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Mary Russell is a fictional character in a mystery series by American author Laurie R. King. 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 note from the editor (signed by Laurie R. 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 England but extending to Scotland, Wales, Palestine, northern India, California, Portugal, and Morocco. They begin with fifteen-year-old Mary Russell (she was born on 2 January 1900), who runs into a middle-aged individual she realizes is, in fact, Sherlock Holmes - the former consulting detective of Baker Street, now retired to Sussex, where he keeps bees. However, in the form of Mary Russell's memoirs, Sherlock Holmes stays in the stories mostly through the influence he has in Russell's life. Laurie R. King strives to clarify this, and is quoted on her website, "I did not write Sherlock Holmes stories, I wrote Mary Russell stories".〔http://www.laurierking.com/?page_id=769.php "LRK on Sherlock Holmes" accessed 30 July 2010.〕 Holmes plays a considerable role at first as Russell's closest friend, her calculating and idiosyncratic mentor, and as time and circumstance conspire, the Great Detective takes up the role of companion detective. During that time, Russell and Holmes come to have a great respect for one another. Seven years from their first meeting, the two negotiate a marriage agreement, and are married in 1921. Most of the novels are first-person, with ''Locked Rooms'', ''The Language of Bees'' and ''God of the Hive'' being exceptions, since several long passages are third-person. This technique also serves to underscore and solidify themes in the first two of these novels. The third of this trio, ''God of the Hive'' published 2010, is probably primarily first-person as well, however Mary's narrative collaborates with the various third-person narratives of several characters, and in this way, ''God of the Hive'' manages to cover much wider ground than its companion novels. The first two books (and also the fifth) in the series are about Russell's seven years of life from age fifteen to twenty-one, while later books in the series are about her life after age twenty-one until twenty-seven. Currently, the book most recently set in the series, ''Garment of Shadows'', is about her twenty-fourth year. ==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. #''The Beekeeper's Apprentice'' opens in early April 1915, about eight months after the opening of the First World War, when young Mary Russell actually stumbles across retired detective Sherlock Holmes on the Sussex or South Downs. Russell impresses Holmes with her powers of deduction, and he begins to train her informally as his protégé. She takes on increasing responsibilities. The training becomes vitally important when Russell is caught up in an old enemy's vendetta against Holmes. The volume closes in August 1919. #''A Monstrous Regiment of Women'' takes place from Christmas 1920 to February 1921. Russell becomes involved in a Christian feminist movement concerned with philanthropy and political activism. When three wealthy followers are found to have died under mysterious circumstances after willing their fortunes to the cause, Russell and Holmes are drawn into a deeper mystery. A sub-plot deals with the deepening relationship between Russell and Holmes. The title is a reference to the 16th century pamphlet ''The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regimen of Women''. #''A Letter of Mary'' is set two years after the events of ''Monstrous Regiment'' and the Holmes-Russell marriage. It begins in August 1923 and concludes a month later. A first-century manuscript surfaces that would turn Christianity on its ear, and its discoverer, a friend of Russell and Holmes, turns up dead. While they investigate the death, they must also evade those who are looking for the manuscript. The fictional Lord Peter Wimsey makes a brief cameo appearance. #''The Moor'' closely follows its predecessor, from end September or early October 1923 until early November 1923. It takes the partnership out to Dartmoor, the location of the Conan Doyle mystery, ''The Hound of the Baskervilles''. Another hound is stalking the night, and they must discover how and why. Russell meets Holmes' old acquaintance, the real-life Rev. Sabine Baring-Gould, the squire of Lew Trenchard, when he asks their help in ridding the Moor of the ghostly hound. #''O Jerusalem'' returns to the close of 1918 and recounts in greater detail the couple's six-week sojourn to Palestine which was glossed over in ''The Beekeeper's Apprentice''. Working with two of Mycroft's agents, Mahmoud and Ali Hazr, the partners seek out spies in post-WWI Palestine. #''Justice Hall'' takes up immediately following the conclusion of ''The Moor'', and covers events to Christmas 1923. Two friends reappear in England, their former lives now revealed. They are brought back to the life they left behind by a sudden succession to a dukedom. Russell and Holmes help search for one of the Duke's nephews, so he can pass on the coronet and return to his preferred life abroad. While there, the pair dig into the past to discover the truth behind the Duke's other nephew's mysterious wartime death. #''The Game'' In the early days of 1924, Russell and Holmes are given an urgent task by his brother Mycroft: to find a British spy gone missing along India's northwest frontier, where men are dying and trouble is brewing. The spy is one whom Holmes knows from his travels in India long ago, under the name Sigurson - Kimball O'Hara, known to the world by the name Rudyard Kipling called him, Kim. #''Locked Rooms'' Setting sail from their adventures in India during the spring of 1924, Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes first visit Japan and then turn their faces toward San Francisco. The time has come to close up the house and business interests she inherited on the death of her family, ten years before. But disturbing dreams and painful memories make the visit more difficult than she expected, and Holmes suspects that there are dark secrets in his wife's past that even she is not aware of. A young Dashiell Hammett makes an extended cameo appearance. #''The Language of Bees'' Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes return home to the Sussex coast in August 1924 and find an entire colony of Holmes' bees has disappeared, but soon have a bigger mystery to solve. They are enlisted to find the missing wife and child of Damian Adler, whom they crossed paths with earlier when he was accused of murder. As their investigation brings the couple into contact with many different types of madness, Russell begins to believe that Holmes may be protecting the killer they are after. #''The God of the Hive'' The adventure picks up directly from the previous book's cliff-hanger ending, as Russell, Holmes, and their companions have been forced to split up in an attempt to make their way back to London, and safety. However, the world has become a dangerous and uncertain place in their absence, with deadly conspiracy so deeply entrenched in the highest echelons of government that even Mycroft is prevented from rendering assistance. New foes threaten the company at all sides, yet in the process a modern-day Robin Goodfellow emerges to lend aid to Mary and her kin. #''Pirate King'' Set in the autumn of 1924, a few months after the period related in the previous four books. In "Pirate King", Mary Russell is now 24, and her husband, the retired consulting detective, is in his early 60s, but retains excellent general health, both physically and mentally. The concept of this volume, like its predecessors, departs radically both in its geographical range and in plot concepts. Mary Russell is persuaded ("invegled" may be a more apt word) by her brother-in-law Mycroft into infiltrating an English silent-film company suspected of having criminal sidelines. In an undercover role, she - assisted by Holmes, of course - joins the film crew on its latest grand project, making a film about a fictional film crew making a film version of Gilbert and Sullivan's "Pirates of Penzance", without the music - this is the silent movie era, of course - but with real pirates. #''Garment of Shadows'' At the end of 1924, Mary Russell and her husband Sherlock Holmes, are separated by a shocking circumstance in a perilous part of the world, each racing against time to prevent an explosive catastrophe that could clothe them both in shrouds. In a strange room in Morocco, Mary Russell is trying to solve a pressing mystery: Who am I? She has awakened with shadows in her mind, blood on her hands, and soldiers pounding at the door. Out in the hive-like streets, she discovers herself strangely adept in the skills of the underworld, escaping through alleys and rooftops, picking pockets and locks. She is clothed like a man, and armed only with her wits and a scrap of paper containing a mysterious Arabic phrase. Overhead, warplanes pass ominously north. Meanwhile, Holmes is pulled by two old friends and a distant relation into the growing war between France, Spain, and the Rif Revolt led by Emir Abd el-Krim - who may be a Robin Hood, or a power mad tribesman. The shadows of war are drawing over the ancient city of Fez, and Holmes badly wants the wisdom and courage of his wife, whom he's learned, to his horror, has gone missing. As Holmes searches for her, and Russell searches for herself, each tries to crack deadly parallel puzzles before it's too late for them, for Africa, and for the peace of Europe. #''Dreaming Spies'' Takes place between the events of ''The Game'' and ''Locked Rooms''. After a lengthy case in India (The Game) Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes are on the steamer Thomas Carlyle, bound for Japan. Though they’re not the vacationing types, Russell is looking forward to a change of focus—not to mention the chance of traveling to a place Holmes has not visited before. The idea of the pair being on equal footing is enticing to a woman who often must race to catch up with her older, highly skilled husband. Aboard the ship, intrigue stirs almost immediately. Holmes recognizes the famous clubman the Earl of Darley, whom he suspects of being an occasional blackmailer: not an unlikely career choice for a man richer in social connections than in pounds sterling. And then there’s the lithe young Japanese woman who befriends Russell and quotes haiku. Haruki Sato agrees to tutor the couple in Japanese language and customs, but Russell can’t shake the feeling that the young woman is not who she claims to be. Once in Japan, Russell’s suspicions are confirmed in a most surprising way. From the Imperial Palace in Tokyo to Oxford’s venerable Bodleian Library, Russell and Holmes race to solve a mystery involving a small book with enormous implications of international extortion, espionage, and shocking secrets that, if revealed, could spark revolution—and topple an empire. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Mary Russell (character)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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