The Language of Bees

Novel by Laurie R. King

This article is about the novel by Laurie R. King. For the communication system of bees, see Bee learning and communication.

The Language of Bees

First edition (US)

Author| Laurie R. King
Language| English
Series| Mary Russell
Genre| Detective fiction
Publisher| Bantam Books (US)
Allison & Busby (UK)

Publication date

| 2009
Publication place| United States
Media type| Print (hardback)
ISBN| 0-553-80454-5
Preceded by| Locked Rooms
Followed by| The God of the Hive

The Language of Bees is a 2009 mystery novel by American author Laurie R. King.[1] Ninth in King's Mary Russell series, the story features detectives Mary Russell and her husband Sherlock Holmes. The events of the novel follow soon after those found in King's preceding novel, Locked Rooms.[citation needed]

## Plot summary

[edit]

Russell and Holmes return to their home in Sussex, England, 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 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, and features locations ranging from Bohemian London to the wilds of Scotland. 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, brings some plot resolution, the story continues in The God of the Hive (2010).

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "The Language of Bees: A Mary Russell Novel by Laurie R. King". Publishers Weekly. March 9, 2009. Retrieved February 19, 2024.

## External links

[edit]

* Laurie R. King official website

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Works by Laurie R. King

Kate Martinelli|

* A Grave Talent (1993)
* To Play the Fool (1995)
* With Child (1996)
* Night Work (2000)
* The Art of Detection (2006)
* Beginnings (2019)

Mary Russell|

* The Beekeeper's Apprentice (1994)
* A Monstrous Regiment of Women (1995)
* A Letter of Mary (1997)
* The Moor (1998)
* O Jerusalem (1999)
* Justice Hall (2002)
* The Game (2004)
* Locked Rooms (2005)
* The Language of Bees (2009)
* The God of the Hive (2010)
* Beekeeping for Beginners (2011)
* Pirate King (2011)
* Garment of Shadows (2012)
* Dreaming Spies (2015)
* The Murder of Mary Russell (2016)
* Island of the Mad (2018)
* Riviera Gold (2020)
* Castle Shade (2021)
* The Lantern's Dance (2024)

Stuyvesant and Grey|

* Touchstone (2007)
* The Bones of Paris (2013)

Other novels|

* A Darker Place (1999)
* Folly (novel) (2001)
* Keeping Watch (2003)
* Califia's Daughters (as Leigh Richards) (2004)

* v
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* e

Literary pastiches of Sherlock Holmes

The Exploits of Sherlock Holmes
by Adrian Conan Doyle
and John Dickson Carr|

* "The Adventure of the Seven Clocks" (1952)
* "The Adventure of the Gold Hunter" (1953)
* "The Adventure of the Wax Gamblers" (1953)
* "The Adventure of the Highgate Miracle" (1953)
* "The Adventure of the Black Baronet" (1953)
* "The Adventure of the Sealed Room" (1953)
* "The Adventure of Foulkes Rath" (1953)
* "The Adventure of the Abbas Ruby" (1953)
* "The Adventure of the Dark Angels" (1953)
* "The Adventure of the Two Women" (1953)
* "The Adventure of the Deptford Horror" (1953)
* "The Adventure of the Red Widow" (1953)

by Nicholas Meyer|

* The Seven-Per-Cent Solution (1974)
* The West End Horror (1976)
* The Canary Trainer (1993)
* The Adventure of the Peculiar Protocols (2019)
* The Return of the Pharaoh (2021)

by Loren D. Estleman|

* Sherlock Holmes vs. Dracula (1978)
* Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Holmes (1979)
* The Perils of Sherlock Holmes (2012)

by Michael Hardwick|

* The Prisoner of the Devil (1979)
* The Revenge of the Hound (1987)

by David Stuart Davies|

* Sherlock Holmes and the Hentzau Affair (1991)
* The Tangled Skein (1995)
* The Scroll of the Dead (1998)
* Shadow of the Rat (1999)
* The Veiled Detective (2004)
* The Devil's Promise (2014)
* The Ripper Legacy (2016)

by Barrie Roberts|

* Sherlock Holmes and the Railway Maniac (1994)
* Sherlock Holmes and the Man from Hell (1997)

Mary Russell series
by Laurie R. King|

* The Beekeeper's Apprentice (1994)
* A Monstrous Regiment of Women (1995)
* A Letter of Mary (1997)
* The Moor (1998)
* O Jerusalem (1999)
* Justice Hall (2002)
* The Game (2004)
* Locked Rooms (2005)
* The Language of Bees (2009)
* The God of the Hive (2010)
* Pirate King (2011)
* Garment of Shadows (2012)
* Dreaming Spies (2015)
* The Murder of Mary Russell (2016)
* Island of the Mad (2018)

by Donald Serrell Thomas|

* The Secret Cases of Sherlock Holmes (1997)
* Sherlock Holmes and the Running Noose (2001)
* The Execution of Sherlock Holmes (2007)
* Sherlock Holmes and the King's Evil (2009)
* Sherlock Holmes and the Ghosts of Bly (2010)
* The Lost Casebooks of Sherlock Holmes (2012)
* Death on a Pale Horse: Sherlock Holmes on Her Majesty's Secret Service (2013)

by Lyndsay Faye|

* Dust and Shadow: An Account of the Ripper Killings by Dr. John H. Watson (2009)
* The Whole Art of Detection: Lost Mysteries of Sherlock Holmes (2017)

Young Sherlock Holmes
by Andy Lane|

* Death Cloud (2010)
* Red Leech (2010)
* Black Ice (2011)
* Fire Storm (2011)
* Snake Bite (2012)
* Knife Edge (2013)
* Stone Cold (2014)
* Night Break (2015)

by Guy Adams|

* The Breath of God (2011)
* The Army of Dr. Moreau (2012)

by Anthony Horowitz|

* The House of Silk (2011)
* Moriarty (2014)

by Kim Newman|

* Moriarty: The Hound of the D'Urbervilles (2011)
* The Man From The Diogenes Club (2017)

by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
and Anna Waterhouse|

* Mycroft Holmes (2015)
* Mycroft and Sherlock (2018)
* Mycroft and Sherlock: The Empty Birdcage (2019)

by James Lovegrove|

* The Stuff of Nightmares (2013)
* Gods of War (2014)
* The Thinking Engine (2015)
* The Labyrinth of Death (2017)
* The Devil's Dust (2018)
* Sherlock Holmes and the Shadwell Shadows (2016)
* Sherlock Holmes and the Miskatonic Monstrosities (2017)
* Sherlock Holmes and the Sussex Sea-Devils (2018)
* Sherlock Holmes and the Christmas Demon (2019)
* Sherlock Holmes and the Beast of the Stapletons (2020)
* Sherlock Holmes & The Three Winter Terrors (2021)
* Sherlock Holmes & The Highgate Horrors (2023)

by Cavan Scott|

* Sherlock Holmes: The Patchwork Devil (2016)
* Sherlock Holmes: Cry of the Innocents (2017)

The Lady Sherlock Series
by Sherry Thomas|

* A Study in Scarlet Women (2016)
* A Conspiracy in Belgravia (2017)
* The Hollow of Fear (2018)
* The Art of Theft (2019)
* Murder on Cold Street (2020)
* Miss Moriarty, I Presume? (2021)
* A Tempest at Sea (2023)
* A Ruse of Shadows (2024)

Sherlock Holmes in Minnesota
by Larry Millett|

* Sherlock Holmes and the Red Demon (1996)
* Sherlock Holmes and the Ice Palace Murders (1998)
* Sherlock Holmes and the Rune Stone Mystery (1999)
* Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Alliance (2001)
* The Disappearance of Sherlock Holmes (2012)
* Sherlock Holmes and the Eisendorf Enigma (2017)

Other works|

| Novels|

* The Pursuit of the House-Boat (1897)
* A Double Barrelled Detective Story (1902)
* Arsène Lupin versus Herlock Sholmes (1908)
* Sherlock Holmes of Baker Street (1962)
* The Ultimate Crime (1976)
* The Last Sherlock Holmes Story (1978)
* The Whitechapel Horrors (1992)
* All-Consuming Fire (1994)
* The Strange Case of Mrs. Hudson's Cat (1997)
* The Mandala of Sherlock Holmes (1999)
* Shadows Over Baker Street (2003)
* The Final Solution (2004)
* A Slight Trick of the Mind (2005)
* The Italian Secretary (2005)
* Sherlock Holmes: The Unauthorized Biography (2006)
* Sherlock Holmes Was Wrong (2007)
* The Shadow of Reichenbach Falls (2008)
* Dead Man's Land (2013)
* The Albino's Treasure (2015)
* Sherlock Holmes and the Servants of Hell (2016)
* The Counterfeit Detective (2017)

|

Short stories|

* "The Doctor's Case" (1987)
* "A Study in Emerald" (2003)

Novel series|

* The Enola Holmes Mysteries (2006–10)
* The Boy Sherlock Holmes (2007–12)
* Gaslight series (2008–18)

Parody|

* The Misadventures of Sherlock Holmes (1944)
* The Fossil Island (1951)
* The Adventure of the Peerless Peer (1974)
* Everybody's Favorite Duck (1988)
* Lizzie Newton: Victorian Mysteries (2011–2013)
* Sherlock Bones (2011–2012)
* Solar Pons
* Stoker and Holmes (2013–2017)

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