The Art of Detection (udgave 2007)

To be honest, I read this book because of the connection to Sherlock Holmes. I do Love Laurie R. Kings books. But, I do prefer her Mary Russell series. Some day I may get to her Kate Martinelli series also.

Now it's been some years since I read this book, but I remember that I found it quite interesting. Especially the finding of a lost Sherlock Holmes manuscript that could be written by Sherlock Holmes himself.

You can without problem read this book without having read the other books in this series (I know because I did that) and I think this book will appeal Sherlock Holmes fans. I do plan to re-read this book to see if I find this book better nowadays. ( )

It was fun to watch how King combined her fondness for Sherlock Holmes with her modern detective series. ( )

"Is this one of those porn stories that have Holmes and Watson in bed together?" No, sadly not. ( )

http://tinyurl.com/ybzkx95x

This one tickled my fancy more than others she's written. What King did here was put ALL her feelings about the LGBT community into one smartly delivered package (although it's certainly true that her previous books have provided plenty of her thoughts in that area).

And, of course, she takes this opportunity to start merging her series together - in this case her Sherlock Holmes series and her lesbian detective series - by writing a short story a la Holmes inside a contemporary detective novel. At first, I was surprised that she was going to have Martinelli read the entire story, but when I had finished that part, I understood why she followed that course of action.

The short story is integral to the completion of the novel, mostly because they mirror each other but also because they contain precisely the same themes. There are all the hallmarks of the Martinelli stories - lesbian families, supportive cops and friends, descriptions of some of the best places in the San Francisco area (hello, Marin Headlands!), life-threatening situations only Kate can handle - but it is missing one common theme, which is religion. One of the things I have always liked about King stories is that they often contain theological themes. In this novel, she has supplanted that with something equally important.

The book also feels like it's wrapping up a lot of history (aka 5 novels in the same series) and I don't expect to see another one for Kate Martinelli for a long time, if ever. I think I'm okay with that, because of how she finished this one. ( )

I spent a year stationed at Fort Baker, so much of the story takes place on familiar terrain; every now and then there was be an "I remember that" moment while I read. On the other hand, there's a factual error in the embedded "short story"--Fort Cronkhite didn't exist until 1937--that annoys me. It's hard to think most readers would care, though.

But gosh this one's fun, if a bit odd. I'm gonna miss Kate Martinelli and her friends. ( )