Pirate King
Authors: Laurie R. King
Tags: #Fiction, #Mystery & Detective, #Historical, #Traditional, #Women Sleuths, #Traditional British
Pirate King
is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2011 by Laurie R. King
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Bantam Books,
an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group,
a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
B
ANTAM
B
OOKS
and the rooster colophon are
registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.
Interior photo credits:
Fernando Pessoa: found in
Circuilo de Leitores, Fernando Pessoa—Obra Poetica, Vol. I
The brigantine
Romance
by Gloria Cloutier Kimberly: courtesy of Jane Meyer Moroccan house: courtesy of the photographer, Zoe Elkaim
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
King, Laurie R.
Pirate king : a novel of suspense featuring Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes /
Laurie R. King.
p. cm.
eISBN: 978-0-553-90754-4
1. Russell, Mary (Fictitious character)—Fiction. 2. Women detectives—England—
Fiction. 3. Holmes, Sherlock (Fictitious character)—Fiction. 4. Motion picture
studios—Fiction. 5. Pirates—Fiction. 6. Abduction—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3561.I4813P57 2011
813′.54—dc22 2010053043
Map by Jeffrey L. Ward
Jacket design: Joe Montgomery
Jacket images: © Danita Delimont/Getty Images
(silhouettes at sunset), © Axiom/Glasshouse (mosque at sunset), © Shmuel Magal/Sites & Photos/Alamy
(Pena National Palace, Sintra, Portugal)
v3.1
Contents
Book One: Ship of Fools: November 6–22, 1924
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-one
Chapter Twenty-two
Book Two: The Harlequin: November 17–27, 1924
Chapter Twenty-three
Chapter Twenty-four
Chapter Twenty-five
Chapter Twenty-six
Chapter Twenty-seven
Chapter Twenty-eight
Chapter Twenty-nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-one
Book Three: In the Kingdom of Bou Regreg: November 27–30, 1924
Chapter Thirty-two
Chapter Thirty-three
Chapter Thirty-four
Chapter Thirty-five
Chapter Thirty-six
Chapter Thirty-seven
Chapter Thirty-eight
Chapter Thirty-nine
Chapter Forty
Chapter Forty-one
PIRATE KING
a Moving Picture in Three Acts
| Director: | | Randolph St John Warminster-Fflytte |
| Assistant director: | | Geoffrey Hale |
| Assistant’s assistant: | | Mary Russell |
| Cinematographer: | | Will Currie |
| Choreographer: | | Graziella Mazzo |
THE CAST:
Major-General Stanley played by Harold Scott
Ruth played by Myrna Hatley
Mabel played by Bibi
The Pirate King played by Senhor M. R. X. La Rocha
His Lieutenant, Samuel, played by Sr La Rocha’s Lieutenant
Frederic played by Daniel Marks
THE SISTERS:
| Annie | | Ginger |
| Bonnie | | Harriet |
| Celeste | | Isabel |
| Doris | | June |
| Edith | | Kate |
| Fannie | | Linda |
THE PIRATES:
| Adam | | Gerald |
| Benjamin | | Henry |
| Charles | | Irving |
| David | | Jack |
| Earnest | | Kermit |
| Francis | | Lawrence |
THE CONSTABLES:
| Sergeant played by Vincent Paul | | Donald |
| Alan | | Edward |
| Bert | | Frank |
| Clarence | | |
AUTHOR’S FOREWORD
I find myself of mixed mind about this, my eleventh volume of memoirs concerning life with Sherlock Holmes. On the one hand, I vowed when I began writing them that the accounts would be complete, that there would be no leaving out failures or slapping wallpaper across our mistakes.
Nonetheless, this is one episode over which I have considerable doubts—not, let us be clear, due to any humiliations on my part, but because I fear that the credulity of many readers will be stretched to the breaking by the case’s intricate and, shall we say, colourful complexity of events.
If that be the case with you, dear reader, please rest assured that for this one volume of the Russell memoirs, you have my full permission to regard it (and alas, by contagion, me) as fiction.
Had I not actually been there, I, too, would dismiss the tale as preposterous.
—MRH
BOOK ONE
S
HIP OF
F
OOLS
November 6–22, 1924
