Night Work (A Kate Martinelli Mystery)

by Laurie R King

2000

Status

Checked out

Publication

Bantam Books (2000), Edition: First Edition

Description

Fiction. Mystery. Suspense. Thriller. HTML:Night Work Kate and her partner, Al Hawkin, are called to a scene of carefully executed murder: the victim is a muscular man, handcuffed and strangled, a stun gun's faint burn on his chest and candy in his pocket. The likeliest person to want him dead, his often-abused wife, is meek and frailā??and has an airtight alibi. Kate and Al are stumped, until a second body turns upā??also zapped, cuffed, and strangled...and carrying a candy bar. This victim: a convicted rapist. As newspaper headlines speculate about vendetta killings, a third death draws Kate and Al into a network of pitiless destruction that reaches far beyond San Francisco, a modern-style hit list with shudderingly primal

User reviews

LibraryThing member melwil_2006
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
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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.
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LibraryThing member jennyo
I love King's Russell/Holmes books, but I hadn't read one of the Kate Martinelli series before. The Martinelli series is set in modern-day San Francisco, and she's a police homicide detective who also happens to be a lesbian in a committed relationship. Like Mary Russell, she's a very strong, very
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feminist character. King's pretty good with plot and setting too. But I think what I like most about her books is that she always brings in some religious or mythical aspect that makes me want to go off and learn more. In this one, there's quite a lot about Kali and goddess worship. Interesting stuff. I've got the newest Russell book here on the TBR pile, thank goodness, because this book whetted my appetite for more King.
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LibraryThing member acommonreader
#4 in Martinelli Series... Gripping beginning - indian goddess. Interesting twists. Kinda disturbing when you think how defenseless those women are...
LibraryThing member JeanneMarkert
Loved this writer. Loved her style of writing & the characters. Kate Martinelli, the police dtective is someone I need to get to know better.
LibraryThing member tjsjohanna
This latest installment in the Kate Martinelli series has the flavor of a thriller. Ms. King manages to create a sense of sympathy with the criminal by virtue of the unsavoriness of the victims. In that sense, I think that makes the reader more aware of the emotional paradoxes that police deal with
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on a regular basis. Kate and Lee's relationship is more on the back burner this time around, and the myth of the goddess Kali is seriously scary in the hands of Ms. King.
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LibraryThing member pinkozcat
I have managed to read about 20% of this book and am bored, bored and bored. I love King's Mary Russell books but this is the first Kate Martinelli book I have tackled and I am pretty sure that it is going to be the last.

Perhaps it will improve further into the book but I will need to be desperate
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for something to read before I find out.
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LibraryThing member Condorena
A tough case of possible bride burning brings kate to suspecting the involvement os friends in an underground female vigilante group.I listened to this book and thought it was very well done.
LibraryThing member sageness
again with the rushed, dissatisfying ending. I don't remember the Mary Russell books having this problem.

metaphysics tag for various theological discussions, inc Hindu and Hebrew.

gender politics tag bc of sex/gender-based crimes.
LibraryThing member simchaboston
Fun, but not completely satisfying. It's not that everything in a story needs to fit together perfectly, but some parts of the plot are linked rather tenuously, and the denouement feels rushed and contrived. I do like the characters, though, and find that reading "Night Work" helped explain some
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things I missed by reading "The Art of Detection" before this one.
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LibraryThing member mldavis2
The protagonist, Kate Martinelli, is a lesbian detective working with a male counterpart. While that does not affect the story line, it does provide the author with a soapbox for showing that it doesn't much matter. The mystery was well written but Ms. King has done better, and I much prefer her
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Sherlock Holmes pastiches.
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LibraryThing member kmartin802
Kate and most of the police department are more amused than angry when the Ladies of Perpetual Disgruntlement begin their campaign to bring discomfort and embarrassment to men who are suspected of crimes against women but not convicted. But when those suspected abusers begin turning up dead, it is
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up to Al and Kate to find the killers.

Throw in a potential bride death of a young Indian woman who was brought over to the US to marry and the crime gets close to home. Kate and Lee's friend Roz is involved in the deaths in various ways. When the spouse is also found murdered, at first it looks like another crime for the feminist vigilantes. But some things just don't fit.

This was an intriguing episode with a lot of information on the goddesses of pre-Christian times and their effects on women today. It also has lots of information on abuse of women and the things vigilantes can do in the internet age.

Fans of the series, especially those with an interest in theology, will enjoy this episode.
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LibraryThing member Bookmarque
Too tangential - did we need all that breathless detail about the play? And the side plot about the Indian bride burning - horrifying and unfair, but it was distracting. Ugh and now Lee is getting all broody. I'm done with this series.

Language

Original language

English

Original publication date

2000-02-01

Physical description

6.82 inches

ISBN

0553578251 / 9780553578256

Barcode

1601483
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