As most of you are aware, I absolutely love the Mary Russell series by Laurie King. I haven't really dipped into her other books. I do think that I previously read A Grave Talent because the story is familiar, but I can't remember the plot well enough for that to be a problem for me here.

 

I am totally loving this book, and am even more convinced that Laurie King is herself a rare talent. While the books are quite different, there is a commonality with the Inspector Gamache series (besides just the coincidence that both authors are named Laurie) in that they both use the mystery novel as a springboard for deeper concerns.

 

I am liking it so much that I've agreed to drive my daughter's cat back to school today, just so that I can have 4 hours in the car alone with Kate Martinelli.

I really tried getting into this book. I just couldn't, which was a shame. I found the premise to be promising, but unfortunately the writing felt off, boring and very hard to keep my attention on the book.

I made it to chapter 23 and found that I just didn't care one way or the other about what was gonna happen next. 

What snagged my attention first about the this book was that the Flead was a lesbian and I thought "great, why not try it out". I'm hoping my next adventure into that gender preference will give a more satisfying result than what this book managed.

Although this is the fourth book in the Kate Martinelli series, it is the first one I've read.In this book, Officer Martinelli and her parter, Al Hawkin, are investigating two seemingly unrelated murders: one man is a baggage handler at the San Francisco airport, while the other is a Marin County executive. At the same time, she is trying to help her feminist minister friend Roz find out about a possible case of bride burning in the Indian community. Throw in complications about Martinelli's relationship with her life partner, Lee, and how all of the friendships fit together, and you've got the plot of the tale.The book is full of twists and turns and fairly entertaining. One of the things I most enjoyed about it is the San Francisco Bay Area environs; I always enjoy reading books set in locales with which I am familiar.I liked the book well enough, and I would possibly read another one in the series.

Laurie R. King's debut novel and you can tell it. I really enjoyed this. It is totally different than Mary Russell books. I will def. continue with the series.