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

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. 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). She lives in Watsonville, California, 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. 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 and a 1995 John Creasey Memorial Award. This was followed by the 1996 Nero Award, for A Monstrous Regiment of Women, the 2002 Macavity Award for Best Novel, for Folly, the 2007 Lambda Award for Best Lesbian Mystery, for The Art of Detection, and the 2015 Agatha Award for Best Historical Novel, for Dreaming Spies. She has also been nominated for two Anthonys, a Barry, two additional Edgars, another Macavity, an Orange Prize, and four RT Reviewers' Choice Awards. In 2022, she won the Edgar Award's 'Grand Master' for her work. She was inducted into membership of The Baker Street Irregulars in 2010.

Works

Kate Martinelli mysteries

Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes mysteries

Harris Stuyvesant and Bennett Grey series

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

Non-series books