In 1947, the 93-year-old Sherlock Holmes lives in retirement at a small farmhouse in the English countryside, attended by his housekeeper Mrs. Munro.

Holmes spends much of his time on beekeeping, having set up an apiary on the property, and he begins to teach Mrs. Munro's son Roger about the practice.

The story shifts between three narratives: It was first published in April 2005 as a hardcover edition from Nan A. Talese/Doubleday,[1] and during the same month an unabridged audiobook version read by Simon Jones was released on both compact disc and cassette by Highbridge Audio.

[3] The audiobook edition by Mitch Cullin won the Audio Publishers Association's 2006 Audie Award for Unabridged Fiction.

[6] All parties reached an agreement out of court before the release of the film in the United States, and later editions of the novel now include a note thanking the estate for permission to use copyrighted material.