A
Grave Talent
by Laurie R. King
St.
Martin’s Press: 1993
Overview: The first in a series
of five, A Grave Talent follows the personal and professional life of
San Francisco police detective Kate Martinelli as she works on her first high
profile case with her slightly hard-boiled police partner Alonzo Hawkin. Three
young girls have been murdered in a disturbing way, and evidence seems to point
to a famously reclusive painter living under the radar in a back-to-the-earth
planned community outside the city. While solving the case, Kate must come to
terms with her own privacy about her personal life.
My Reaction: I know I said that
I don’t particularly want to cover coming-out novels, but I’ll make an
exception for this one, partly because Laurie King is one of my favorite
authors of all time and partly because that while Kate is not out
professionally, she is in a loving relationship with her partner Lee and seems
to have worked out her identity in her personal life. It was a little annoying
that King doesn't use any pronouns to describe Lee until about half-way through
the book, which is meant to make Kate’s home life a bit of a mystery, but her
eventual coming out to Hawkins is handled gracefully and sympathetically. Some
of her quieter moments with Lee are downright sweet, though they do have a
couple of issues they will no doubt need to work out in future books (but why
else, but for a little drama, do we read?). Though I can tell that this is
Laurie King’s first published book, the story is engaging and full of good
action scenes. Overall, it’s just a damn good mystery with the added bonus of a
queer detective!
Kate
Martinelli Series:
A
Grave Talent, 1993
To
Play the Fool, 1995
With
Child, 1996
Night
Work, 2000
The
Art of Detection, 2006
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