The Beekeeper's Apprentice

The Beekeeper's Apprentice, or On the Segregation of the Queen is the first book in the Mary Russell series by Laurie R. King. It was nominated for the Agatha Award for best novel and was designated a notable young adult book by the American Library Association. Martin's Press printing.

The novel presents the first meeting between Mary Russell, fifteen years old, Jewish-American and recently bereaved, and Sherlock Holmes, who has retired to Sussex and keeps bees. Their relationship begins as instruction, with Holmes training Russell in detection, and the book's emphasis is on that apprenticeship rather than on a single case. The meeting takes place in 1915 on the Sussex Downs, where Holmes has retired to keep bees, and the apprenticeship that follows matters more to the book than any single puzzle.

A case does arrive, taking the pair to Wales to assist Scotland Yard in the search for the kidnapped daughter of an American senator. The investigation matters internationally and its clues reach back into Holmes's own history, which is how the novel ties a new partnership to the established character. King's series continued past twenty novels, the latest appearing in 2024.