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’ 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.(from Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/91661.The_Beekeeper_s_Apprentice)
Group Reviews/Comments:
9 thumbs up, 3 thumbs down
Typical for our book group, both thumbs up and down were vocal and passionate. Some found the book “wordy, plodding”, and so bad they couldn’t finish it. Others felt the book “flowed really well,” and was a good set up for the rest of the series.
Many really liked a strong female sidekick and liked Holmes in a mentor role. However, there was issue taken with the short shrift given Watson in this re-imagining. People did not like how Watson was really negated as a character in order to fit Mary into the pastiche. Although it was understood “why” this happened, it still didn’t sit well.
Some felt that the Mary character was “overkill perfect.” Another reader, who first discovered this series as a 15 year old teen, was “very bias to a strong female lead”.
Regarding the mystery, there was a comment as to how the author and book was very character driven, but not strong on the “cast of suspects” type of mystery.
There were comments on how lovely was the mentor relationship between Mary and Holmes (although comments of “it should have been a trio!” were also heard). Some talked about how this relationship was a nice change from the romantic male/female romantic relationships so often portrayed in mystery fiction.
Additional feedback included both liking and not liking the pacing–it was “weird” at times having to keep up with all the time periods.
Finally, one person commented on how interesting it was to see how much could be learned outside of formal schooling.
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