This gripping debut of the Kate Martinelli mystery series won the Edgar Award for Best First Mystery, generating wide critical acclaim and moving Laurie R. King into the upper tier of the genre. As A Grave Talent begins, the unthinkable has happened in a small community outside of San Francisco. A string of shocking murders has occurred, each victim an innocent child. For Detective Kate Martinelli, just promoted to Homicide and paired with a seasoned cop who's less than thrilled to be handed a green partner, it's going to be a difficult case. Then the detectives receive what appears to be a case-breaking lead: it seems that one of the residents of this odd, close-knit colony is Vaun Adams, arguably the century's greatest painter of women, a man, as it turns out, with a sinister secret. For behind the brushes and canvases also stands a notorious felon once convicted of strangling a little girl. What really happened on that day of savage violence eighteen years ago? To bring a murderer to justice, Kate must delve into the artist's dark past--even if she knows it means losing everything she holds dear.
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From the Back Cover
Kate Martinelli, a recently promoted Homicide detective, and Alonzo Hawkin, a world-weary cop trying to make a new life in San Francisco, could not be more different but are thrown together to solve a brutal crime – the murders of three young girls.
Their search takes them to a rural colony, close to the place where the bodies were found. Here they meet the enigmatic artist Vaun, who is hiding a terrible secret from her past and her real identity.
As Martinelli and Hawkin get nearer to a solution, they realize the crimes may not be sexually motivated killings they had seemed. There is a coldly calculating and tortuous mind at work which they must outmanoeuvre if they are to prevent further carnage and the destruction of a shining talent.
‘If there is a new P.D. James… I would put my money on Laurie R. King’
BOSTON GLOBE
‘Unusually sensitive and densely imagined’
KIRKUS REEVES
About the Author
Laurie King is a third-generation native of San Francisco, but since her marriage to an Anglo-Indian professor she has lived briefly in twenty countries on five continents. She and her husband have two children. They live mostly in California, but also have a house in Oxford.
Laurie King’s first novel, ‘A Grave Talent’, won both the UK Crime Writers’ Association’s John Creasey Award and the equivalent Edgar Award in the States for Best First Crime Novel of the Year.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By Maria2222
TOP 1000 REVIEWER
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
The unthinkable has happened in a small community outside of San Francisco. A series of shocking murders has occured, each victim a child. For Detective Kate Martinelli, just promoted to Homicide and paired with a seasoned cop who's less than thrilled to be handed a green partner, it's a difficult case that just keeps getting harder.
Then the detectives receive what appears to be a case-breaking lead: it seems that one of the residents of this odd colony is Vaun Adams, arguably the century's greatest woman painter, and a notorious felon once convicted of strangling a little girl. But what really happened eighteen years ago? To bring a murderer to justice, Kate must delve into the artist's dark past - even if it means losing everything she holds dear...
A very good start to the series. Well-written and interesting characters - I look forward to reading the next installments.
Then the detectives receive what appears to be a case-breaking lead: it seems that one of the residents of this odd colony is Vaun Adams, arguably the century's greatest woman painter, and a notorious felon once convicted of strangling a little girl. But what really happened eighteen years ago? To bring a murderer to justice, Kate must delve into the artist's dark past - even if it means losing everything she holds dear...
A very good start to the series. Well-written and interesting characters - I look forward to reading the next installments.
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is the first Kate Martinelli story I've read, although I have long been a great fan of Laurie R. King's for her Mary Russel stories.
The plot is surprising, and one is forced to keep back one's breath almost until the last page for fear of evil befalling the heroine and her surroundings. Fortunately, there is also a brief space for catching one's breath at the end, otherwise the reader would surely die of lack of oxygen!
Also, I find that the book raises the issue of homosexuality in a very noble and poignant manner, and I, as a European and as a Dane reading the book in 2013, twenty years after its first being published, am let to glimpse at what was, and presumably still is, a very difficult situation, especially if you are working as a servant of the public as is Kate Martinelli.
All in all I am of the opinion that this book is not only a truly great read, it also shows great sympathy with those not cast in the same mould as what is usually accepted by society. Laurie R. King has time and again shown us that she masters those characters who stand apart in thought, in body, in religion, in sexuality. Frankly my dears, I do give a damn!
Laurie R. King gives an amazing and glorious experience with every book - "A Grave Talent" not the least.
Susanne K.A. Nielsen
The plot is surprising, and one is forced to keep back one's breath almost until the last page for fear of evil befalling the heroine and her surroundings. Fortunately, there is also a brief space for catching one's breath at the end, otherwise the reader would surely die of lack of oxygen!
Also, I find that the book raises the issue of homosexuality in a very noble and poignant manner, and I, as a European and as a Dane reading the book in 2013, twenty years after its first being published, am let to glimpse at what was, and presumably still is, a very difficult situation, especially if you are working as a servant of the public as is Kate Martinelli.
All in all I am of the opinion that this book is not only a truly great read, it also shows great sympathy with those not cast in the same mould as what is usually accepted by society. Laurie R. King has time and again shown us that she masters those characters who stand apart in thought, in body, in religion, in sexuality. Frankly my dears, I do give a damn!
Laurie R. King gives an amazing and glorious experience with every book - "A Grave Talent" not the least.
Susanne K.A. Nielsen
6 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A brilliant book to say the least! I also stumbled across this book and it is truly a great book. It has fascinating strong characters with a brilliant plot which kept me reading well into the night.
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