Audiobooks by Laurie R. King

The Gardener Estate is one of the most storied and beloved sites on the West Coast. Its owners thought their secrets were buried forever—but when cold-case investigator Raquel Laing arrives, secrets are all she sees. A magnificent house, vast formal gardens, a golden family that shaped California, and a colorful past filled with now-famous artists: The Gardener Estate was a twentieth-century Eden. And now, just as the Estate is preparing to move into a new era, restoration work on some of its art digs up a grim relic of the past: a human skull, hidden away for decades. Inspector Raquel Laing has her work cut out for her. Fifty years ago, the Estate’s young heir, Rob Gardener, turned his palatial home into a counterculture commune of peace, love, and equality. But that was also a time when serial killers preyed on innocents—monsters like The Highwayman, whose case has just surged back into the public eye. Could the skull belong to one of his victims? To Raquel—a woman who knows all about colorful pasts—the bones clearly seem linked to The Highwayman. But as she dives into the Estate’s archives to look for signs of his presence, what she unearths begins to take on a dark reality all its own. Everything she finds keeps bringing her back to Rob Gardener himself. While he might be a gray-haired recluse now, back then he was a troubled young Vietnam vet whose girlfriend had vanished after a midsummer festival at the Estate. But a lot of people seem to have disappeared from the Gardener Estate the summer when the commune mysteriously fell apart: a young woman, her child, and Rob’s brother, Fort. The pressure is on, and Raquel needs to solve this case—before The Highwayman slips away, or another Gardener vanishes.

Laurie R. King (Author), Vivienne Leheny (Narrator)

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The Beekeeper's Apprentice 'International Edition': or, On the Segregation of the Queen

What happens when Sherlock Holmes—a pompous, proper Victorian gentleman—takes an outspoken American woman as his apprentice? Edgar Award–winning author Laurie R. King reveals the answer in The Beekeeper’s Apprentice, an absorbing novel steeped in exquisite understanding and charming intelligence. In 1914, a bold young American named Mary Russell meets a retired beekeeper in the English countryside. His name is Sherlock Holmes. And although many years have passed since he astonished Watson by solving Scotland Yard’s most baffling crimes, the Great Detective is no fool. He instantly spots a fellow intellect in Mary. When his greatest enemy returns with a fiendishly resourceful plan for revenge, Holmes knows he faces the case of his lifetime—and that he needs Mary’s help to solve it. Few writers dare to touch the classic canon of Sherlock Holmes mysteries, and even fewer match the legendary style of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. But in this richly entertaining, enchanting novel, Laurie R. King succeeds with astonishing brilliance and originality.

Laurie R. King (Author), Jenny Sterlin (Narrator)

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To Play the Fool 'International Edition'

Edgar Award winner Laurie R. King has attracted an enthusiastic following with her finely crafted mysteries. The Kate Martinelli series follows the challenging career of a young San Francisco police detective who struggles to maintain her personal privacy, even as her complex cases bring her into the glaring eye of the public. The first cremation the homeless people held in Golden Gate Park was for a dog; their second pyre held a much larger body. To find the one responsible for these deaths, Martinelli sets out on a quest for Brother Erasmus. An enigmatic creature who has befriended the homeless, he speaks only in quotations. When public fear of the peculiar band of park-dwellers threatens to grow out of control, Martinelli must unravel the guilt that lies at the bottom of Erasmus’ refusal to give direct answers to her questions. King weaves the stories of the homeless and their eccentric spokesman into one of the feisty detective’s most tantalizing murder mysteries. Filled with vivid characters and provocative issues, To Play the Fool showcases King’s superb talents.

Laurie R. King (Author), Alyssa Bresnahan (Narrator)

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A Grave Talent 'International Edition'

Fans of Laurie R. King have applauded her fascinating portrayal of Sherlock Holmes in The Beekeeper’s Apprentice. Now the Edgar Award–winning author begins an intricate but hard-boiled crime series, spinning a masterful tale that deftly unveils the multiple layers of her intriguing characters. When?Kate Martinelli, an ambitious rookie, is teamed up with reluctant veteran detective Al Hawkin, they must put aside any reservations they have about each other as they hunt for a sadist who is strangling six-year-old girls. All the clues point to an artist who has been convicted of a similar crime. But when the evidence begins to look too obvious, Martinelli and Hawkin are forced to use the immensely talented but emotionally fragile artist as bait for the real killer. King keeps the thread of suspense taut as the precarious investigation twists and turns ever tighter around the obsessive core of a monstrous psychopath.

Laurie R. King (Author), Alyssa Bresnahan (Narrator)

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A Monstrous Regiment of Women 'International Edition': A Novel of Suspense Featuring Mary Russell an

In The Beekeeper’s Apprentice, Laurie R. King told a richly entertaining tale starring Mary Russell, a spirited American girl who becomes an apprentice to the famous English detective Sherlock Holmes. Now in this eagerly awaited sequel, Mary returns to solve—with the aid of Holmes, of course—a case of murder, mystery, and religion. The case begins when a classmate from Oxford University introduces Mary to Margery Childe, the charismatic spiritual leader of the New Temple of God. Curious about Margery’s popular teachings, Mary begins attending temple meetings. But when Margery’s followers—all well-bred, well-heeled young women—become targets for murder, Mary senses something sinister lurking within the walls of the temple. With Holmes at her side, she plunges headlong into the most dangerous investigation of her life. Steeped in charming intelligence and finely crafted suspense, A Monstrous Regiment of Women continues the enchanting adventures of the most beguiling and ingenious detective team in the world of mystery fiction.

Laurie R. King (Author), Jenny Sterlin (Narrator)

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A Letter of Mary 'International Edition'

Laurie R. King’s Mary Russell mystery series sizzles with the intellectual and emotional energy that sparkles between world-famous detective Sherlock Holmes and Mary, his young wife and partner. Together, they take on tantalizing cases that break new ground in crime detection. When an old archaeologist friend gives Mary a curled scrap of papyrus, Mary is startled to see that it is covered with Greek symbols. The writing may be a letter from an unknown—female—apostle. Soon the old friend has been murdered, the Holmes’ cottage has been ransacked, and Mary is faced with a particularly dangerous and painful investigation. From the solitude of the English countryside to the dark, teeming streets of London, A Letter of Mary carries the two quick-witted sleuths through a maze of clues and cul-de-sacs. At every turn, the pair realize they are not only solving a murder, but also harboring a relic that could stand Christendom on its ear.

Laurie R. King (Author), Jenny Sterlin (Narrator)

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The Language of Bees 'International Edition': A Novel of Suspense Featuring Mary Russell and Sherloc

New York Times best-selling author Laurie R. King has won or been nominated for every major award in mystery writing. King's beloved sleuth Mary Russell here attempts to reverse her legendary husband Sherlock Holmes' greatest failure. 'A one-woman case for the defense of unauthorized literary sequels . intelligent, witty, complex and atmospheric .'-Washington Post Book World

Laurie R. King (Author), Jenny Sterlin (Narrator)

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Castle Shade: A Novel of Suspense Featuring Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes.

A queen, a castle, a dark and ageless threat--all await Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes in this chilling new adventure. The queen is Marie of Roumania: the doubly royal granddaughter to Victoria, Empress of the British Empire, and Alexander II, Tsar of Russia. A famous beauty who was married at seventeen into Roumania's young dynasty, Marie had beguiled the Paris Peace Conference into returning her adopted country's long-lost provinces, single-handedly transforming Roumania from a backwater into a force. The castle is Bran: a tall, quirky, ancient structure perched on high rocks overlooking the border between Roumania and its newly regained territory of Transylvania. The castle was a gift to Queen Marie, a thanks from her people, and she loves it as she loves her own children. The threat is...now, that is less clear. Shadowy figures, vague whispers, the fears of girls, dangers that may only be accidents. But this is a land of long memory and hidden corners, a land that had known Vlad the Impaler, a land from whose churchyards the shades creep. When Queen Marie calls, Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes are as dubious as they are reluctant. But a young girl is involved, and a beautiful queen. Surely it won't take long to shine light on this unlikely case of what would seem to be strigoi? Or, as they are known in the West...vampires.

Laurie R. King (Author), Jenny Sterlin (Narrator)

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In League with Sherlock Holmes: Stories Inspired by the Sherlock Holmes Canon

The latest entry in Laurie R. King and Leslie S. Klinger's popular Sherlock Holmes-inspired mystery series Sherlock Holmes has not only captivated readers for more than a century and a quarter, he has fascinated writers as well. It is little wonder, then, that when the renowned Sherlockians Laurie R. King and Leslie S. Klinger invited their writer-friends and colleagues to be inspired by the Holmes canon, a cornucopia of stories sprang forth, with more than sixty of the greatest modern writers participating in four acclaimed anthologies. Now, King and Klinger have invited another fifteen masters to become In League with Sherlock Holmes. The contributors to this volume include award-winning authors of horror, thrillers, mysteries, westerns, and science-fiction, all bound together in admiration and affection for the original stories. The resulting stories are funny, haunting, thrilling, and surprising. All are unforgettable.

Laurie R. King, Leslie S. Klinger (Author), Alison Belle Bews, Gabrielle De Cuir, John Allen Nelson, John Rubinstein, Judy Young, Justine Eyre, Kasey Lansdale, Kate Orsini, Mirron Willis, Stefan Rudnicki (Narrator)

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Riviera Gold: A Novel

Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes turn the Riviera upside down to crack their most captivating case yet in the New York Times bestselling series that Lee Child called "the most sustained feat of imagination in mystery fiction today." It's summertime on the Riviera, and the Jazz Age has come to France's once-sleepy beaches. From their music-filled terraces, American expatriates gaze along the coastline at the lights of Monte Carlo, where fortunes are won, lost, stolen, and sometimes hidden away. When Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes arrive, they find their partnership pulled between youthful pleasures and old sins, hot sun and cool jazz, new affections and enduring loyalties. Russell falls into easy friendship with an enthralling American couple, Sara and Gerald Murphy, whose golden life on the Riviera has begun to attract famous writers and artists-and some of the scoundrels linked with Monte Carlo's underworld. The Murphy set will go on to inspire everyone from F. Scott Fitzgerald to Pablo Picasso, but in this summer of 1925, their importance for Russell lies in one of their circle's recent additions: the Holmeses' former housekeeper, Mrs. Hudson, who hasn't been seen since she fled England under a cloud of false murder accusations. When a beautiful young man is found dead in Mrs. Hudson's front room, she becomes the prime suspect in yet another murder. Russell is certain of Mrs. Hudson's innocence; Holmes is not. But the old woman's colorful past has been a source of tension between them before, and now the dangerous players who control Monte Carlo's gilded casinos may stop at nothing to keep the pair away from what Mrs. Hudson's youthful history could bring to light. The Riviera is a place where treasure can be false, where love can destroy, and where life, as Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes will discover, can be cheap-even when it is made of solid gold.

Laurie R. King (Author), Jenny Sterlin (Narrator)

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Beginnings

INSPECTOR KATE MARTINELLI has worked the SFPD's Homicide Detail for nearly thirty years. She knows all about how a cop builds a case bit by bit to create a clear story from the scattered pieces of evidence. Until the day her fifteen-year-old daughter, Nora, happens to ask about an aunt she'd never met. Kate's kid sister died in the 1980s, a wild young woman who lost control of a car and hit a tree, end of story ... except it isn't. Because once Kate begins to look, seeking to reassure Nora that it was only a senseless accident and not the suicide a small town's gossip made it, she starts to find pieces that don't fit the picture. Holes in the evidence. Mismatched fragments that change the story Kate has told herself all these years-the story that for her, was the beginning of everything. What did happen in Diamond Lake that night? Was it an accident, or a hushed-up suicide? Or was her sister's death something darker yet?

Laurie R. King (Author), Alyssa Bresnahan (Narrator)

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For the Sake of the Game: Stories Inspired by the Sherlock Holmes Canon

In a sensational follow-up to Echoes of Sherlock Holmes and In the Company of Sherlock Holmes, a brand-new anthology of stories inspired by the Arthur Conan Doyle canon For the Sake of the Game is the latest volume in the award-winning series from New York Times bestselling editors Laurie R. King and Leslie S. Klinger, with stories of Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson, and friends in a variety of eras and forms. King and Klinger have a simple formula: ask some of the world's greatest writers-regardless of genre-to be inspired by the stories of Arthur Conan Doyle. The results are surprising and joyous. Some tales are pastiches, featuring the recognizable figures of Holmes and Watson; others step away in time or place to describe characters and stories influenced by the Holmes world. Some of the authors spin whimsical tales of fancy; others tell hardcore thrillers or puzzling mysteries. One beloved author writes a song; two others craft a melancholy tale of insectoid analysis. This is not a volume for listeners who crave a steady diet of stories about Holmes and Watson on Baker Street. Rather, it is for the generations of people who were themselves inspired by the classic tales, and who are prepared to let their imaginations roam freely. Features stories by Peter S. Beagle, Rhys Bowen, Reed Farrel Coleman, Jamie Freveletti, Alan Gordon, Gregg Hurwitz, Toni L. P. Kelner, William Kotzwinkle and Joe Servello, Harley Jane Kozak, D. P. Lyle, Weston Ochse, Zoe Sharp, Duane Swierczynski, and F. Paul Wilson

Laurie R. King, Leslie S. Klinger (Author), Andrew Eiden, Derek Perkins, Emily Sutton-Smith, Grover Gardner, James Langton, James Patrick Cronin, Julie Mckay, Justine Eyre, Keith Szarabajka, Marisa Calin, Ralph Lister, Scott Brick, Simon Vance, Suzanne Elise Freeman, Various, Various Narrators (Narrator)

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