Sample the Thrill: The God of the Hive

One of many great articles that you can find each month in The Big Thrill!

In The God of the Hive, award-winning author Laurie R. King has created another fascinating and engaging Mary Russell novel. For those not familiar with this series, I strongly recommend you cease your current activity and immediately introduce yourself to Mary Russell and her whirlwind life as Sherlock Holmes's young wife.

Russell and Holmes have worked together to solve the most perplexing of cases. Now, The God of the Hive picks up where The Language of Bees left off: with the duo and those they are protecting scattered to the winds, Scotland Yard after them from one side and a shadowy faction of the government from the other--in rickety airplanes above Scotland and on boats in the North Sea; in hidden rooms above London shops and rustic woodland cabins.


Chased by those who want them dead, chasing answers to deadly mysteries, the consequences of what they find will circle the globe, and involve a man with a curious identity and a dangerous past. With the God of London's hive watching them, it will take more than deduction if they ever want to see each other alive again.

Laurie R. King writes as if painting a spectacular wall mural. The reader is immediately drawn into the 1920's where the era and landscape are vivid and soaked with sound and scents. Laurie's rich and diverse background that encompasses degrees in theology, extensive world travel and the ability to wear a carpenter's belt and actually know what to do with the tools attached, brings a level of creativity and world building to her novels that immediately captures the reader and promises an afternoon of pure escapism.

Booklist (starred): Using short chapters and wielding her virtual pen like a burnished sword, King allows readers to race through this gloriously complex second half of last year's Language of Bees....How Mary, Holmes, and Mycroft solve [their] conundrum--usually while separated from one another--is delineated in resplendent prose. The nascent and rocky development of air travel and international telephone lines; the effect of a winsome and intelligent child on perhaps overintellectual adults; descriptions of locales and places via scent, texture, and color--all of it makes for utterly absorbing reading.

I had the pleasure of conversing with Laurie and asked her what surprises lay in store for Mary Russell in The God of the Hive and where might we next meet up with the unflappable wife of Sherlock Holmes.

"Poor Mary, she always hopes to be permitted to spend some quiet time with her books, when -bam- another case drops down on them. Usually involving someplace cold. The 2011 novel (which will make three Russell's in a row, unusual for me) finds her headed for Lisbon with a mad troupe of actors making a silent film about The Pirates of Penzance, with real pirates. Never a dull moment..."

Take a quick moment to visit Laurie's website. You won't be disappointed. Not only is there an enticing excerpt from The God of the Hive but also a picture of Laurie with the Dali Lama.

Julie Korzenko is a senior paralegal at a boutique domestic law firm in Atlanta. Her first book DEVIL'S GOLD hit the shelves in March of 2009. Publisher's Weekly stated that "Fans of Alex Kava, Shannon, McKenna, and Suzanne Brockmann will hope to see more of Cassidy and Jake." She is currently wrapping up its sequel ANGEL FALLS.

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