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an island in the Pacific Northwest to rebuild a house—one that was originally built by a soldier returned from the First World War, in fact. And most recent was Keeping Watch , in which the veteran of another war, Vietnam, rescues endangered children.
    MR: A ‘professor of religion’—do you have an interest in religion, yourself?
    LRK: I did an MA in Old Testament theology—storytelling at its most basic—especially its feminine aspects, and was later given an honorary doctorate by my seminary.
    MR: And you now write crime novels? An interesting choice.  Still, it must add a certain depth to your stories.
    LRK: I think so, yes. But then, one joy of mysteries is that you can weave all kinds of interests and abilities into them—house building, child rearing, life in Papua New Guinea, Greek verbs, holy fools, trench warfare, the hills of north India….
    MR: My, how…piquant. But this raises a question: How do you keep people from confusing the works that concern Holmes and me with the novels you also write?
    LRK: Er, well. I can’t exactly say that I do.
    MR: (Her voice going icy.) You ‘can’t say..’? Am I to understand that the manuscripts I sent you— my personal memoirs —have been published as fiction ?
    LRK: Well, they’re exciting and exotic and tell of little-known events in history—
    MR: And this next one, which you have entitled The Game. I suppose readers will imagine you invented it, too? That Holmes and I did not actually race across Europe for the ship to India and join the hunt for the missing spy? That we never became itinerant magicians or encountered the Maharaja of Khanpur or joined forces with a Bolshevik or met Kipling’s Kim or went pig-sticking? That we never—oh, this is simply too outrageous. Young woman, if you wish to claim sole authorship of the books, then you may conduct this so-called interview without me as well. Good day.
    LRK: Oh, Miss Russell, watch the—oh, please—don’t! Oh dear. (Sighs.) She’s gone.
     
     

Two:
    The Russell Memoirs
     
    The child even looked vaguely intelligent—though that last was probably an effect of the spectacles. (“ Beekeeping for Beginners”)
    *
    “Holmes,” I said, startled into speech, “are you going all sentimental on me?”
    “No, you’re right, that would never do.” ( Letter of Mary )
    *
    How jolly: another warrant for our arrest. ( Pirate King )
     

A Russell Chronology
     
    The Russell Memoirs—known to her community of readers as the Kanon (the “Canon” being the Conan Doyle stories)—include at the time of this writing twelve novels, one novella, and five short stories.  In order of publication, and showing the acronyms used by many of Russell’s fans, they are:
                  The Beekeeper’s Apprentice (1994) (BEEK)
                  A Monstrous Regiment of Women (1995) (MREG)
                  A Letter of Mary (1997) (LETT)
                  The Moor (1998) (MOOR)
                  O Jerusalem (1999) (OJER)
                  Justice Hall (2002) (JUST)
                  The Game (2004)  (GAME)
                  Locked Rooms (2005)  (LOCK)
                  The Language of Bees (2009)  (LANG)
                  The God of the Hive (2010) (GOTH)
                  Pirate King (2011)  (PIRA)
                  Garment of Shadows (2012)  (GARM)
                  **
                  Beekeeping for Beginners, an e-novella (2011)  (B4B)
                  * *
                  “ Mrs Hudson’s Case ” (1997)  (HUD)
                  “ A Venomous Death ” (2009)  (VEN)
                  “ My Story ”  (2009)  (MYS)
                  “ Birth of a Green Man ” (2010)  (BIR)
                  “ A Case in Correspondence ”  (2010)  (CAS)
    (The last four stories listed are included in this