Rating: 
Summary: Well worth reading
Review: I started this book around 2AM and could not put it down for the next 5 hours. Then I spent the next two days frantically finding time to read. My normally interesting classes were annoying me because all I wanted to do was read this book. When I finally finished, I wanted to read it again. I discovered King through "The Beekeeper's Apprentice" and "A Monsterous Brigade of Women." After reading those books, I ran out to find more books by this great author. "A Grave Error" topped the other two books by a huge margin. I'm running off as soon as I finish typing this to find the second book in this series.
Rating: 
Summary: I read 3/4 of it and skimmed the last 1/4
Review: I was really hoping to like this book...I generally enjoy female crime fighters (ie, Kinsey Malone, Kay Scarpetta and Barbara Havers). Unfortunately, I really did not like this book. King was trying to paint the heroine as a superwoman and seemed over-anxious to prove she was as tough as a man. Also, King went heavily into descriptions on several occasions, yet I had a hard time following her. I had to reread several passages because they were so mired in detail I lost sight of the big picture. I never did get a feel for the characters. I know I was supposed to like them because the author told me how virtuous they were, but I just didn't.
Rating: 
Summary: A superior detective story
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: A superior detective story
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: A great talent...
Review: 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).
Rating:
Summary: A real page-turner!
Review: In fact I read the book because my favorite series were lent to someone else in the library and this was standing close. When I finished it, I returned to the library immediately for other books in the series. I really like the way LK describes her characters. Kate, Lee and Al are very nice "people", so you want to get back to your book, just to meet them again.
Rating:
Summary: More Kate Please!
Review: It is a fantasy of mine that somewhere in a late night hour, authors creep into Amazon to see what their readers are saying. Living happily in my fantasy, I figure this is my chance to say Thank you for Kate and to ask for more of her. I love Mary and will be happy to read the new Dark tale, but I'd really love to see Kate again and hope that this long hiatus from Kate stories doesn't mean that there will be no more. So Laurie, if you're creeping, what do you say? Thank you.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting Feminist Thriller
Review: King is an excellent writer, and her debut Kate Martinelli mystery is gripping and memorable. Three kindergarten-aged girls are found murdered near an isolated San Francisco commune. Are the children the target of a violent pedophile, or is a complex frame being set up to rid the commune of one of its members?
King writes well, and her eclectic educational and life background makes her characters believable and likable. I felt, however, that her streak of feminism detracts from her novel. Her homosexual homily taints an otherwise interesting plot and finely chiseled characters. Also unfortunate is King's understating the climax such that the suspense she works so hard to develop in the earlier sections of the novel is diminished.
This is a series King continues with subsequent novels; but as it becomes apparent that the series will continue to be part mystery and part in-your-face-I'm-a-coming-out-lesbian, I think I'll stop with the first book in what is otherwise a probably fun series starring Kate Martinelli.
Rating:
Summary: --Well done--
Review: 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:
Summary: --Well done--
Review: 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.
| 
