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Title: A Grave Talent by Laurie R. King ISBN: 0-553-57399-3 Publisher: Crime Line Pub. Date: 01 June, 1995 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.26 (27 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: --Well done--
Comment: Laurie King did a wonderful job in writing this story. It's difficult for me to believe that it's her first novel.
A GRAVE TALENT is the story of a murder investigation. There are two homicide officers in charge of the case. Alonzo Hawkin is a veteran detective who is partnered with Casey Martinelli, a young woman who had just received a promotion. The investigation involves the murders of three little girls. A beautiful and talented artist is the main suspect because she had been convicted of a similar crime seventeen years ago.
The author keeps the reader interested by the many twists and turns in the story.
Rating: 5
Summary: Heartily recommended
Comment: An excellent book I'd heartily recommend to anyone interested in mysteries/thrillers with an art twist. It is a San Francisco police investigation, revolving around a famous female artist, Vaun Adams, who has been in jail (under another name) for the murder of a child. When three more little girls are murdered near her current home, a hippie enclave, she's the logical suspect. But the detectives almost immediately conclude that she was wrongly convicted the first time, and is the victim of a frame by someone who hates her. The art elements (the description of her work, of her studio, and of her) as well as the characterizations, settings, private lives, motivations and detection are handled extremely well. The identification of the criminal, and the police pursuit of Vaun Adam's enemy, trying to catch him before he can kill again, is packed with suspense.
As far as I know, King has not written again about the art world. I wish she would. I think I've read every art-related mystery still in print, and a lot that aren't, and this is one of the best. She includes the perfect amount of information about art and the artist, enough so the reader has a sense of it, an understanding of the plot, but not enough to bore the reader.
Rating: 4
Summary: Don't be Blinded by the Cover.
Comment: I began this novel blind-sighted by its fluorescing orange cover but finished it with a clear vision of Laurie King's characters and the motive behind the crimes. The plot allows for digressions into her characters' histories and the murderer's motive. Her digressions prove that she is in no rush to publish sequential novels, which is a fault, in my opinion, of the many other murder mysteries I have read for a college course. The reader is allowed to get to know her characters with time, just as any relationship requires. For example, the relationship she creates between her lead detectives Kate Martinelli and AL Hawkin is honest. They start out testing one another and it is only when each has proven his/her capability that a trust is formed. It is not a matter of gender as I had suspected at the start of the novel. Upon the introduction of Hawkin I was concerned that King was going to depict him as the stereotypical male- chauvinist-boss-man character that Martinelli will have to gloriously over come. Not so. Hawkin is as judgmental as anyone would be when assigned a high profile case with a new-to-the-job partner. He is different because he is open to her success. He respects her when she demonstrates her strength in the field.
To understand Hawkin, Martinelli, and her other characters, King doesn't just tell the reader but rather shows their personalities through their emotions, behaviors, and thoughts. In addition to accomplishing strong character development, this technique validates any motive behind the crimes. There is a digression into the past of Vaun Adams, the suspected murderer, that provides information on why she could or could not be the murderer and if not, than reasons to suspect another.
I suggest putting sunglasses on so that this book can be approached and read. I finished this book with a desire to get to know Kate and Al and the gang better in King's mysteries to come.
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Title: To Play the Fool by Laurie R. King ISBN: 0553574558 Publisher: Crime Line Pub. Date: 01 May, 1996 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: With Child by Laurie R. King ISBN: 0553574582 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 31 March, 1997 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Night Work by Laurie R. King ISBN: 0553578251 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 28 November, 2000 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: A Darker Place by Laurie R. King ISBN: 0553578243 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 01 December, 1999 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: A Monstrous Regiment of Women by Laurie R. King ISBN: 0553574566 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 01 December, 1996 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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