Wed 12 Jul 2006
I received a promotional copy of this from my friend who owns our local queer bookstore, as I had mentioned several times how much I liked Laurie R. King’s “Mary Russel” series, whose central character is Sherlock Holmes’ young American wife. This book is from her other, more contemporary detective series whose central character, Kate Martinelli, is a police detective in San Francisco, but it brings some aspects of the two series together.
The story, like many in this genre, focuses on a murder — here the apparent murder of a antiques dealer and collector who is also an intense and obsessively devoted Sherlock Holmes fan. In the midst of the investigation Martinelli uncovers what appears to be an unpublished Dolye/Holmes story, set in San Francisco, involving another murder in which the body and circumstances of the death exactly mirror those of the investigation. The story unfolds in parallel between the inner story and the outer. The conclusion to both is somewhat surprising, but I’m not that clever of a mystery reader.
There is a substantial queer element to this story, which I found refreshing. Martinelli’s character is a lesbian with a partner and daughter, and the book includes nice interludes with her family and friends, and connects to what I presume are incidents in previous Martinelli books. The inner story also focuses on a gay relationship, but I won’t give any spoilers here.
The writing isn’t as strong as in some of her other books, and this didn’t feel as polished or finished as what I’ve come to expect from King. The presentation of my copy was also strange (although mine was a pre-publication copy for reviewers), as the inner story, although described as having been written on a typewriter, was printed in a handwriting style font, and this discrepancy was inexplicable and distracting.
Still, I like what King is doing with the Holmes genre, and this is a fun summer read.