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melwilBook 38:A Grave Talent by Laurie R. King
San Francisco was stil dark when the telephone erupted a foot from the ear of Katarina Cecilia Martinelli, Casey to her colleagues, Kate to her few friends.
After reading With Child I was anxious to read the other Kate Martinelli novels, which the lovely![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
lizbee helped me out with. Kate Martinelli begins as a 'different' character here - new to the job and her working partner, Al. Three girls are found dead, leading the detectives to the reclusive artist, Vaun.
Here as elsewhere, King's strength is the way she mixes the 'plot' with the lives of the characters. You want to keep reading, not just because you want to solve the mystery, but because you want to find out what happens to the characters. The mystery is good, however, and I really couldn't put it down.
A four out of five.
Laurie R. King's page for the book
Mystery Guide Review
Book 39: To Play the Fool by Laurie R. King
"Life has not been funny, Al."
The second in the Kate Martinelli and probably my least favourite, although I still couldn't manage to put it down. It deals with the aftermath of the first book, while investigating the death of a homeless man, and the connection of another who refers to himself as a Holy Fool. Kate is much more wounded here, but seemingly less anxious in her investigations. The real stars in this book are the secondary characters who are interesting and distinctive.
A 3.5 out of 5
Laurie R King's page
Amazon.com
Book 40: Night Work by Laurie R. King
Kate Martinelli sat in her uncomfortable metal folding chair and watched the world come to an end.
This is probably the best crafted book out of the Martinelli series, probably showing King's experience as a writer. She knows her main characters well, and they react exactly as they should throughout the book. This book both amused and horrified me, as the events developed. Kate and Al are investigating a series of murders all inflicted on men who have abused women or children. At the same time Kate's been asked to investigate an 'accidental' burning death of a young Indian woman.
Another book that was impossible to put down - a 4 out of 5.
Laurie R King's site
Amazon's page
Book 41: Cocaine Blues and book 42: Flying Too High by Kerry Greenwood
"Well, I shall try being a perfect Lady Detective in Melbourne . . . "
This is alllizbee's fault. If she hadn't talked about the books so much, then I wouldn't have been so comprehensively sucked in. Phryne Fisher is a Mary Sue, there's no doubt about it. Beautiful, witty, intelligent, a great lover, rich, sympathetic when she needs to be, a champion flyer, a great driver, blah, blah, blah . . .
But for some reason you can't look away. It's like a car wreck - you know it's bad intellectually (I'm not even going into how Greenwood screwed with the English and Ancient Greek language in one line), but you just can't look away.
In these two books we meet our main characters and follow various small and larger mysteries. I'm looking forward to reading some more - though I wish the books themselves were better in telling you which one comes next in the series.
3 out of 5 for both books
The Phryne Fisher homepage
Lizbee reviews the book - spoilers
Book 43: The Lake of Dead Languages by Carol Goodman
The lake in my dreams is always frozen
Well the dead language in question is Latin, which was never going to be as exciting to me as a good greek mystery. Nonetheless - Jane Hudson is a latin teacher at the girls boarding which she attended years earlier. During her time as a student, her two best friends died in apparent suicides. Now the events seems to be repeating themselves.
This is a well written mystery, although I did pick the 'bad guy' about a third of the book before it was revealled. It started as a psychological thriller, but dissipated into a more standard mystery by the end. The characters are interesting, particularly Jane's contemporaries, but Jane can be unsympethetic from time to time.
A 3.5 out of 5
A thoughtful review
Book 44: The Bombmaker (Reader's Digest Version) by Stephen Leather
It wasn't an especially big bomb.
One of the problems with Reader's Digest editions of anything is that you wonder if you missed anything important. Here, though, I was quite happy with what was there - any more would have been over the top.
Andrea Hayes used to work for the IRA, building bombs until something went wrong. Now her daughter has been kidnapped and she's been asked to build a bomb that will destroy London. The characters are mostly compelling, and there's a great twist in the book. The book is a little aged though - the events of September the 11th 2001 have not occured, and terrorism of this level seems like a strange, foreign type thing.
A 3.5 out of 5.
Book 45: Until Death by Sandy Curtis
As the Holden Statesman pulled into the ground-floor car park of Brisbane's Anzac Square Building, the security guard looked up
That sentence there is just one of my problems with this book. We know the character lives in Brisbane, therefore using Brisbane again is redundant. And the writer spends way too much time using car names - maybe there was a sponsership there.
When I picked this book up, I thought 'interesting - a murder mystery set in Brisbane.' But Brisbane served for little but a mention of Pulp Fiction, and some typical summer storms. Then the writer took the mystery back to Sydney where Libby woke up one morning to find her mother dead, herself not remembering the past few days and someone insisting that she killed her mother.
A poorly written, unfleshed out, mystery with requisite romance. And not enough good Brisbane.
2 out of 5
A short review
The Author's Website
Book 46: The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio by Terry Ryan
"Race little roadster,
Fairly fly.
You'll be used parts
By and By."
The first non thriller/crime book that I haven't been able to put down. This is non-fiction, the story of a woman, Evelyn Ryan, who supported her family of twelve through 'contesting', entering 25 words or less and jingles competitions. The story is told by her daughter, with just enough separation and intimacy. It is a fantastic story, you often forget it is real as amazing things happen. Peppered throughout the book are the little rhymes and poems Evelyn wrote.
A 4.5 out of 5
Reviews etc
The book's website
San Francisco was stil dark when the telephone erupted a foot from the ear of Katarina Cecilia Martinelli, Casey to her colleagues, Kate to her few friends.
After reading With Child I was anxious to read the other Kate Martinelli novels, which the lovely
lizbee helped me out with. Kate Martinelli begins as a 'different' character here - new to the job and her working partner, Al. Three girls are found dead, leading the detectives to the reclusive artist, Vaun. Here as elsewhere, King's strength is the way she mixes the 'plot' with the lives of the characters. You want to keep reading, not just because you want to solve the mystery, but because you want to find out what happens to the characters. The mystery is good, however, and I really couldn't put it down.
A four out of five.
Laurie R. King's page for the book
Mystery Guide Review
Book 39: To Play the Fool by Laurie R. King
"Life has not been funny, Al."
The second in the Kate Martinelli and probably my least favourite, although I still couldn't manage to put it down. It deals with the aftermath of the first book, while investigating the death of a homeless man, and the connection of another who refers to himself as a Holy Fool. Kate is much more wounded here, but seemingly less anxious in her investigations. The real stars in this book are the secondary characters who are interesting and distinctive.
A 3.5 out of 5
Laurie R King's page
Amazon.com
Book 40: Night Work by Laurie R. King
Kate Martinelli sat in her uncomfortable metal folding chair and watched the world come to an end.
This is probably the best crafted book out of the Martinelli series, probably showing King's experience as a writer. She knows her main characters well, and they react exactly as they should throughout the book. This book both amused and horrified me, as the events developed. Kate and Al are investigating a series of murders all inflicted on men who have abused women or children. At the same time Kate's been asked to investigate an 'accidental' burning death of a young Indian woman.
Another book that was impossible to put down - a 4 out of 5.
Laurie R King's site
Amazon's page
Book 41: Cocaine Blues and book 42: Flying Too High by Kerry Greenwood
"Well, I shall try being a perfect Lady Detective in Melbourne . . . "
This is all
lizbee's fault. If she hadn't talked about the books so much, then I wouldn't have been so comprehensively sucked in. Phryne Fisher is a Mary Sue, there's no doubt about it. Beautiful, witty, intelligent, a great lover, rich, sympathetic when she needs to be, a champion flyer, a great driver, blah, blah, blah . . . But for some reason you can't look away. It's like a car wreck - you know it's bad intellectually (I'm not even going into how Greenwood screwed with the English and Ancient Greek language in one line), but you just can't look away.
In these two books we meet our main characters and follow various small and larger mysteries. I'm looking forward to reading some more - though I wish the books themselves were better in telling you which one comes next in the series.
3 out of 5 for both books
The Phryne Fisher homepage
Lizbee reviews the book - spoilers
Book 43: The Lake of Dead Languages by Carol Goodman
The lake in my dreams is always frozen
Well the dead language in question is Latin, which was never going to be as exciting to me as a good greek mystery. Nonetheless - Jane Hudson is a latin teacher at the girls boarding which she attended years earlier. During her time as a student, her two best friends died in apparent suicides. Now the events seems to be repeating themselves.
This is a well written mystery, although I did pick the 'bad guy' about a third of the book before it was revealled. It started as a psychological thriller, but dissipated into a more standard mystery by the end. The characters are interesting, particularly Jane's contemporaries, but Jane can be unsympethetic from time to time.
A 3.5 out of 5
A thoughtful review
Book 44: The Bombmaker (Reader's Digest Version) by Stephen Leather
It wasn't an especially big bomb.
One of the problems with Reader's Digest editions of anything is that you wonder if you missed anything important. Here, though, I was quite happy with what was there - any more would have been over the top.
Andrea Hayes used to work for the IRA, building bombs until something went wrong. Now her daughter has been kidnapped and she's been asked to build a bomb that will destroy London. The characters are mostly compelling, and there's a great twist in the book. The book is a little aged though - the events of September the 11th 2001 have not occured, and terrorism of this level seems like a strange, foreign type thing.
A 3.5 out of 5.
Book 45: Until Death by Sandy Curtis
As the Holden Statesman pulled into the ground-floor car park of Brisbane's Anzac Square Building, the security guard looked up
That sentence there is just one of my problems with this book. We know the character lives in Brisbane, therefore using Brisbane again is redundant. And the writer spends way too much time using car names - maybe there was a sponsership there.
When I picked this book up, I thought 'interesting - a murder mystery set in Brisbane.' But Brisbane served for little but a mention of Pulp Fiction, and some typical summer storms. Then the writer took the mystery back to Sydney where Libby woke up one morning to find her mother dead, herself not remembering the past few days and someone insisting that she killed her mother.
A poorly written, unfleshed out, mystery with requisite romance. And not enough good Brisbane.
2 out of 5
A short review
The Author's Website
Book 46: The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio by Terry Ryan
"Race little roadster,
Fairly fly.
You'll be used parts
By and By."
The first non thriller/crime book that I haven't been able to put down. This is non-fiction, the story of a woman, Evelyn Ryan, who supported her family of twelve through 'contesting', entering 25 words or less and jingles competitions. The story is told by her daughter, with just enough separation and intimacy. It is a fantastic story, you often forget it is real as amazing things happen. Peppered throughout the book are the little rhymes and poems Evelyn wrote.
A 4.5 out of 5
Reviews etc
The book's website
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no subject
on 2006-03-02 04:23 am (UTC)Weirdly, I thought Night Work is one of the worst books that Laurie King has produced. For one thing, that tattoo business in the beginning? Pretty much impossible under the circumstances described, and the conclusion was ludicrous.
OTOH, my favourite in the series is To Play the Fool, so perhaps we have naturally different taste?