A Grave Talent - Softcover

King, Laurie R.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0553573993 ISBN 13: 9780553573992

Publisher: Crimeline, 1995

Synopsis

This gripping debut of the Kate Martinelli mystery series won the Edgar Award for Best First Mystery, generating wide critical acclaim and moving Laurie R. King into the upper tier of the genre. As A Grave Talent begins, the unthinkable has happened in a small community outside of San Francisco. A string of shocking murders has occurred, each victim an innocent child. For Detective Kate Martinelli, just promoted to Homicide and paired with a seasoned cop who's less than thrilled to be handed a green partner, it's going to be a difficult case. Then the detectives receive what appears to be a case-breaking lead: it seems that one of the residents of this odd, close-knit colony is Vaun Adams, arguably the century's greatest painter of women, a man, as it turns out, with a sinister secret. For behind the brushes and canvases also stands a notorious felon once convicted of strangling a little girl. What really happened on that day of savage violence eighteen years ago? To bring a murderer to justice, Kate must delve into the artist's dark past--even if she knows it means losing everything she holds dear.

About this title

From the Publisher:

Seventeen years ago, a jury found Vaun Adams guilty of strangling a six-year-old girl, and sent Vaun to prison. One year ago, an international panel of art critics judged her the century's greatest woman painter. Now children are dying again in the community of eccentrics where the notorious artist has taken shelter. Katarina Cecilia Martinelli (Casey to her friends, Kate to her few intimates), newly of the SFPD, and Alonzo Hawkin, in charge of the investigation, are charged with finding the truth: Is Vaun a murderess? Or is she the perfect victim?

About the Author:

Laurie R. King is the New York Times bestselling author of ten Mary Russell mysteries, five contemporary novels featuring Kate Martinelli, and the acclaimed novels A Darker Place, Folly, Keeping Watch, and Touchstone. She lives in Northern California where she is currently at work on her next novel.

About this edition

• Publisher: Crimeline
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 0553573993
• ISBN 13: 9780553573992
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 368