Laurie R. King

She was inducted into membership of The Baker Street Irregulars in 2010.

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.

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 fictional lesbian police officer in San Francisco, California. Using the pseudonym "Leigh Richards", she has published a futuristic novel, Califia's Daughters (2004).

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.

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.

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, Zoe and Nathan.

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