Laurie R. King

Laurie R. King (born September 19, 1952) is an American author best known for her detective fiction.

Laurie R. King
Born (1952-09-19) September 19, 1952
Oakland, California, U.S.
Pen nameLeigh Richards
OccupationWriter
EducationB.A., M.A.
Alma materUniversity of California, Santa Cruz (1977)
Graduate Theological Union (1984)
Period1993 to Present
GenreDetective fiction
Notable awards
SpouseNoel Quinton King (1977–2009)
Children2
Signature
Website
www.laurierking.com

Life and career

Born in Oakland, California, King earned a degree in comparative religion from the University of California, Santa Cruz in 1977 and a masters in theology from the Graduate Theological Union in 1984, where her thesis was on "Feminine Aspects of Yahweh". She later received an honorary doctorate from the Church Divinity School of the Pacific.[1]

Among King's books are the Mary Russell series of historical mysteries, featuring Sherlock Holmes as her mentor and later partner, and a series featuring Kate Martinelli, a lesbian police officer in San Francisco, California. Using the pseudonym "Leigh Richards", she has published a science fiction novel, Califia's Daughters (2004). Across these genres, she explores several humanist themes, including the effects of war on soldiers as they attempt to find their place when returning home. This is seen in several of the Mary Russell novels and has been described in a comparison of the detectives in Keeping Watch (2003) and Touchstone (2007).[2]

She lives in Watsonville, California,[3] in the hills above Monterey Bay, southeast of Santa Cruz, California. From 1977 until his death in early 2009, she was married to the historian Noel Quinton King.[4] They are the parents of two children.

Awards

King's first book, A Grave Talent (1993), received the 1994 Edgar Award for Best First Novel[5] and a 1995 John Creasey Memorial Award.[6] This was followed by the 1996 Nero Award, for A Monstrous Regiment of Women,[7] the 2002 Macavity Award for Best Novel, for Folly,[8] the 2007 Lambda Award for Best Lesbian Mystery, for The Art of Detection,[9] and the 2015 Agatha Award for Best Historical Novel, for Dreaming Spies.[10] She has also been nominated for two Anthonys,[11] a Barry,[12] two additional Edgars, another Macavity, an Orange Prize,[13] and four RT Reviewers' Choice Awards.[14] In 2022, she won the Edgar Award's 'Grand Master' for her work.[15]

She was inducted into membership of The Baker Street Irregulars in 2010.[16][17]

Works
Library resources about
Laurie R. King
By Laurie R. King

Kate Martinelli mysteries
  • A Grave Talent (1993) ISBN 0-312-08804-3
  • To Play the Fool (1995) ISBN 0-312-11907-0
  • With Child (1996) ISBN 0-312-14077-0
  • Night Work (2000) ISBN 0-553-10713-5
  • The Art of Detection (2006) ISBN 0-553-80453-7 (Lambda Literary Award 2006)
  • Beginnings (2019) ISBN 9781732464728

Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes mysteries
  • "Mary's Christmas"
  • "Mary Russell's War: My War Journal"
  • "Beekeeping for Beginners"
  • "The Marriage of Mary Russell"
  • "Mrs Hudson's Case"
  • "A Venomous Death"
  • "Birth of a Green Man"
  • "My Story, or The Case of the Ravening Sherlockians"
  • "A Case in Correspondence"
  • "Stately Holmes"

Harris Stuyvesant and Bennett Grey series

(Historical novels of suspense, featuring FBI agent Harris Stuyvesant and injured British soldier Bennett Grey)

  • Touchstone (2007) ISBN 978-0-553-80355-6
  • The Bones of Paris (2013) ISBN 978-0-7490-1587-9

Non-series books
  • A Darker Place [UK title: The Birth of a New Moon] (1999) ISBN 978-0-553-57824-9
  • Folly (2001) ISBN 978-0-553-38151-1
  • Keeping Watch (2003) ISBN 978-0-553-38252-5
  • Califia's Daughters (as Leigh Richards) (2004) - science fiction. ISBN 978-0-553-58667-1
  • Lockdown (2017) ISBN 978-0-804-17793-1
  • Back to the Garden (2022) ISBN 978-0-593-49656-5

Further reading

Emrys, A. B. "Under Cover of Wartime: Disguised Murder in Works by Rennie Airth, Laurie R. King, Martha Grimes, and Anthony Horowitz." CLUES: A Journal of Detection 25.4 (Summer 2007): 53-63.

References
  1. Townsend, Peggy. "The storyteller and the detective". UC Santa Cruz News. Retrieved 18 June 2019.
  2. Gillies, Mary Ann. 2020. Liminal Spaces in Laurie R. King’s Touchstone and Keeping Watch. In Maarit Piipponen, Helen Mäntymäki & Marinella Rodi-Risberg (eds.), Transnational Crime Fiction: Mobility, Borders and Detection, 153–168.
  3. page 133, Great Women Mystery Writers, 2nd Ed. by Elizabeth Blakesley Lindsay, 2007, publ. Greenwood Press, ISBN 0-313-33428-5
  4. "Noel King Obituary - Santa Cruz, CA | Santa Cruz Sentinel". Legacy.com. 2009-02-05. Retrieved 2019-06-18.
  5. "Edgar Awards". Mystery Writers of America. Archived from the original on September 27, 2018. Retrieved May 27, 2014.
  6. "John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger". Crime Writers Association. Archived from the original on November 15, 2013. Retrieved May 27, 2014.
  7. "Nero Awards". The Wolfe Pack. Retrieved May 27, 2014.
  8. "Macavity Awards". Mystery Readers International. Retrieved 2010-04-07.
  9. "Lambda Literary Awards". Lambda Literary. 30 April 2006. Retrieved May 27, 2014.
  10. "Malice Domestic Convention - Bethesda, MD". www.malicedomestic.org. Archived from the original on 2017-01-21. Retrieved 2017-01-25.
  11. "Nominees and Winners". Bouchercon World Mystery Convention. Archived from the original on February 7, 2012. Retrieved May 27, 2014.
  12. "Barry Awards". Deadly Pleasures Magazine. Archived from the original on April 23, 2012. Retrieved May 27, 2014.
  13. "Orange Prize Loglist". Women's Prize for Fiction. Retrieved May 27, 2014.
  14. "RT Award Nominees and Winners". RT Book Reviews. Retrieved May 27, 2014.
  15. "MWA Announces the 2022 Edgar Award Nominations – Mystery Writers of America". Retrieved 2022-01-22.
  16. "The Investitured (or Invested) Irregulars" (PDF).
  17. "PB2-FrontMatter-11" (PDF). Retrieved 2019-06-18.
  18. "'The Murder of Mary Russell' explores the women closest to Sherlock Holmes". Christian Science Monitor. 14 April 2016. Retrieved 18 June 2019.
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