laurie R. King.
The Beekeeper’s Apprentice
Classroom Study Guide
A free 7-week study unit—vocabulary, spelling, comprehension, and related materials—for The Beekeeper’s Apprentice.
Golden Gate Bridge at Sunset by Brocken Inaglory. Available under a Creative Commons Attribution License 2.0.