THE ART OF DEDUCTION LAURIE KING SKIN
THE ART OF DEDUCTION LAURIE KING FULL

Even when Mary notices that Watson has shaven off his mustache, she cares to look closer at the skin and imagine that it was done вЂњvery recently.вЂќ Is Laurie King training the readerвЂ™s perceptions to be more acute throughout the novel? Does every detail of our lives hold a mystery and a story?Д©. The art of deduction is constantly at play in The BeekeeperвЂ™s Apprentice. In your opinion, how are the two subjects related?ДЁ.

At Oxford, Mary Russell concludes that theology and detective work are one and the same. Who, in your opinion, is a more effective foil for Holmes, Watson or Russell? What different aspects of HolmesвЂ™s personality emerge in the presence of each? What would happen if Holmes were paired with a different partner, one more timid or less tenacious?Д§. Watson is eternally known as the great detectiveвЂ™s sidekick. Discuss each point in the novel where either Russell or Holmes takes cover in the opposite sex what special access does this method of disguise give them to the other characters? Is gender reversal necessary in order to win the confidence of certain people? How does Mary RussellвЂ™s world change when she dresses as a man?Д¦. Russell and Holmes don disguises throughout The BeekeeperвЂ™s Apprentice, and their work sometimes requires them to cross dress. How does chess вЂ“ and, in particular, the Queen вЂ“ serve as a metaphor throughout the story? In what ways does King herself use the game to comment upon the master apprentice relationship?ДҐ. Holmes uses the game of chess to sharpen Mary RussellвЂ™s strategic thinking and intuition. How would you characterize Mary Russell based on her first opinion of bees? Does her disdain for their mindless busy-work and adherence to hive social structure reflect a particular attitude toward the social landscape of England at the time? Do you agree with Mary?Д¤. How does this particular period in history allow a character like Mary Russell to take the stage in areas of post-Victorian society usually reserved for men? In what significant ways does she seize these opportunities? Would she have thrived if born into a different, more oppressive social climate, say, one hundred years earlier?ДЈ. It is 1915, the Great War is raging through Europe and the men of England are in the trenches. Why does King begin with this anecdote, essentially including herself in the story? Does it bring the world of the novel closer to our own? Have you read any other books (Lolita, for example) which begin with a false-preface, and what effect does this device have on the rest of the novel? Were you fooled?Дў.

THE ART OF DEDUCTION LAURIE KING FULL

In an EditorвЂ™s Preface, King playfully discloses the вЂњtrueвЂќ origin of the story at hand: that what follows will be the actual memoirs of Mary Russell, which were mysteriously sent to her out of the blue, along with a trunk full of odds and ends.

The art of deduction laurie king