The Language of Bees by Laurie R. KIng

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Another fun mystery in Laurie R. King's Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes series.  In The Language of Bees, Russell and Holmes have returned to England after 7 months of traveling far and wide.  When they arrive at their country home in Sussex, Damien, Holmes' son, is waiting for them.  Holmes' had learned of his son's existence five years earlier upon the occasion of Damien's being accused of murder and he and Russell have not seen Damien since he was exonerated.

Damien's wife and child have disappeared and he has come to ask Holmes for help.  Meanwhile, Russell figures out why one of Holmes' hives has been abandoned and then heads to London herself to see what she can learn about Yolanda and Estelle's disappearance.

Stonehenge, Druids, details about beekeeping, London Bohemians, Aleister Crowley, the Wilmington Giant, aeroplanes, A Passage to India in the new fiction section at a bookstore -- what's not to love? Oh, and the ending makes me very glad that The God of the Hive is already out!

Forward Motion

For me, onward motion was merely a thing to cling to until someone told me to stop.
~Mary Russell in The Language of Bees by Laurie R. King

Monetizing/Amazon Affiliates/Adsense

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Fellow bloggers -- do you use Adsense?  Do you have an Amazon Affiliate account?

Blog readers -- how do you feel when you visit a blog that has advertising?  How do you feel when you know the blogger gets money if you buy something using his/her Amazon link?

My inclination has always been to avoid both as I think we all are bombarded by enough advertising each day as it is.  I find that ads distract me from what I'm actually trying to read and I assume others feel the same.  I *think* that the Amazon Affiliates seems slightly less intrusive to me, but I'm not sure.

These are obviously just my impressions and I would really like to hear from others -- What are your thoughts?

P.S.  After I wrote this post, Blogger Buzz posted this.  Downward spiral or clever innovation?  What say you?

P.P.S.  What I really want to do is send business to small local places as opposed to giant corporations.   Perhaps this is part of my hesitation.

If anyone needs a new penpal

My brother is in prison in Indiana.  It occurred to me that perhaps some of you would like to send him letters.  Let me know if you have more questions.  His address is

Seth L. Cummins
D.O.C. #197023 LOC: A3

Westville Correctional Facility
5501 South 1100 West
Westville IN 46391

Teaser Tuesdays -- The Workings of the Plan

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. 

Grab your current read

Open to a random page

Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS!

(make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away!

You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

 

As winter faded into March, Jacob began to discern, in almost imperceptible outline, the workings of the plan.  Nearly all of the funds were being directed toward Maryland and northern Virginia -- most of them toward small plantations and farms, though some went to other establishments too, like a tavern or a boarding house or a doctor's home. 

~p. 281, All Other Nights by Dara Horn

Locked Rooms by Laurie R. King

Laurie King is a clever, clever woman.  I love her Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes series, of which Locked Rooms is the eighth.  It was a re-read for me before reading the ninth, The Language of Bees.


Russell and Holmes, after their escapades in India (The Game), head for San Francisco.  Mary hasn't returned to California since the accident that killed her parents and younger brother ten years earlier -- and left her alone in the world.  She is ready (she thinks) to take care of the legal matters related to her parents' estate and then put it all behind her.

As she and Holmes begin exploring San Francisco, however, her memories of her childhood become clearer while only creating even more questions.  Why doesn't she remember living in San Francisco during the earthquake?  What do her dreams -- of flying objects, a faceless man, and locked rooms only she is aware of -- signify and are they related to her return to the city where she lost her family? 

I love that King includes a meeting and eventual partnership between Holmes and Dashiell Hammett at the same time that she captures the spirit of San Francisco just 18 years after the 1906 earthquake.  I'm so glad I re-read this one before picking up The Language of Bees and I'm also glad that the next one, The God of the Hive is already out so I can pick it up soon!

Beautiful Boy and Tweak -- Authors David and Nic Sheff speak at the Tattered Cover