A Grave Talent [Paperback]

Laurie R. King (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 1995

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.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Although it gets off to an uncertain start, this first mystery boasts an appealing female detective and a few good shocks delivered close to the end. Three children's bodies are found near a reclusive community of eccentrics not too many miles from San Francisco. Young cop Casey Martinelli and her embittered, tyrannical partner Alonzo Hawkins think they've identified the perfect suspect in Vaun Adams, the community's resident artist, who once was convicted of murdering a child and who is secretive even by the standards of her weird neighbors. Adams is a strong, enigmatic creation: haunted, gothic and broadly dysfunctional, with a dark past that may contain the lurking killer. But the plot exhibits cracks--a tenuous piece of deduction conveniently dictates that the murder suspects can come only from the community--and King stumbles several times in developing her detectives' characters. She is coy about revealing the gender of Casey's lover (most readers will spot the "surprise" a mile off), and she lets Hawkins' initially gruff manner dissipate within a dozen pages. If King plans a series, she will need to flesh out her protagonists.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

An omniscient narrator endows this amazing first novel with intelligence, intrigue, and intricacy. The serial murders of three kindergarten-aged girls test the uncomfortable relationship between a crusty San Francisco detective and his new female partner, both known for their independence. Eventually, unforeseen complications involving a remarkable artist's past and an evil stalker's secretive present force the pair into confrontation, and they learn to trust. This work exhibits strong psychological undertones, compelling urgency, and dramatic action. A necessary purchase and a writer to watch.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Crimeline (June 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553573993
• ISBN-13: 978-0553573992
• Product Dimensions: 4.2 x 1 x 6.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (51 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #403,976 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

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Gripping, Exciting, Tour-de-Force, July 16, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: A Grave Talent (Paperback)

I had no idea what to expect when I picked up this book. As I started reading, I found it headed into territory I don't normally care for (serial killers of children). But within the first few pages, I began to feel something unusual. King was somehow grabbing my interest so forcefully that I was helpless to resist. As the story unfolded, many plot developments and situations that I usually dislike took on a fascination and wove themselves into a pattern that was truly compelling.

I can't put my finger on how or why, but this novel truly excited me. I felt that I was having a profound experience as I read. I had the same feeling, albeit to slightly lesser degree, when I read the next book in the series, To Play the Fool.

To me, this book was a masterpiece, the highlight of my reading year. (And I read well over a hundred mysteries a year.)

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A superior detective story, May 30, 2000

By 

William Sugarman "nprfan1" (Great Neck, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Grave Talent (Paperback)

I'd read several of Ms. King's Mary Russell books and was very disappointed. "The Beekeeper's Apprentice" showed promise, but the next books in the series were real yawners. So I picked up "A Grave Talent" with very low expectations.

Was I ever surprised! This is an incredibly good mystery that never lets up on the suspense. I had a problem for a while with the obvious intelligence and education of Kate Martinelli and Al Hawkin, but soon realized that I'd simply been reading too many 87th Precinct stories and watching too much "NYPD Blue". I just thought all cops were like that, and it's a pleasure to find out that I was wrong.

The flow of the case was completely logical and totally believable. And the three main characters - Kate, Hawkin, and Lee - were also completely believable. I also appreciated the fact that King didn't even mention the nature of Kate's relationship with Lee until halfway through the story. It turned out to be important to the story, but still King never really made it the primary issue.

I have one wish and one complaint. The wish is that I'd like to see more of Vaun Adams. She's a very interesting character and she's someone I'd like to see and hear more of. The complaint? Without giving anything away, the fate of Lee Cooper is a shock and a real downer. I hope that's resolved positively in future installments in this series.

And I hope there are future installments. King should throw the Mary Russell series away (it's been going downhill since "Beekeeper") and concentrate on Kate Martinelli. If this is any indication she's got a great thing going.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A masterwork of the genre., June 5, 2000

By 

Peter A. Kimball (Chicago) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Grave Talent (Paperback)

So, this is what won Laurie King the Edgar for best first novel ten years ago! I came to it late, having first read her Holmes/Russell series. Naturally my hopes were high. I was not disappointed.

At any given time there are now about 6,976 paperback novels about police trying to catch serial killers available at the virtual and real booksellers'. If you go by the publishers' blurbs, they are all equally superb. In fact, however, thousands of them are garbage; hundreds are not complete wastes, especially if you get them from the library; several dozen are worth rereading; but only a handful are the real masterworks of the genre. -Red Dragon-, for example. And this volume. The masterworks are recognizable. You know what it's like? It's like taking the Oak Park architectural tour here (metro Chicago) and getting ready to see your first Frank Lloyd Wright house. You go up the street and you see some rather modern-looking structures and you think, "is that one of them? It's not so special." Then you turn a corner and see the genuine article, and you see that you will never be confused again. You will know a Wright house when you see one. It really IS different.

What is the difference? Let's start with characters. Many detective series have no single original or memorable character, including the detective. Some are of superior quality: the detective IS memorable, and maybe the villain as well. This book, however, abounds with memorable and sharply drawn characters. And I don't just mean being pulled from a grab-bag of attributes, like the episode where Frasier does the "Nightmare Inn" radio play, and the suspects include an Englishman, a German, an Irishman, a Chinese man, and "Beppo the dwarf." I mean something like a Victor Hugo novel, where the supporting characters are given dignity and purpose, and ornament the story lavishly. Two thirds of the way through the novel, as one example, we meet a memorable precocious 7-year-old. Why? Is she being set up to fool the villain in the last chapter? No - she doesn't do anything special. Why does King create this character then? Because she can. Because the novel is lusher and more pleasurable to read with her in it.

Now let's move on from character to philosophy! I use this phrase advisedly, because that's how it actually works in the novel. One of the chief characters is the renowned artist who was convicted of murdering a child 17 years ago, and who now falls under suspicion when children's bodies begin to turn up all around her secluded retreat. Any number of works of crime fiction include "artist characters". King, however, attempts to actually describe the artist's works, school of painting, and intentions, with such detail that you can actually see the individual works, follow the critical debate about her work, and understand the immense and serious talent that she actually possesses. Ultimately we are led to care about things much more important and deep than simply "punishing the killer", and perhaps as important as "stopping anyone else from getting killed." The final climax is saved from triteness by the fact that it is not just about people fighting, it is about Valuable things like love, art, and talent.

The plot moves quickly along. Some developments and twists are apparent ahead of time, but the detectives are not fools and successfully keep up with the clever reader and often get ahead.

Stepping back a bit, let's appreciate the merely (?) "decorative." King has enough confidence in her abilities to throw little grace notes into the mix. A little trick is played on the reader very early, and only 100 pages later do you realize (if you're like me) that you've been subtly had. King varies the narrative structure with flashbacks, flash-forwards, and asides to the reader (this is very reminiscent of Thomas Harris), and her sense of seasoning is entirely reliable.

This book is an endorsement of the notion that Edgar awards are not bestowed by pulling the names of the year's mystery novels out of a hat.