In 1915, long since retired from his observations of criminal humanity, Sherlock Holmes is engaged in a reclusive study of honeybee behavior on the Sussex Downs. Never did he think to meet an intellect to match his own–until his acquaintance with Miss Mary Russell, a very modern fifteen-year-old whose mental acuity is equaled only by her audacity, tenacity, and penchant for trousers and cloth caps.

Under Holmes’s tutelage, Russell hones her talent for deduction, disguises, and danger: in the chilling case of a landowner’s mysterious fever and in a kidnapping in the wilds of Wales. But her ultimate challenge is yet to come. Soon the two sleuths are on the trail of a murderer whose machinations scatter meaningless clues…but whose objective is quite unequivocal: to end Russell and Holmes’s partnership–and their lives.

勞拉·金（Laurie R. King），齣生於1952年，美國著名推理小說傢，著作數十部，部部登上暢銷書排行榜，其中“瑪麗·羅素與大偵探福爾摩斯”係列令其聲名遠播。

迄今她已獲得並提名瞭幾乎全部推理界的奬項，堪稱阿加莎·剋裏斯蒂之後的女性推理小說傢。這些奬項包括美國偵探作傢協會頒發的全世界偵探小說奬項埃德加·愛倫·坡奬，美國國傢懸疑作品協會頒發的美國著名推理小說奬項阿加莎奬，英國重要的文學奬項之一橘子奬，以及尼祿·沃爾夫奬、剋利西奬、麥剋維蒂奬、巴利奬等等。

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