One of the better Sherlock Holmes spinoffs.

The Beekeeper’s Apprentice (1994) is the first book in the Mary Russell series by Laurie R. King. It was nominated for the Agatha best novel award 

Sherlock Holmes is well retired at age- 54 in 1915. Keeping bees and studying everything in rural Sussex Downs.

A 15-year-old Jewish-American wonder child — Mary Russell — bumps into the old man in the woods — and the two quickly become odd friends.

Mary becomes a worthy apprentice. Then enters Oxford University in the autumn of 1917.

The book is a series of adventures NOT written up by John Watson.

Click PLAY or watch the author introduce the book on YouTube.

I’ve read a few of the Alex Cross novels now. Junk food. 😀

BUT I was surprised at the complexity and plot twists in his 2022 book.

(Daughter tied the High School record in 400m in this book.)

The bad guy is known as the Family Man — very EVIL.

A serial killer who targets entire families. 

A precise killer, he always moves under the cover of darkness, flawlessly triggering no alarms, leaving no physical evidence.  

Cross and Sampson aren’t the only ones investigating.  

Also in on this most intriguing case is the world’s bestselling true-crime author, who sees patterns everyone else misses.

The writer, Thomas Tull, calls the Family Man murders the perfect crime story. He believes the killer may never be caught.  

Alex Cross books in oder.

You Like It Darker (2024) is a collection of 12 short stories.

Stephen King modified the title from a Leonard Cohen lyric.

I love King the story teller. But generally don’t like horror. #conflicted

I did like this collection. He’s amazingly good at drawing you into unusual characters in unexpected situations.

“You like it darker? Fine, so do I,” writes Stephen King in the afterword to this magnificent new collection of twelve stories that delve into the darker part of life—both metaphorical and literal.

“Two Talented Bastids” explores the long-hidden secret of how the eponymous gentlemen got their skills.

In “Danny Coughlin’s Bad Dream,” a brief and unprecedented psychic flash upends dozens of lives, Danny’s most catastrophically.

In “Rattlesnakes,” a sequel to Cujo, a grieving widower travels to Florida for respite and instead receives an unexpected inheritance—with major strings attached.

In “The Dreamers,” a taciturn Vietnam vet answers a job ad and learns that there are some corners of the universe best left unexplored.

“The Answer Man” asks if prescience is good luck or bad and reminds us that a life marked by unbearable tragedy can still be meaningful.

Entertaining.

The 9th book (2016) in the Virgil Flowers series ➙ Escape Clause.

John Sandford is an excellent writer.

Two large, and very rare, Amur tigers have vanished from their cage, and authorities are worried sick that they’ve been stolen for their body parts. Traditional Chinese medicine prizes those parts for home remedies, and people will do extreme things to get what they need. Some of them are a great deal more extreme than others — as Virgil is about to find out.

Then there’s the homefront. Virgil’s relationship with his girlfriend Frankie has been getting kind of serious, but when Frankie’s sister Sparkle moves in for the summer, the situation gets a lot more complicated. For one thing, her research into migrant workers is about to bring her up against some very violent people who emphatically do not want to be researched. For another… she thinks Virgil’s kind of cute.

Very good.

The Chalk Pit (2017) is the 9th book in the Ruth Galloway series.

Boiled human bones have been found in Norwich’s web of underground tunnels.

When Dr Ruth Galloway discovers they were recently buried, DCI Nelson has a murder enquiry on his hands. The boiling might have been just a medieval curiosity – now it suggests a much more sinister purpose.

Meanwhile, DS Judy Johnson is investigating the disappearance of a local rough sleeper. The only trace of her is the rumour that she’s gone ‘underground’. This might be a figure of speech, but with the discovery of the bones and the rumours both Ruth and the police have heard that the network of old chalk-mining tunnels under Norwich is home to a vast community of rough sleepers, the clues point in only one direction.

One of the better book in the series, so far.

Cross the Line is the 24th installment in the popular Alex Cross series by James Patterson. The novel, set against the backdrop of Washington, D.C., dives into a series of intense events triggered by the death of a high-profile police official, prompting a citywide crisis. …

Alex Cross, along with his wife Bree Stone, who is the chief of detectives, becomes deeply involved in the investigation. The perpetrator, referred to as the “Trigger Man,” appears to target members of the police force specifically.

The investigation reveals that the crimes are not only brutal but also bear signs of personal vendetta, indicating that the killer harbors a deep-seated grudge against law enforcement. …

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube. 😀