INTERVIEW Laurie R. King

CREATING new works based on an iconic fictional character who’s been around for over a century can be a minefield for an author.

- Andrew F. Gulli

The attempt is often fraught with backlash from purists who feel that nothing compares to the originals and contemporary authors would do better to concentrate their efforts elsewhere. However, in 1994, when Laurie R. King introduced a retired Sussex-secluded Sherlock Holmes to the young, fiercely independent-minded Mary Russell in The Beekeeper’s Apprentice, the public immediately embraced the novel. And in the years since, even the strictest purists have delighted in this atmospheric series casting Holmes in a very different light, adding another dimension to one of literature’s most beloved characters.

The Holmes-Russell novels are known for exotic locales and tightly constructed plots in which Russell, once Holmes’s pupil, becomes every bit as great a detective as the Great Detective himself. And while Holmes might have been known for his arrogance and—albeit always chivalrous—mistrust of women in his younger years, Russell brings out a more engaging side of a man mellowed by age. Holmes, in turn, treats her as his equal. The series has helped reinvigorate the pastiche genre, with dozens of authors following in King’s footsteps. It has also brought tens of thousands of fans who pre-order the novels, consistently placing King on the New York Times Best Sellers list. Although authors these days are under constant pressure to deliver more books featuring their most successful series characters, for the past quarter-century King has never stopped experimenting. Her highly suspenseful 2017 novel