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Murder mystery in 1990’s San Francisco? Tough and capable female newbie, with no-nonsense veteran detective? Art, psychology, and a commune in the mountains? Laurie R. King paints a world you can drive right up to, with characters you feel you could have a conversation with on the street—while creating an intricate, wonderfully plotted mystery.
— Jocelyn
You know her name, and you’ve read her Mary Russell books, but have you read Laurie King’s Kate Martinelli series? If not, you’re in for such a treat! I adore Martinelli. Kate is a gay detective working in San Francisco, who is smart, dogged, and not afraid to dive into a case head on. A Grave Talent is exactly what you'd expect from King—a complex, thrilling mystery
— FlanneryThis 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.