Mary Russell (character)

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Mary Russell is a fictional character and the protagonist of the Mary Russell & Sherlock Holmes mystery series by American author Laurie R. King. She first appears in the novel The Beekeeper's Apprentice.

Written over a period of over three decades, King's novels are portrayals of a succession of memoirs written and compiled apparently by an aged Mary Russell. A fictional note from the editor (and signed by King) tells readers of a mysterious occurrence wherein a collection of written accounts was anonymously delivered to the unsuspecting novelist; the note ends with a plea for information from anyone with information on the identity of Mary Russell.

The stories are set between 1915 and the late 1920s, mainly in Britain but extending to Palestine, North India, the United States, Japan, France, the Netherlands, Portugal, Morocco, Italy, and Romania. They begin in Sussex, England, when 15-year-old Mary Russell (born 2 January 1900) meets a man in his mid-50s who she realizes is Sherlock Holmes, the famous detective of Baker Street, now retired to the country and beekeeping as a hobby. Holmes remains throughout the series as a secondary main character, first as Russell's mentor and father figure, and later as her husband and detecting partner. Laurie R. King said of her choice of protagonist, "I did not write Sherlock Holmes stories, I wrote Mary Russell stories".^[1]

Most of the novels are first-person, with Locked Rooms, The Language of Bees and God of the Hive being exceptions, with long passages written in third-person. This technique also serves to underscore and solidify themes in the first two novels. The third, God of the Hive (2010) is primarily written with Mary’s first-person narrative, but included various third-person narratives of several characters.

Books 1, 2, and 5 cover seven years of Mary’s life from age 15 to 21, while later books in the series take place between ages 21 through 27. In Castle Shade, she is 25 years old.

In 2000, Monica Dolan starred as Russell in a 4-part BBC Radio drama of The Beekeeper's Apprentice, with James Fox playing Holmes.