With Child [Paperback]

Laurie R. King (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 31, 1997

Adrift in mist-shrouded San Francisco mornings and alcohol-fogged nights, homicide detective Kate Martinelli can't escape the void left by her departed lover, who has gone off to rethink their relationship.  But when twelve-year-old Jules Cameron comes to Kate for a professional consultation, Kate's not sure she's that desperate for distraction.

Jules is worried about her friend Dio, a homeless boy she met in a park.  Dio has disappeared without a word of farewell, and Jules wants Kate to find him Reluctant as she is, Kate can't say no--and soon she finds herself forming a  friendship with the bright, quirky girl.  But the search for Dio will prove to be much more than both bargained for--and it's only the beginning.  

When Jules disappears while taking a trip with Kate, a desperate search begins...and Kate knows all too well the odds of finding the child alive...

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

I can't think of any moments in recent mysteries that equal the sheer physical and emotional terror of Kate Martinelli's discovery--about halfway through this third book in Laurie R. King's excellent series, now available in paperback--that the 12-year-old girl she is looking after has disappeared. Kate, a just-out lesbian, is under fire for that and other reasons at the San Francisco Police Department, and the missing girl is the daughter of the woman whom Kate's work partner has just married. Kate's relationship with her life partner, Lee, is in serious trouble, and she has strong feelings about wanting children of her own. The motel from which the girl has vanished is in the middle of a notorious serial killer's terrortory. As she does in her equally smart and visceral series about Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes (The Beekeeper's Apprentice, A Monstrous Regiment of Women, A Letter of Mary), King balances all the elements perfectly, and keeps us involved every inch of the way. Her other Martinelli books are A Grave Talent and To Play the Fool.

From Publishers Weekly

The third absorbing Kate Martinelli story (after the Edgar-winning A Grave Talent and its follow-up, To Play the Fool) leads the Bay Area cop into the Pacific Northwest, where a serial killer is on the loose. Kate's female lover Lee, severely disabled in an earlier tale, leaves to spend some time on an island off the Washington coast. At the same time, Kate's partner, Al, is wooing a woman whose precocious 12-year-old daughter, Jules, asks Kate to help her find a now-missing homeless boy whom she has met in a park. While struggling with little success to cope with Lee's absence, Kate finds Jules's friend but in the process gets hit on the head hard enough to have to take medical leave from the department?until her sporadic, debilitating headaches cease. When Al and Jules's mother go on their honeymoon right before Christmas, Jules stays with Kate; on a trip north, Jules disappears from the motel near Portland. The desperate search for the girl, who fits the profile of the killer's other victims, creates excruciating anguish for Kate, particularly after she is sent back to California. There, she breaks some rules to find out whether Jules was taken by the killer or by someone who knew her personally. Although readers may connect pieces of the puzzle sooner than Kate, the pleasure of her company and the accelerating suspense preceding the climax make for a compelling read. Author tour.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Bantam (March 31, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553574582
• ISBN-13: 978-0553574586
• Product Dimensions: 4.2 x 0.8 x 6.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #531,689 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

New York Times bestselling crime writer Laurie R. King writes both series and standalone novels.

In the Mary Russell series (first entry: The Beekeeper's Apprentice), fifteen-year-old Russell meets Sherlock Holmes on the Sussex Downs in 1915, becoming his apprentice, then his partner. The series follows their amiably contentious partnership into the 1920s as they challenge each other to ever greater feats of detection.

The Kate Martinelli series, starting with A Grave Talent, concerns a San Francisco homicide inspector, her SFPD partner, and her life partner. In the course of the series, Kate encounters a female Rembrandt, a modern-day Holy Fool, two difficult teenagers, a manifestation of the goddess Kali and an eighty-year-old manuscript concerning'Sherlock Holmes.

King also has written stand-alone novels--the historical thriller Touchstone, A Darker Place, two loosely linked novels'Folly and Keeping Watch--and a science fiction novel, Califia's Daughters, under the pseudonym Leigh Richards.

King grew up reading her way through libraries like a termite through balsa before going on to become a mother, builder, world traveler, and theologian.

She has now settled into a genteel life of crime, back in her native northern California. She has a secondary residence in cyberspace, where she enjoys meeting readers in her Virtual Book Club and on her blog.

King has won the Edgar and Creasey awards (for A Grave Talent), the Nero (for A Monstrous Regiment of Women) and the MacCavity (for Folly); her nominations include the Agatha, the Orange, the Barry, and two more Edgars. She was also given an honorary doctorate from the Church Divinity School of the Pacific.

Check out King's website, http://laurierking.com/, and follow the links to her blog and Virtual Book Club, featuring monthly discussions of her work, with regular visits from the author herself. And for regular LRK updates, follow the link to sign up for her email newsletter.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars

ANOTHER WONDERFUL BOOK FROM A BRILLIANT AUTHOR, January 6, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: With Child (Hardcover)

Sensitive, intense, and at times absolutely gut-wrenching, this book, the third in the Detective Kate Martinelli series, is my favorite to date. Even more so than in the previous two books in the series, Kate emerges as a strong, complex woman who is now fighting to reclaim herself after her life partner leaves to spend some time alone. Just as Kate gets her feet back underneath herself, the special bond she has been forming with Jules, a smarter-than average twelve year old, is threatened when Jules disappears while in Kate's care. The ensuing search is surrounded by accusations and strong emotions, climaxing in a thrilling rescue attempt. I encourage fans of King's Mary Russell books to check out her present-day heroine, as well.

Just a small warning--make sure you have plenty of time to read when you begin any of King's books--they are impossible to put down!

The two books preceding "With Child" in this series are "A Grave Talent" and "To Play the Fool," both excellent reads.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good, but Laurie King can do and has done better, August 25, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: With Child (Paperback)

This book left me a little frustrated. I think Laurie King is great writer. What I believe sets her apart from other writers, mystery or otherwise, is her ability to cleverly weave research into an interesting plot. We've all read books where the authors have obviously researched--and I mean obviously. They may as well present their information in the form of a numbered list titled "Things I've learned about..." Laurie King, on the other hand, feeds us information on cults, obscure religious movements, the Bible while building strong characters and a riveting plot. Now the complaints--what happened in this Kate Martinelli book? In the first, I learned about art and about "the high-extracting personality." In the second, I learned about a religious movement called "the fools." In this one, she seemed to have fallen into the Patricia Cornwell trap. I didn't learn about anything except how Kate Martinelli always ends up being the next victim just like Cornwell's Kaye Scarpetti. Having said this, I should add that I still give the book 4 stars. It's a quick read and kept my interest, I just expect more from Laurie King. I know she can do better--I've read the proof.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Emotionally affecting, June 26, 2002

By 

paedagogue "paedagogue" (Chapel Hill, NC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: With Child (Paperback)

This is the most affecting of the Kate Martinelli mysteries I've read, both because of the heroine's physical and emotional vulnerability, and because of the sensitive handling of her bond with the missing girl. It compares well with A Grave Talent, and like it, presents a mystery focused on interpersonal, rather than more broadly social, issues.