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A Grave Talent
Kate Martinelli series #1

by Laurie R King



      Somebody is killing little girls with brown hair who come from upper middle class families in a small rural neighborhood outside San Fransisco. Al Hawkin is assigned Kate Martinelli, who is new to homicide, to find out whodunit and fast, before anybody else is killed. The murders seem to be linked to a strange community run rather like a feudal mediaeval society by a mysterious man named Tyler. This shelters Vaun Adams, aka famous artist Eva Vaughan, who, in another life before a prison sentence, was responsible for the death of a child herself, one just like the new victims. It all seems to point to her, but is she a criminal or something even stranger?

This is the first in the Kate Martinelli series, reprinted here for the first time in the UK. Ms King is more famous for her Mary Russell series, but here is a well written, thought provoking tale with much to recommend it. It might sound on the surface as being just another procedural, but there is a lot more in here than that. Essentially it is a study of the effect genius has on ordinary people, and it is the tormented character of Vaun who is central to everything. Her life seems akin to the effect of dropping a pebble in a pond and watching the ripples spread out, and the murder is at first seen as central, but later we realize that it is just one set of occurrences among many. Also in here to enjoy are the lush descriptions of a storm running riot and the bizarre commune run by Tyler, but these are early in the book, and by the end the reader has more to ponder. It is a book that could stand some editing to cut out repetition, and I was left wondering whether in real life Vaun would have been as pampered by the police as she is here. However, all this notwithstanding, this is a powerful tale that stays in the mind long afterwards, and one of the best descriptions of the nature of genius I’ve read.

The Book

Poisoned Pen Press (UK edition)
October 2006
Paperback
1847220010
Crime - Contemporary - San Francisco
More at Amazon.com US || UK
Excerpt
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The Reviewer

Rachel A Hyde
Reviewed 2006
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© 2006 MyShelf.com