The Art of Detection

April 24, 2006
Bestseller King (The Game
) meshes her two best-known series—contemporary police procedurals set in San Francisco featuring Kate Martinelli of the SFPD and the period stories of Mary Russell and her husband, Sherlock Holmes—to create an intelligent, satisfying novel of suspense. Martinelli is investigating the death of Philip Gilbert, an obsessively avid Holmes collector (he's even transformed his San Francisco house into a replica of 221B Baker Street), when she discovers what could be the motive: a previously unpublished story from Arthur Conan Doyle, told from Holmes's point of view, a find that could be worth millions. The present-day narrative is interspersed with the purported Conan Doyle story, which resonates with the account of Martinelli's own domestic life. A fine, perceptive storyteller, King is particularly adroit at capturing the milieus in which her characters reside. Fans of both series will be well rewarded.

May 1, 2006
After a six-year hiatus, King returns to her Kate Martinelli mystery series, set in present-day San Francisco. Much has changed in Kate's life, including the addition of a new house and a daughter with lover Lee. Fortunately, her partnership with Al Hawkin remains steadfast. When a body is found in a gun emplacement in the Marin headlands, jurisdiction is a bit iffy, but the case eventually goes to Kate and Al. The pajama-clad corpse is identified as Sherlock Holmes enthusiast Philip Gilbert, whom Kate discovers had recently purchased a mysterious manuscript he thought might be an unpublished short story by Holmes, and she wonders if similarities between the story and Gilbert's fate hold the key to his murder. King knows both Holmes and the Bay Area, and this book is a delightful mix of the two. However, it's misleading to think it is connected to her Mary Russell series in any substantial way. Highly recommended for all public libraries." -Laurel Bliss, Princeton Univ. Lib., NJ"

Copyright 2006 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 1, 2006
Adult/High School-The mores of 1920s San Francisco are juxtaposed with those of today as detective Kate Martinelli investigates a murder in this straightforward police procedural. At the victim's home, she discovers a typewritten manuscript that may be an undiscovered story by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, which becomes the centerpiece of a mystery that includes a Sherlock Holmes dinner group, a dead man found in an unlikely place, and a plethora of suspects. Newcomers to the series may have a difficult time keeping all the players and the complexities of their connections straight, but the uniqueness of Martinelli's family and friends is engaging. The setting of San Francisco and the Marin headlands, both present and past, adds another layer of depth to the realities of everyday life in a police inspector's work. King's prose is somewhat dry and rather pithy in places and the plot stretches a bit thin at times, but the sheer fascination of following Occam's razor will draw readers in. Teens who enjoy whodunits and Sherlock Holmes will enjoy "The Art of Detection"."Charli Osborne, Oxford Public Library, MI"

Copyright 2006 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from May 1, 2006
Sometimes a mystery takes one's breath away with its impeccable, inexorable logic. King makes two such tales here, whose wheels interlock with a perfect, audible click. Kate Martinelli, homicide detective in San Francisco, catches a murder case in which the corpse has been found on the Marin headlands in Battery DuMaurier, an artillery site, now long out of use, constructed in the nineteenth century to guard San Francisco Bay. The victim is Philip Gilbert, a gentleman who had turned the first floor of his home into a perfect replica of Sherlock Holmes' Baker Street. Kate's involvement in the case is further tangled when a typescript turns up in Gilbert's possession telling the tale (recounted in a voice sounding very much like Holmes himself) of a 1924 transvestite and her military lover, whose corpse was also found in Battery DuMaurier. The pages of this tale are interspersed with Kate's investigation, allowing King not only to bring her Mary Russell and Martinelli series together with incredible elegance but also to allow us glimpses of Kate, her partner Leonora, their daughter Nora, and the rainbow families of the Bay Area juxtaposed against the tough daily grind of police work. There's also the opportunity to explore every facet of Holmes fandom, from the sublime and scholarly to the deliriously ridiculous. A tour de force and a great read.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2006, American Library Association.)