''The Language of Bees'' is a 2009 mystery novel by American author Laurie R. King. Ninth in King's Mary Russell series, the story features detectives Mary Russell and her husband

Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Holmes () is a fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a " consulting detective" in the stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with observation, deduction, forensic science and ...

. The events of the novel follow soon after those found in King's preceding novel, ''

Locked Rooms ''Locked Rooms'' is the eighth book in the Mary Russell series by Laurie R. King. It was published in 2005. Unlike King's previous Mary Russell novels, ''Locked Rooms'' is split into 5 separate "books". The books alternate between the familiar ...

''.

Plot summary

Russell and Holmes return to their home in

Sussex, England Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English C ...

, in 1924 after seven months abroad in India, Japan and California. The novel features a domestic mystery as a hive on Holmes's farm has been repeatedly swarming and a colony of bees is found to have disappeared. Action shifts, however, with the reappearance of Damian Adler, a talented young painter and emotionally disturbed veteran of World War I, first introduced in the second book in the series. Adler is Holmes' estranged son, born to

Irene Adler Irene Adler is a fictional character in the Sherlock Holmes stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. A former opera singer and actress, she was featured in the short story " A Scandal in Bohemia", published in July 1891. Adler is one of the ...

in about 1895. The distraught Adler seeks the couple's help in locating his missing wife Yolanda and their daughter Estelle. Russell and Holmes separate during the investigation and Russell searches out Damian's questionable past. The search involves the British practitioners of a religious cult called ''The Children of Lights'' with roots in

Shanghai, China Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...

, and features locations ranging from Bohemian London to the wilds of

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. Russell experiences a harrowing trip by aeroplane. A series of bodies appears, some dead by suicide and others ritually sacrificed. While the climax of the novel, in an ancient circle of standing stones in

Orkney Orkney (; sco, Orkney; on, Orkneyjar; nrn, Orknøjar), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago in the Northern Isles of Scotland, situated off the north coast of the island of Great Britain. Orkney is 10 miles (16 km) north ...

, brings some plot resolution, the story continues in ''

The God of the Hive ''The God of the Hive'' is a 2010 mystery novel by American author Laurie R. King. Tenth in the Mary Russell series, the story features married detectives Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes. The novel begins almost immediately after the close of ...

'' (2010).

External links

* 2009 American novels Mary Russell (book series) Sherlock Holmes pastiches Novels set in Sussex Bantam Books books {{2000s-mystery-novel-stub