A Grave Talent

I like King's sentence-to-sentence writing style a lot, and there was a lot of this book that I thought was strong. It also kept me interested the whole way through, even though we pretty much have the mystery wrapped up by the two-thirds mark.

That said: my first gripe is that Hawkin is a terrible partner, and Kate shouldn't have had to shelter Vaun at her house. He was wrong and she was right. He investigated her private life and threatened to out her at work and held his authority over her to get her to do something unprofessional, and we're supposed to forgive him at the end and look forward to their next investigation together? I don't think so.

Also Bruckner's psychological "methods" would have felt more at home in one of Laurie show more King's Mary Russell books in the Victorian era than it did here in the nineties, as did some of the veneration of St. Vaun. They both felt a bit heightened and unrealistic, which didn't match the world King seemed to be aiming for. Also, please tell me-- were we supposed to find Bruckner creepy? I definitely did.

There were a few pacing issues as well-- the various focuses of the book (the community on Tyler's Road, the character analyses of Vaun and of Andy, the meat-and-potatoes investigating, and Kate's home life) were all basically interesting but did not seem correctly mixed and arranged in the book, so that the cumulative effect was of disjointedness. For example, I wish the people on the Road and their relationships, which were weighted very heavily in the early part of the book, had remained more of a throughline. Once the bridge broke and Kate had stranded herself alone on the hill with everyone, I really thought the rest of the story would focus on the community, and finding out out that it wasn't as idyllic as it seemed-- but then Kate and Hawkin helicopter out of there and it's pretty much left behind completely. So I suppose it turns out the only thing wrong with it was that one person who turned out to be a murderer lived there, not that the whole thing was founded based on a feudalistic concept and their landlord had an unprecedented amount of control over their lives and their access to the world? Tyler is basically a cult leader, but don't worry, he let some of them have telephones in the epilogue or whatever, so good for him I guess.

I'm also not sure King does justice to Kate as a lesbian character. I'm sure the lesbian "twist" read better in the nineties, and I'm happy that King decided to go for it, but reading it now, it felt unnecessarily coy the way it danced around the issue. The book didn't really address either Lee's insensitivity to Kate's fears of coming out, or the way Kate's wish to stay in the closet and to publically keep her distance from the "leather and chain" gay San Fran community and Lee's AIDS-stricken patients may have come from a place of internalized homophobia. Instead, the book struck a strange middle ground of trying to make Kate's lesbianism emphasized and central to the story while also not fully exploring it. I'll admit I was also worried to see how King would write lesbian characters after I read A Monstrous Regiment of Women lol. show less

this is excellent. the writing is crisp and witty and sharp and so so so good. nearly (actually?) flawless writing, and would carry a book in any genre (and i'd read any genre written by her she's so good).

around halfway through i felt some of the mystery was a little lazily handled, as a good bit of information just fell in their laps, and came to the reader as a couple of longer monologues out of nowhere. but that's more than forgivable and maybe was done that way in service of the story's pacing. (which is maybe more important since this is more thriller than mystery?)

the writing in this book is so good that i almost didn't notice that the story is also well done. (less perfect than the writing - also lazy in that it seems so easy to show more fall back on a sociopath in these stories, among a couple other slight inconsistencies or annoyances - but this is her first book and it was still really intriguing, with well enough developed and interesting characters.) that matters less to me but when the two match up, or nearly do, it's a beautiful thing. show less

I picked this up having finished Survival of the Fittest and feeling in the mood for another American police procedural. Which this is, and a good one. However, the epigraphs - from the detective works of Conan Doyle, Sayers, Chesterton, and others - place it in another tradition, as well. Sayers seems the most apposite, and is quoted within the dialogue as well as at the beginning of a section: an early signal that this book will be about more than the mystery, and indeed it delves deep into the havoc that a career in detection can wreak on a relationship. I wasn't entirely convinced by the murderer's motivation, but I don't think I was really reading this for the murderer. I liked the protagonist, Kate Martinelli, and I liked her show more rapport with her superior, Al.

Spoilers ahead:

I received this in a Bookcrossing sweepstake of lesbian fiction, so this came prespoiled for me, but it's worth noting that King goes to considerable lengths to conceal the gender of the protagonist's partner, Lee. I'm not sure how quick I'd have been to pick that up, unspoiled; but the fact that she keeps this going for a good chunk of the book further demonstrates how compartmentalised a detective's life can be, and the suffocating effect of the closet. show less

I read this novel because I liked Laurie King's Mary Russel series, and it, too, was well-written and nicely paced. It was missing the excellent camp value of Sherlock, Watson, et al (who really should make as many literary cameos as possible), but it was a nice murder mystery that fit together, and I always like clever lady cops.

Also, I am always amused when I find books with secret lesbians. Clearly, Kate Martinelli's sexual orientation was supposed to be some kind of gradual realization/big reveal, but I caught it the first time the narrator failed to use pronouns when mentioning her lover of the androgynous name Lee. Had I known that this book featured a clever lesbian cop, I probably would have read it earlier. Nonetheless, it was show more nice that Kate's sexual orientation informed her personality while not overshadowing her existence. It certainly fed into her mania for privacy, but King made clear that this was an extension of her already "armadillo-like" nature. show less

Engaging, though King's Holmes/Russell series is still more my style (guess I prefer historical mystery fiction to contemporary ones). I also find whydunits less interesting than who- and howdunits, so the dynamics of the bond between the villain and the victim, though eloquently described, are not as gripping for me. Kudos to King for the tender and funny relationship between Kate and her significant other, though.

Originally posted at http://olduvaireads.wordpress.com/2013/09/13/a-grave-talent-kate-martinelli-1-by...

Three children have been murdered and Inspector Kate Martinelli is on the case. Unfortunately, not for reasons she’d like:

“…it was not amusing to think that she had been assigned to this specific case because she was relatively photogenic and a team player known for not making waves, that she was a political statement from the SFPD to critics from women’s groups, and, worst of all, that her assignment reflected the incredibly outdated, absurd notion that women, even those without their own, were somehow “better with children.””

And she gets Inspector Alonzo Hawkin as her partner, a recent LA transplant, the new guy thrown show more on this sticky case to save the necks of the higher-ups. He’s not exactly pleased to be assigned this young and inexperienced Martinelli but he has his own baggage.

So the bodies have been found in a close-knit, remote community owned by John Tyler. No electrical lines, no phones, cars allowed up only twice a week. And yet more than seventy people live there. Eccentrics, beatniks and what not, lots of families and kids, no one who really looks the murderer type.

Then again, there’s that reclusive artist, who, as it turns out, was convicted of killing a child many years ago. But Vaun is concealing an even bigger secret, for she is actually a world-renowned artist who channels the “pain and beauty of life” into her work. Naturally, she is a suspect, but when she nearly dies, Martinelli and Hawkins wonder if it is a suicide attempt or if she is being set up.

“Oh, come on, Al, that’s…”

“Farfetched? Yes. The work of a madman? That too.”

Kate began to shiver. “But why? Why would someone hate her so much? Why not just bang her over the head on one of her walks and make it look like an accident?”





There are many different threads running around this story but it all works thanks to the interesting back stories King weaves together, as well as the great characters she has crafted in Vaun, Kate and Al. And even a strangely charismatic murderer:

“He was very attractive, sexy, dark and dangerous, aloof . He exuded an aura of secret power. And he was an outsider, but by choice, rather than being left out. That was a feeling I craved, that self-assurance. Together we could look down on everyone else. I felt chosen, powerful, unafraid— even pretty, for those few months.”

And one of my favourite things about this book was the way San Francisco and the Bay Area glimmered throughout.



From lovely descriptions of its gorgeous – and famous – views:

“Of all views of the bridge that dominated this side of the city, it was this one she loved the best— still dark, but with the early commute beginning to thicken the occasional headlights that passed at what seemed like arm’s reach. The Bay Bridge was a more workmanlike structure than the more famous Golden Gate Bridge, but the more beautiful for it. Alcatraz, which lay full ahead of the house, could be seen from this side by leaning a bit.”

To the little details about life in the Bay Area, such as the occasional blackouts and its microclimates:

“In San Jose a huge area of the grid went abruptly black, and a thousand newcomers to Silicon Valley cursed and cracked their shins on the furniture as they searched blindly for flashlights and the stubs of Christmas candles. Old-timers just went to bed and told each other that it would be all over in the morning.”

“The rain began again an hour later, with that slow steadiness and determination that makes the natives of the Pacific coast check their supplies of candles and firewood.”

“It was a glorious day, San Francisco at her spring finest. The smattering of off-season tourists along Fisherman’s Wharf looked stunned at their fortune, having expected fog or rain, but the rains were nearly over for the year, and fog is a summer resident. The sky was intensely blue and clear, with an occasional crisp white cloud to cast a shadow across water and buildings for contrast. A fresh breeze raised whitecaps, but the sun warmed the bones even on the top deck. Berkeley looked about ten feet away, Mt. Tamalpais was at her most maternal, and a sprinkling of triangular sails studded the blue waters where Northern California’s more successful computer wizards and drug importers took a day at play.”

King, after all, is a third-generation Bay Area resident born and bred, having been born in Oakland and now residing in the Santa Cruz region. So she knows her stuff.

And this book solidly places King in my Read-Everything mental list. I love her Mary Russell (aka Mrs Holmes) series, and enjoyed her most recent release, Bones of Paris, and with the Kate Martinelli series, she has created another appealing female lead (and gruff but charming male sidekick – ok so they are partners but it really is Martinelli’s story) and King’s affection for the Bay Area is just contagious. If you have never read anything by King before, please give her a go! Her books are quite something. show less

The first time I read this book, I remember being completely shocked and surprised at the main character's "big secret": she's a lesbian and in a relationship with her "housemate". And then I realized that the signs were there the whole time. But the story overall kept me riveted and wanting to get to the end.

Reading it now, several years after that first time, I was still completely engrossed by the story. And while the "big secret" didn't take me by surprise, I was still amazed at how cleverly written it is. After all, it's not easy to write a passage about someone and manage to seamlessly and effortlessly avoid using pronouns to describe that someone.

Anyway, this book is every bit as good as I remember. The two main characters -- show more Kate Martinelli and Al Hawkin -- seem to be mismatched and will have nothing in common, but they end up being a perfect foils for each other. Vaun Adams, an artist who is at the center of the whole mystery, possesses a gift that many -- including herself -- would call a curse.

The book was recognized by the Mystery Writers of America with the 1994 Edgar Award for Best First Novel, and I can completely see why. show less