For a new look at Holmes…

Today our Mystery Book Club meets and, for a change, I actually enjoyed the book we will be discussing.  Make that ‘they.’  I doubt that I will make it as I have a last-minute doctor’s appointment twenty minutes beforehand.  IF the doctor isn’t running late and IF there are no other complications, I may make it for the tail end of things.  I hope so.

It’s the first time in ages that I have really liked our book selection for the month and, for once, I have a few positive things to say!  Isn’t that always the way?  I’m pretty sure that my reputation as the ‘curmudgeon’ among the group is probably well-established, and here was my chance to soften my edges a bit.

The book in question is The Beekeeper’s Apprentice, or on the Segregation of the Queen by Laurie R, King.  It was written in 1994, the first in a series of (so far) fourteen, and we chose it in keeping with our group’s policy of ‘reading the first of a series and then you’re on your own.’  Somehow, I had it confused with The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd (which I had read and loved) and so I was fairly enthusiastic about the selection,

Sherlock Holmes

Then, I learned that this book had to do with Sherlock Holmes and my eagerness drained away all too quickly.  Unlike almost every other person I know, mystery lover or not, I am not a Sherlock Holmes fan – not in books, in movies or on TV.  I find him insufferably arrogant and the plots thin yet convoluted at the same time.  There is nothing compelling about him for me.  So my initial interest waned considerably.

But I persevered.  To my delight and amazement, I found in King’s book a Holmes I rather liked.  He is older, perhaps mellower, and the main protagonist, Mary Russell, sees him in a completely different light from Watson’s view as presented by Arthur Conan Doyle.  Plus, Mary Russell put me in mind of Nancy Drew of my childhood – a quick-witted, no nonsense sort of protagonist.  (Although I do suspect that if I re-read some of those Carolyn Keene books, I would find my memory flawed.)

All-in-all, I enjoyed The Beekeeper’s Apprentice and certainly hope that I arrive at our meeting in time to say so. Will I continue on with the series?  Maybe.  There are glimmers of a romantic Holmes and I’m curious as to how that thread develops.  It’s a side of him I never would have imagined.