I am shamefully behind on my Mary Russells. I've been faithfully buying them in hardcover as I wish to do my part in keeping the author well fed, but with the addition of Pirate King this September, I will be three books behind. I'm starting to find myself daunted enough that inertia is threatening to set in. Luckily, there was another Russell-related offering released just this week. An e-book exclusive, Beekeeping for Beginners, which is a short story from (mostly) Holmes' point-of-view, taking place at the time he first meets Russell. The story was, well, adorable. I don't know that we expressly needed to leave Holmes' first person narration, and I was jarred a couple of times by the changes, but any discomfort is soothed by one line that with its rhythm tells the reader just how much Holmes is already coming to care for his new apprentice. It's also made me pull The Language of Bees down from my shelf. Perhaps if I keep it out and in sight, my other required reading with vanish out of deference to the master.
