A Grave Talent

I?m such a fan of Laurie King that I can?t quite believe that I?ve never read her Kate Martinelli series. I believe that this is the first in the series and it is one of the most original stories I?ve ever read in a mystery. It has believable characters, even though some of them are completely outlandish, and her descriptive portrayal of a Utopian commune awash in mud and murder is still clear in my mind. I want to compare her favorably to Val McDermid?s Lindsay Gordon series, but actually, Kate is much fleshier and more complex than Lindsay, who seems a little bit too flip and light by comparison. And Kate?s character is completely real as the conscientious freshman detective who is a little over her head in her San Francisco assignment with a partner who doesn?t quite trust her yet (and a partner at home who perhaps trusts her a little too much).

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

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.

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.)