Below is the complete list of Laurie R. King books in order. For each series, the chronological reading order is the same as the order of publication.
Publication Order of Folly Island Books
Publication Order of Harris Stuyvesant Books
Publication Order of Kate Martinelli Books
Publication Order of Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes Books
- The Marriage of Billie Birdsong (2006)
In the Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes series, The Marriage of Billie Birdsong is book #9 and was published in 2006. 
Publication Order of Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes Short Stories/Novellas Books
- Stately Holmes (2016)
Published in 2016, Stately Holmes is listed as book #2 in the Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes Short Stories/Novellas series. - Mrs Hudson’s Case (2016)
Mrs Hudson’s Case is a 2016 release and appears as book #3 in the Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes Short Stories/Novellas series.
Publication Order of Mary Russell Non-Fiction Books
Publication Order of Raquel Laing Books
Publication Order of Standalone Books
Publication Order of Short Stories/Novellas Books
- Two Kids on a Grift (2025)
In the Short Stories/Novellas series, Two Kids on a Grift is book #4 and was published in 2025.
Publication Order of Short Story Collections Books
Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books
About Laurie R. King
Laurie R. King is an American mystery novelist best known for the Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes series and the Kate Martinelli mysteries. Her fiction ranges from historical detective stories to contemporary police procedurals and psychological suspense, often exploring questions of identity, faith, justice, and the relationship between personal convictions and social expectations. Her most recognizable creation is Mary Russell, a brilliant young woman who becomes the investigative partner and eventual wife of Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes.
Born on September 19, 1952, in Oakland, California, King grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area. She later attended the University of California, Santa Cruz, where she studied religious studies and earned a graduate degree in Old Testament theology. Her academic background has had a lasting influence on her fiction, particularly in stories involving religious communities, sacred texts, moral ambiguity, and competing interpretations of truth.
King made her publishing debut with A Grave Talent in 1993, introducing San Francisco homicide inspector Kate Martinelli. The novel follows Martinelli and her partner, Alonzo Hawkin, as they investigate murders connected to a reclusive artist. It received the Edgar Award for Best First Novel, establishing King as a significant new voice in crime fiction.
The Kate Martinelli series continued with To Play the Fool, With Child, Night Work, and The Art of Detection. These novels combine police investigations with the personal and professional challenges facing Martinelli, a lesbian detective navigating law enforcement, relationships, and social expectations. The series also demonstrates King’s interest in characters who exist outside conventional institutions or challenge assumptions about identity.
Her international reputation grew with The Beekeeper’s Apprentice, published in 1994. Set in 1915, the novel introduces fifteen-year-old Mary Russell, who encounters a retired Sherlock Holmes on the Sussex Downs. Holmes recognizes her extraordinary intelligence, and their relationship develops from an informal apprenticeship into an enduring intellectual and personal partnership.
King’s interpretation of Holmes respects many elements of Conan Doyle’s original character while allowing him to age and change. Mary Russell, however, is never simply an assistant or replacement for Dr. Watson. She possesses her own scholarly interests, investigative abilities, and independent judgment, frequently challenging Holmes’s methods and assumptions.
The Mary Russell novels take the characters across Britain and into international settings, incorporating historical events, political tensions, religious traditions, and literary connections. Books such as A Monstrous Regiment of Women, The Moor, O Jerusalem, The Game, and The Language of Bees demonstrate the series’ range, from theological mysteries to espionage and family revelations.
King’s religious studies background is particularly evident in A Monstrous Regiment of Women, which explores a religious movement led by a charismatic woman, and O Jerusalem, which draws upon the political and cultural complexities of Palestine during the First World War. Rather than using historical settings merely as decoration, King makes the beliefs and institutions of each period central to her mysteries.
Outside her two principal series, King has written several standalone novels. Folly follows a woman attempting to rebuild her life on an isolated island, while Keeping Watch examines the lasting psychological effects of war. Touchstone combines political intrigue and psychological suspense in 1920s England, and its sequel, The Bones of Paris, continues the story of Harris Stuyvesant and Bennett Grey.
Her standalone Lockdown takes place around a school community facing escalating tensions, using multiple viewpoints to examine how private histories and apparently unrelated events can converge. King has also worked with other writers, including editing mystery anthologies and participating in collaborative Sherlock Holmes projects.
Throughout her career, King has received numerous honors, including the Edgar Award, the John Creasey Memorial Dagger, and the Nero Award. Her work has attracted readers who appreciate mysteries driven as much by characterization and historical or psychological depth as by the mechanics of solving crimes.
A distinctive feature of King’s writing is her willingness to give characters intellectual and moral complexity. Her detectives are observant and capable, but they are also shaped by education, belief, trauma, relationships, and the societies in which they live. Investigations frequently challenge not only their understanding of a crime but also their assumptions about other people.
For readers approaching her bibliography, the Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes novels form her largest continuing sequence and benefit from publication-order reading because the central relationships evolve significantly. The Kate Martinelli books likewise develop recurring characters across successive investigations, while her standalone novels offer independent explorations of suspense and human behavior.
Laurie R. King’s contribution to mystery fiction lies in her combination of rigorous characterization, thoughtful historical settings, and an interest in the ethical questions beneath criminal investigations. Whether writing about a modern California detective or reimagining Sherlock Holmes through Mary Russell’s perspective, she treats detection as both an intellectual pursuit and a way of examining the complicated lives surrounding a mystery.