The Language of Bees by Laurie R. King is the ninth installment in the acclaimed Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes series, set in 1924. After seven months abroad, Mary Russell and her husband, Sherlock Holmes, return to their Sussex home, only to be confronted with two unsettling mysteries: the unexplained disappearance of one of Holmes’s bee colonies and the sudden reappearance of Holmes’s estranged son, Damian Adler, a troubled surrealist artist.   Damian seeks their help in locating his missing wife, Yolanda, and their daughter, Estelle. As Russell and Holmes delve into the investigation, they uncover connections to a sinister religious cult known as the Children of Lights, with ties to ancient rituals and a history rooted in Shanghai. The case leads them from the English countryside to the bohemian circles of London and the remote Orkney Islands, unraveling a complex web of secrets, madness, and familial bonds.