Rating: 
Summary: I wish I had started with the first one....
Review: I liked this book about Kate Martinelli, a San Francisco cop with a penchant for getting in over her head. I probably would have liked it more, however, if I had done what I advise my readers to do: read the series in the order they are published. I would be more familiar with Kate and Lee and the life they're trying to make for each other. A lot of the author's time and ink are spent on internal issues like relationships; family; theology; and there is a more than occasional feminist theme in her work. Spousal abuse and the overall degredation of women are this story's themes, and it sometimes seems the author feels obliged to club her reader over the head time and again with how UNempowered (is there such a word?) women still are. I'll probably read more Kate Martinelli books...I'll just go back to the beginning and play catch up first. Enjoy!
Rating: 
Summary: feminism does not necessarily mean man-hating
Review: After 100 pages I just quit the book. The author spends 90% of her time creating a world in which all lesbians (and some other women) are beautiful, cool, responsible and intelligent and all men are brutish and destructive.
I wouldn't accept this kind of bigoted generalization in reverse so continuing to read this book would be patronizing and only politically correct. The author should beat her drum more quietly.
Two stars for her sentence structure and spelling.
Rating: 
Summary: Another thought-provoking Kate Martinelli
Review: After a few dozen pages of this book, I realized that I had read it before or at least had started it in some bookstore. I certainly couldn't remember how it ended so the journey was not impaired. Much of Laurie King's work can be characterized in a feminist vein, but none so much as this book. And in Laurie King's hands, feminism is a not-always-pretty, but always-present element in the lives of the women who populate this pages. This had a powerful effect on me. I found myself cringing at things I should have been applauding and completely taken in because of my own personal stereotyping. This was not a comfortable read (so many of Laurie King's books are not) but it was a good and necessary journey. As with some of Thomas Perry's books, we find ourselves understanding the motivations of people who do things we absolutely cannot condone. Having said all that, it is good to be back in the same orbit with Kate Martinelli and Al Hawkin and their assorted cast of friends and lovers.
Rating:
Summary: Another thought-provoking Kate Martinelli
Review: After a few dozen pages of this book, I realized that I had read it before or at least had started it in some bookstore. I certainly couldn't remember how it ended so the journey was not impaired. Much of Laurie King's work can be characterized in a feminist vein, but none so much as this book. And in Laurie King's hands, feminism is a not-always-pretty, but always-present element in the lives of the women who populate this pages. This had a powerful effect on me. I found myself cringing at things I should have been applauding and completely taken in because of my own personal stereotyping. This was not a comfortable read (so many of Laurie King's books are not) but it was a good and necessary journey. As with some of Thomas Perry's books, we find ourselves understanding the motivations of people who do things we absolutely cannot condone. Having said all that, it is good to be back in the same orbit with Kate Martinelli and Al Hawkin and their assorted cast of friends and lovers.
Rating:
Summary: Intriguing Plot, but Plodding
Review: After debating for several weeks, I purchased and began reading Night Work. A significant backdrop to this novel is lesbian relationships. For this reason, I believe ignoring this fact in the reviews skews ones expectations. These relationships are given a good many pages in the early part of the book and it took a long time to finally get into the meat of what this story is supposed to be about. Beyond that, the story plods while we spend far too much time on minutia among Kate's circle of friends and acquaintances. Much depends on expectations. This one didn't meet mine which evolved solely from reviews since I have not read earlier Martinelli books.
Rating: 
Summary: The writing is still great...
Review: but the research -- or lack of it -- hurts the book terribly! One of the reasons I'm a great admirer of King's is that she usually has fascinating intellectual themes, meticulously researched and beautifully woven into the plot. There is one such strand in this book: the scary information about present-day bride burning. Unfortunately, King seems to have assumed she already knew the answer to the perenially frustrating "Why do women stay?" question, but she doesn't. Indeed, the author seems as fogged as Kate about this, so that the issue lacks the insight and compassion King usually brings to her stories. The irony is that, if she'd done her work and read any one of the basic books on this topic, she'd have found a wealth of *really* terrifying information that would have snapped her plot into shape in no time. She'd have had a sharp focus for the relationship of bride burning to other forms of violence in the home, the violence against women that is such a strong theme in the Old Testament, and, ultimately, a better grounding for a good cop's belief that we can't afford to tolerate any form of vigilantism, even when it's sadistically funny. I really enjoy delving into Old Testament interpretation, but this, too, was hampered by King's inability to line it up with her plot twists...and she was so close! Try reading Diamant's "The Red Tent" and you will see the richness and connections King missed with this. I found the relationships among the characters compelling enough to keep me glued to the book, even when my mind was groaning at the cliched response to battering, so I don't think King's writing has lost any of its punch (so to speak). I'm hoping the next Martinelli will involve topics King knows she has to investigate thoroughly so that this series will get back to its usual standard.
Rating:
Summary: The writing is still great...
Review: but the research -- or lack of it -- hurts the book terribly! One of the reasons I'm a great admirer of King's is that she usually has fascinating intellectual themes, meticulously researched and beautifully woven into the plot. There is one such strand in this book: the scary information about present-day bride burning. Unfortunately, King seems to have assumed she already knew the answer to the perenially frustrating "Why do women stay?" question, but she doesn't. Indeed, the author seems as fogged as Kate about this, so that the issue lacks the insight and compassion King usually brings to her stories. The irony is that, if she'd done her work and read any one of the basic books on this topic, she'd have found a wealth of *really* terrifying information that would have snapped her plot into shape in no time. She'd have had a sharp focus for the relationship of bride burning to other forms of violence in the home, the violence against women that is such a strong theme in the Old Testament, and, ultimately, a better grounding for a good cop's belief that we can't afford to tolerate any form of vigilantism, even when it's sadistically funny. I really enjoy delving into Old Testament interpretation, but this, too, was hampered by King's inability to line it up with her plot twists...and she was so close! Try reading Diamant's "The Red Tent" and you will see the richness and connections King missed with this. I found the relationships among the characters compelling enough to keep me glued to the book, even when my mind was groaning at the cliched response to battering, so I don't think King's writing has lost any of its punch (so to speak). I'm hoping the next Martinelli will involve topics King knows she has to investigate thoroughly so that this series will get back to its usual standard.
Rating:
Summary: Lesbian heroine fights serial killer
Review: Edgar Award winner Laurie R. King's fourth Kate Martinelli novel features the lesbian San Francisco homicide detective on a search for a team of serial killers, who pattern their crimes after the pranks of the Ladies of Perpetual Disgruntlement. The Ladies specialize in witty and public humiliation of men who have gotten away with crimes against women or children. The first killing - of a wife beater - exhibits a similar MO, with the fatal difference. Two more killings follow, one connected to an Indian wife-burning case which has already attracted political heat. Kate's investigation takes her unsettlingly close to her own politically active friends and culminates in the explosive climax King's readers have come to expect. Although there is a bit too much political earnestness for my taste, King's picture of San Francisco gay and political life is involving and the mystery is well plotted.
Rating:
Summary: Laurie King Does it Again!
Review: Even though I love Laurie King's Sherlock & Mary series, I have long been looking forward to a new Kate Martinelli story from her. As a woman, I relate to many of the issues woven into her story, and she makes me think about Life, just as relationships and events in my own life do. Like all my favorite series, this one had me completely involved in Kate's life, as well as the lives of those around her; and I wanted to know, "What happened next! " Night Work did not disappoint me at all. I am able to say to all Laurie King fans; "It's a good 'un from beginning to end!" And let's face it, she's one of the best writers of mystery novels ever. This new book is as excellently written as all her others, which is high praise indeed. King takes us deeper into the lives of Kate, her partner Lee, her work partner Al, their friends and family, and other interesting people along the way. These people interact believably, their characters become clearer to us, and some of them grow personally in ways that we can relate to and learn from. For me a good novel is a good novel, and the genre chosen as its setting is largely irrelevant. I like books that interest, excite, and move me; as well as making me think about the important issues in life, both those which transcend the particular and those especially important to our lives today. Laurie King's books meet all my criteria for a good novel - actually, a very good novel, indeed - and I look forward to many more from her.
Rating:
Summary: The quality I've come to expect from Laurie R. King.
Review: Excellent characterizations, good mystery. There are a lot of mystery writers getting more attention, but King is as good a *writer* as she is a storyteller; this is by far my favorite mystery series. If you haven't read any of them yet, start with _A Grave Talent_. If you had read the earlier novels, I doubt you'd be puzzling over the purchase enough to bother reading this review...
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