In What Order Should I Read The Mary Russell And Sherlock Holmes Novels?
With Laurie R. King's series, does the chronological order match publication? Rereading The Beekeeper's Apprentice, curious about timeline jumps or hidden connections.
2026-07-30 12:21:34
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IanMills
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5 Answers
PaulLee
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I see this question a lot in book groups. The unanimous chorus is always PUBLICATION ORDER. It's one of the few times the internet agrees on something.
Any other order is creating unnecessary work for yourself. The series is a continuous story. Characters recur, personal history matters, and relationships evolve.
Just look up a list online, bookmark it, and check them off as you go. It's a delightful journey. Why complicate something that's already perfectly structured for your enjoyment?
2026-07-31 05:09:17
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FinnInk
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For a different take, I focused on the audiobooks during a long commute. Listening in order made the drive something I looked forward to. Jenny Sterlin's narration is masterful.
She captures Mary's intelligence, Holmes's dry wit, and all the various accents. Hearing it in order lets you appreciate her consistency and how she subtly ages the characters' voices.
It's an auditory treat that builds over time. Highly recommend that format, following the same sequential rule.
2026-07-31 14:16:24
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MiraGreen
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I'm a mood reader, so sometimes I want a specific setting. If I'm in a 1920s San Francisco mood, I might crave 'Locked Rooms'. But I resist!
I know that book deals with Mary's repressed childhood trauma, and its impact relies on knowing her from the previous seven books. So I'll re-read an old favorite in order instead of skipping ahead.
For a first read, that discipline is even more important. Let your mood follow the author's lead, not the other way around.
2026-08-03 21:15:36
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PaulLopez
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Can we talk about the covers for a sec? The newer editions have these beautiful, moody historical photos. Seeing them lined up on a shelf in order is so satisfying.
Anyway, that's beside the point. The point is, the list is on the back of most of those covers. Problem solved.
Just line them up and read left to right. It's literally designed to be that easy. Enjoy the aesthetic and the literary journey simultaneously.
2026-08-05 04:55:47
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KindPine
Careful Explainer
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Just go in publication order, it's the only way to be sure you catch all the character development. King starts dropping hints and callbacks pretty early on. Jumping around would just confuse the timeline of their relationship.
I made the mistake of reading 'The Moor' before 'A Monstrous Regiment of Women' once, and I was totally lost on some crucial emotional beats. The series really builds on itself, with Russell growing from a teenager into a full partner. Trust the author's intended journey.
Publication order is almost always the answer for any series that isn't explicitly non-linear, and this one definitely isn't. It's the safest, most rewarding path.
With her enemies in pre-civil war Virginia still seeking her death, Esmerelda is forced to return to the future only days after wedding Lance. Because it was necessary to fake her death in order to stop her enemies from following her to the future, her new husband, Lance, was forced to stay behind. He’d placed a magic box for them to communicate until he found a way to safely be with her beneath the floorboards of the house.
Now, she must find it.
A task that is easier said than done!
“The Magic Box” is book two of the exciting paranormal-romance-mystery-thriller Esmerelda Sleuth Series
Meet Esmerelda Sleuth. Sleuth is her name and investigating is her game. (Paranormal Investigating, that is.)
Esmerelda makes a good living as an investigator in a rather progressive firm. She lives a stable and sensible life until she meets Lance; an old money "hottie" who works for a real estate firm next to her building. After accepting an invitation for a weekend getaway party, she quickly discovers that Lance has a secret. He is wealthy. That part is true. And, yes, he's procured a job as a realtor in the building next door. His secret is that he belongs to an underground society of humans who didn't abandon their connection to magic centuries ago when religion declared it evil and he has traveled through time specifically to find her and bring her back to his time to marry him. If that isn't enough of a far fetched tale to absorb, he informs her that she was born in his time to a family belonging to that same secret society and was promised in marriage to him as an infant. When enemies who didn't want to see the union of families take place made attempts on her life, her parents sent her into the future and erased her memories of them as a precaution.
Possessing virtually no belief in magic, ghosts, psychics, time travel, etc., it takes some doing on Lance's part to convince her to believe his story and go back with him. When she does, the lies, deceit and attempts on her life start all over again. Will she escape emotionally and physically unscathed?
"The Other Side Of the Mirror" is a steamy-paranormal-romance- mystery-thriller and book one of the Esmerelda Sleuth series.
Forced to return to the past and then venture back into the realms of the dark lord to save her friend, Esmerelda faces loss, love, and a new awakening in this final installment of the Esmerelda Sleuth Series.
Filled with excitement, love, loss, time travel, family dynamics, dimension hopping, and a few vampires, this is the completion of a story that you won't want to miss.
In 1863 in Victorian London a young noblewoman with a desire for adventure, named Elizabeth, joins forces with a policeman named Thomas to solve supernatural mysteries.
With the help of friends and new members, they will stand against vampires, werewolves and many other monsters as The Victorian Society of Strange Occurrences.
MULTIPLE STORIES COMPLETE
LOSING FAITH: They decide to open their marriage to outside adventures, and she goes further than they agreed.ROLL THE DICE: He was sent to open a new office and discovers a lady with a tragic past who he can’t get out of her mind.TO BE CHERISHED: She was caught cheating, and even though he’s willing to take her back, she isn’t sure she wants to go.HIS TO COMMAND: He was sent to Savannah to avoid scandal, but scandal seems to like to follow him.SHARING HEARTS: A love triangle that started in Losing Faith continues as the three people in the relationship struggle to find their way.Dive into The Rutherford Series with sexy heroines and the powerful men who can’t get enough of them as they each find their way in the world of business as well as the steamier side of relationships.Each of these sizzling romance novels has a happily-ever-after and no cliffhangers!The Rutherford Series is created by R.C. Wynne, an eGlobal Creative Publishing author.
Raised in her father's gang, the young gypsy Emma Ferguson was persecuted all her life by the puritanical society of the 19th century, yet she never felt completely part of the Romani group. Vivacious and intelligent, the beautiful Emma only wished to find her true self and live the experiences she had been denied over the 20 years of her life, when an unsuccessful performance made her worst nightmares come true in that cursed Scottish town.
Emma only survives all this with the help of the handsome British gentleman, Henry Dashwood, whom she met during the fateful performance, and when he rescues her from the roadside, she begins a new and dangerous journey.
In a society where gypsy origin is considered worthy of capital punishment, Henry has decided to help Emma get back on her feet, and hatches a plan that could be the salvation or ruin of them both.
It's the small chronological details I love. The changing fashions, the cars, the technology. A case involving a telephone is different in 1919 vs. 1925. The books are meticulously researched, so the timeline progression is felt in these tiny, authentic details. You can almost chart the march of the 20th century through the tools they use and the social customs they navigate.
For those who love romance subplots, the development between Mary and Holmes is a huge draw. It's not a romance series, but the relationship is central. Reading in order is crucial to see that grow from intellectual respect to deep partnership. Skipping around would ruin the subtle progression.
Why is this even a question? Just read them as they were published. Laurie King didn't write them out of sequence on purpose. The character arcs, the relationship development, the recurring side characters—they all assume you've been on the journey from the start. Trying to read them in some alternative order to be clever is just creating unnecessary work for yourself. The publication order is the crafted, intended experience. Anything else is a disservice to the author's plan.
Okay, hot take: the most significant evolution isn’t in their love for each other, but in their respect for each other’s autonomy. Early on, Holmes tries to control Mary’s actions for her safety, and she rebels. Mary tries to pry into Holmes’s past, and he shuts her out. Over time, they learn to trust the other’s judgment, even when it leads to risk. They learn to share information voluntarily, not by demand. This mutual respect for independence is what allows the relationship to survive.
They don’t become codependent. They remain two strong-willed individuals who choose to intertwine their lives and work. Holmes accepts that Mary will take dangerous chances, and Mary accepts that Holmes will retreat into his mind without explanation. This mature acceptance, hard-won over many books, is the real triumph of their relationship. It’s what makes it feel like a partnership for the ages, not just a plot device.