Mary Russell (character)
Mary Russell is a fictional character and the protagonist of the Mary Russell & Sherlock Holmes mystery series by American author Laurie R. King. She first appears in the novel "The Beekeeper's Apprentice". Written over a period of nearly two decades, King's novels are portrayals of a succession of memoirs written and compiled apparently by an aged Mary Russell. A fictional note from the editor (and signed by King) tells readers of a mysterious occurrence wherein a collection of written accounts was anonymously delivered to the unsuspecting novelist; the note ends with a plea for information  from anyone with information on the identity of Mary Russell. The stories are set between 1915 and the late 1920s, mainly in Britain but extending to Palestine, North India, the United States, Japan, Portugal, and Morocco. They begin in Sussex, England, when 15-year-old Mary Russell (born 2 January 1900) meets a man in his mid-50s who she realizes is Sherlock Holmes, the famous detective of Baker Street, now retired to the country and beekeeping as a hobby. Holmes remains throughout the series as a secondary main character, first as Russell's mentor and father figure, and later as  her husband and detecting partner. Laurie R. King said of her choice of protagonist, "I did not write Sherlock Holmes stories, I wrote Mary Russell stories". Most of the novels are first-person, with "Locked Rooms", "The Language of Bees" and "God of the Hive" being exceptions, with long passages written in third-person. This technique also serves to underscore and solidify themes in the first two novels. The third, "God of the Hive" (2010) is primarily written with Mary’s first-person narrative, but included various third-person narratives of several characters. Books 1, 2, and 5 cover seven  years of Mary’s life from age 15 to 21, while later books in the series take place between ages 21 through 27. In "Riviera Gold", she is 25 year old. In 2000, Monica Dolan starred as Russell in a 4-part BBC Radio drama of "The Beekeeper's Apprentice", with James Fox playing Holmes. Appearances. "Beekeeping for Beginners" is a novella released in 2011 that introduces new fans to the series. "Mary Russell Companion" is a compendium released on May 1, 2014 that introduces new fans to the fictional character. Biography. Early life. The daughter of a British Jewish  mother and an American millionaire father, Russell spent time in Boston and San Francisco as well as England while growing up. Her mother raised her in the Jewish tradition and she continues to consider herself a Jew as an adult. When she is fourteen, Russell's parents and younger brother are killed in an automobile accident outside San Francisco in which she herself is seriously injured. Russell blames herself for the accident and undergoes psychoanalysis during her recovery, continuing to have nightmares for years afterward. After she recovers, Russell returns to her mother's farm in Sussex under the guardianship  of her much-hated and penurious maternal aunt, who intends to live well off Russell's fortune until Mary reaches her majority. It is here where, as well as meeting Holmes, Russell prepares for and eventually passes the entrance exams to Oxford University, where she reads chemistry and theology. Relationships. In addition to Holmes, who acts a mentor and father substitute early in their relationship and eventually becomes her husband, Russell becomes close to other characters from the Holmes canon: she considers Mrs. Hudson, who has accompanied Holmes to Sussex as his housekeeper, to be a mother figure, and she  refers to Dr. Watson as "Uncle John" and Mycroft Holmes as "Brother Mycroft." She is also close to her farm manager Patrick and tends to make friends easily when she wants to. Russell also encounters a number of historical figures and fictional characters (who are treated as "real" within the novels) over the course of her adventures. In addition to meetings with Rudyard Kipling's Kim, Dashiell Hammett, and Sabine Baring-Gould as described above, she has met T. E. Lawrence, J. R. R. Tolkien and Edmund Allenby. She and Holmes are also implied to be friends with fellow fictional  detective Peter Wimsey, who makes a cameo appearance in "A Letter of Mary". Skills and physical attributes. Russell has a keen mind and is an ardent feminist. She is a serious scholar in theology and works on a book-length manuscript, which is published. She reads and speaks many modern and classical languages, including Ancient Greek and Latin (learned for her theology degree), Hebrew, French, German, Spanish, Arabic, and Hindi. She studies the Japanese language and culture in preparation for a trip. Under Holmes's tutelage she has developed a variety of unlikely talents. She has extremely accurate aim with  firearms, throwing knives, and even rocks. She can play the tin whistle, juggle, do sleight-of-hand, pick locks, and hypnotize others. She can ride, drive, and is well schooled in martial arts - particularly in the art of falling without being hurt. She has exceptional balance and strong climbing skills. She is an adequate, but not gifted, cook, although she is skilled at making Turkish coffee. She is well read and spends a great deal of time out of doors in the course of her investigations, but she is not a naturalist. Like her husband, Russell is tall (5"11") and  slim, with blonde hair and blue eyes. She is not a naturally tidy person and is easily disheveled - a disadvantage for someone who is frequently sleuthing in wet, mucky, or dirty locales, then forced to make a drawing room appearance. She is quite unconventional - not a surprise for a young woman who married an older famous eccentric. She prefers trousers and functional clothes, although often dons the traditional tweed skirts and sensible shoes of a female British naturalist. She only rarely accepts the title "Mrs. Holmes" and goes by her given name "Mary Russell", which she uses with the title  Miss (i.e., "Miss Russell"). She wears a gold band on her right hand. This makes her status ambiguous - people she meets may think she is wearing a ring for sentimental reasons, or perhaps that she is married but from another culture, but most likely that she is one of the many women widowed during World War I. She wears her hair long, until it is cropped for a disguise in "The Game". She is very nearsighted, which can be an irritation on a case. She is often concerned that her somewhat delicate wire frame glasses will crack (though she does  not carry a spare pair) and is frequently hampered when they fog up or are spattered with rain. She is able to cope with the uglier side of her profession but is shaken by violence, death, and corpses. She enjoys hot baths, sleeping late, and reading. She dislikes the harshness of electric lights. Inspiration. Laurie R. King has described Russell as "what Sherlock Holmes would look like if Holmes, the Victorian detective, were (a) a woman, (b) of the Twentieth century, and (c) interested in theology". King has a graduate degree in Old Testament theology that has doubtless informed Russell 's own theological pursuits.