Have you met Maisie Dobbs yet?

No? Well, now's the time to join Book Club Girl's Read-Along! She will post questions according to the following schedule:

January 14th - Maisie Dobbs
January 31st - Birds of a Feather
February 14th - Pardonable Lies
February 22nd - Paperback edition of The Mapping of Love and Death goes on sale
February 28th - Messenger of Truth
March 14th - An Incomplete Revenge
March 22nd - Hardcover of A Lesson in Secrets goes on sale
March 28th- Among the Mad
April 11th- The Mapping of Love and Death
April 25th - A Lesson in Secrets

Find all information about the Read-Along here. I'm excited to join, I have read one book in the middle of this series and this gives me the perfect reason to go back and read them the right way...in order (yes, I have a little OCD about reading series books in order...I admit it!).

Visit Jacqueline Winspear's website for info about Maisie and the whole series and find the Jacqueline Winspear page on Facebook.

Review: The Language of Bees by Laurie R. King

(This review will be a bit briefer than usual, I am away in London and computer time is limited! Can't wait to blog about my trip when I get home!!)

The latest (ninth) adventure for Sherlock Holmes and his wife, Mary Russell, begins as they arrive at their home in Sussex after an absence of almost a year. The immediate problem of the missing bees from their farthest beehive means that they don't even get into the house before going to check on the hive.

When they get back to the house and even bigger surprise awaits. Sherlock's son Damian (his mother is Irene Adler!) is waiting on the doorstep with a problem. A big one. It seems his Chinese wife, Yolanda, and four year old daughter have gone missing from their London home.

Now, Holmes never knew he had a son until the boy was grown and his mother had died. And the one and only time that they met, Damian was hateful toward his father. They haven't spoken since. Of course, what can his father do but go and help? He is his father and the famous detective Sherlock Holmes, after all.

Mary is left home and tries to busy herself investigating the bee mystery. Eventually she is sucked into Damian's case and doing sleuthing on her own. With a mind nearly as fine as her husband's, Mary is the perfect partner for the logical Holmes.

I can't recommend this series highly enough, it has been a favorite of mine for many years. Writing does not get any better than the smart, snappy prose of Laurie R. King.

Please visit the author's excellent website where you will find all kinds of information about the books and the author's blog, too. And please visit the other stops on the Fifteen Weeks of Bees tour:

Bookish Ruth
Reading Group Guides
A Striped Armchair
Jen Robinson’s Book Page
Age 30+… A Lifetime of Books
A Work in Progress
Presenting Lenore
Jungle Red
Bitten by Books
Book Bitch
International Thriller Writers
Mystery Fanfare (May 7)
Angieville (May 13)

The Language of Bees will be released on Tuesday, April 28.

Saturday Suggestions: Kate Ross

Boston trial lawyer Kate Ross wrote a lovely set of four mysteries featuring Julian Kestrel. They take place in London in the 1820s. Julian is a dandy, charming and intelligent with a gift for tracing clues. He is assisted by his valet, Dipper, who used to be a pickpocket. His expertise with the underworld and the lower classes is always helpful.

Sadly, Kate died in 1998 at the heart-breakingly young age of 41. But she left four wonderful historical mysteries. I loved them all and wish there were more of this well done series:

Cut to the Quick

A Broken Vessel

Whom the Gods Love

The Devil in Music

Saturday Suggestions

Though she already has legions of fans, Elizabeth George is my Saturday Suggestion for this week. Have you ever read one of her books? Usually, I prefer my books to have historical settings (as I am sure most of you know). But I'll read anything Ms. George cares to write. She has a wonderful mystery series that is set in present day London and features Inspector Lynley and his partner, Barbara Havers. Her settings are impeccable, when you read one of her books you would swear that she is British, but she is not, she is American and from California. I don't think that she has ever even lived in England. Obviously, her research is excellent.

Elizabeth George

The unusual thing about Elizabeth George is that she does not hesitate to devote entire books to the point-of-view of side characters. If you are a series reader (as I am), there is nothing more interesting than to get inside the other characters. It provides a whole new dimension to the stories, a depth and richness that is not normally achieved. I read scathing reviews of her recent book, What Came Before He Shot Her, which is devoted entirely to the perpetrator of a horrible crime, his family and background. Lynley and Havers are largely missing from the book, which was the chief complaint. It is true that if you were a new reader, just picking up that particular book as your first Elizabeth George experience, you might be completely lost, but I thought the book was a fantastic addition to the series. I DO recommend that you read them in order, the characters grow over time and it helps to have started at the beginning. The series, so far, consists of:

A Great Deliverance

Payment In Blood

Well Schooled in Murder

A Suitable Vengeance

For the Sake of Elena

Missing Joseph

Playing for the Ashes

In The Presence of the Enemy

Deception on His Mind

In Pursuit of the Proper Sinner

A Traitor to Memory

A Place of Hiding

With No One as Witness

What Came Before He Shot Her

Careless in Red

I picked up Careless in Red last time I was in London. It is sitting by my bed, I haven't had time to get to it yet. When I do, you can be sure I will post a review here. The BBC has a successful television series based on this series, The Inspector Lynley Mysteries. They are aired on PBS in the United States from time to time. I haven't ever had a chance to watch one but they seem to be popular. I'll have to put them on my DVD list, it would be interesting to see how they translate to television.