THE ART OF DETECTION (Kate Martinelli, #5)

By Laurie R. King

I.INTRODUCTION:

About the author:

LAURIE R. KING is the only novelist other than Patricia Cornwell to win the prize for

Best First Crime Novel on both sides of the Atlantic with the publication of her debut thriller, A

Grave Talent. King is the New York Times bestselling author of 25 novels and other works

including the five novels concern San Francisco homicide inspector Kate Martinelli and one out

of this five novels is “The Art of Detection”. She was born in Oakland, California in September

19, 1952.

About the book:

The Art of Detection is the fifth book in the Kate Martinelli series written by Laurie R.

King, the bestselling author. It is published by the Bantam Books dated May 30 in the year of

2006. This series is composed of 386 pages (Bantam Books Hardback) written in English

language. The Art of Detection is a wonderful novel of suspense with a higher level of mystery

when it comes to the plot and mindset of the characters. The highlight of this novel was the

story-within-a-story that made the novel a little bit historical fiction.

Summary:

Philip Gilbert a 53 year-old Sherlock Holmes nut slash wannabe and a leader of a group

of Sherlock Holmes fanatic, is found dead. Gilbert was found in the National Park artillery

battery specifically in the DuMaurier Battery, one of the oldest emplacements which are now
part of the park. Kate Martinelli, a San Francisco lesbian inspector is assigned together with her

ever supporting serious yet has a glimpse of humor and witty partner Al Hawkin to solve the

mystery behind Gilbert’s murder. Because the autopsy report is slow-coming, this pushes Kate

and Al to treat the death as a murder. As Kate continue the investigation to Gilbert’s murder she

met every member of the group, Sherlock Holmes fanatic and one of them is Ian Nicholson who

told that Gilbert had discovered a lost Holmes story possibly written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

itself but remain unpublished. The 118 pages manuscript is about the murder of a gay soldier in

1920s which they believe happens during the visit of Holmes in San Francisco. Kate got

interested in the manuscript when Ian mentioned that the soldier was found in the same place

where Gilbert’s body was found and that motivates Kate to read the whole manuscript.

Eventually, Kate traces Gilbert’s ex-wife and learns that it is likely Gilbert was a gay, given that

he had been with an actor several years before. She connects him with Nicholson, who is a

former actor and whose ex-wife admits he is gay. Kate questions Nicholson, who admits that he

hit Gilbert with a bottle of wine after Gilbert announced they would have to break up temporarily

because Gilbert was afraid that they might know his secret relationship with Nicholson by the

time he will become famous because of the revelation of the manuscript written by Arthur. Ian

didn’t realize that Gilbert died because of heart attack. Ian was afraid to be caught and accused

by the murder of Gilbert so he dumps the body and make the death like in the manuscript. After

confessing his actions to Kate, Nicholson commits suicide by cop. And the story doesn’t end

there. At the last chapter of the story, the wedding of Kate with her life partner Lee Cooper, a

psychotherapist happened at the City Hall. It is witnessed by their close friends together with

their lovely and clever daughter, Nora.

II.REACTION PAPER:

I don’t know if King really a fan or a supporter of LGBTs or maybe it’s just her thoughts

to have a lesbian and gay characters in the story. Despite of their unique sexual orientations, the

characters are so witty and calm in their jobs especially the main character Kate Martinelli who

really did a great job in tracking the real story behind the victim’s murder. As the story goes on, I

observed that Kate Martinelli is really a brave woman and I observed it in the Chapter 21 of the

story where in Ian Nicholson ask her to come alone inside his house without any weapon (that’s

the scene where they are going to arrest Nicholson). And as for Al Hawkin, he’s really a good

partner. It was like a father and daughter tandem story of cops because Al and Kate have a closer

relationship with Al like a real father based on their exchange of talks. Ian Nicholson is really

the best actor because at first he helps Kate to solve the problem like giving Kate the

information she can use in solving the case but behind his helpful personality there is a hidden

agenda. He want to confuse Kate about the suspects and he did but Kate’s really a clever one.

As I said before it has a little bit historical fiction because of the story-within-a-story. The

story within it happens in the 1920’s and the present time was in the 2006. I was not confused

about the time traveling because it has an indication. The setting on both years was in San

Francisco. It has a really good and specific setting. The place was beautifully described by the

author especially in the gun emplacements or in the artillery battery which is one of the historical

features in San Francisco.

The language used is in the form of English. If you are not really into deep words you

wouldn’t really understand the whole story well unless you consult your dictionary.
 The sequence of events is really understandable even though it contains a two story in

one novel. Every time the story in the past enters, there is an indication because the texts are

italized. The plot is well organized and has a clean transition of events.

III. SUGGESTIONS/RECOMMENDATIONS:

If I would be the author especially if I’m into crime novels, I wouldn’t end my story in

love quarrel thing because it is silly it must be something like “Another Sherlockians who is

interested in the manuscript killed Gilbert in exchange for fame and wealth” or “Gilbert died

because of his addiction to Holmes, he tried to imitate the circumstances in the story he just

discovered”. I also want the main character to have decent romantic relationship not a

relationship with her same sex. Or it would be nice if she will have a relationship with the park

inspector Chris Williams who gives interest to her the first time they met. The story within it is

just so amazing and way better than the main story so as for me, the author must focus more and

give more amusement to the main story like the story within it. And lastly for Kate Martinelli, I

want more scenes of her doing some extraordinary things using logical thinking because I don’t

have enough on that scenarios in the story just investigations and simple logics although I don’t

understand the simple logic but I want more challenging puzzles in the story.

IV.REFERENCES