Night Work

By Laurie R. King

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 frail--and has an airtight alibi. Kate and Al are stumped, until a second body turns up--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 roots.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Jul 22, 2009
• ISBN: 9780307567963

Laurie R. King

Laurie R. King is the Edgar Award–winning author of the Kate Martinelli novels and the acclaimed Mary Russell-Sherlock Holmes mysteries, as well as a few stand-alone novels. The Beekeeper’s Apprentice, the first in her Mary Russell series, was nominated for an Agatha Award and was named one of the Century’s Best 100 Mysteries by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association. A Monstrous Regiment of Women won the Nero Wolfe Award. She has degrees in theology, and besides writing she has also managed a coffee store and raised children, vegetables, and the occasional building. She lives in northern California.

Reviews for Night Work

[mldavis2 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

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 Sherlock Holmes pastiches.

[bostonian71 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

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 things I missed by reading "The Art of Detection" before this one.

[sageness · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

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.

[condorena · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

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.

[simchaboston · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

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 things I missed by reading "The Art of Detection" before this one.

[pinkozcat · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

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 for something to read before I find out.

[tjsjohanna_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

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 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.

[jeannemarkert · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Loved this writer. Loved her style of writing & the characters. Kate Martinelli, the police dtective is someone I need to get to know better.

[acommonreader_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

#4 in Martinelli Series... Gripping beginning - indian goddess. Interesting twists. Kinda disturbing when you think how defenseless those women are...

[jennyo_587543 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

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 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.

[melwil_2006 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

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.