Reviews

The Art of Detection by Laurie R. King

rockinghaims's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

dfentriss's review

1.0

I didn't even finish this book. I like her Mary Russell series much more.

vireogirl's review

4.0

Probably my favorite of the Martinelli stories. A story within a story. Very through in the detective process. Crossover to Holmes. And fun to see the family development among the characters. Glad I read this series in order.

ljjohnson8's review against another edition

2.0

While I enjoyed visiting with Kate Martinelli once again, this story left me flat. It was overlong and unfortunately very much a book for readers interested in Sherlock Holmes and Arthur Conan Doyle (which I am not).

ms_kippes's review

mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

lian_tanner's review

3.0

I'm a huge fan of Laurie King's Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes books, and also of her stand-alone thrillers. I tried a couple of the Kate Martinelli books years ago and they didn't click for me, though I generally like police procedurals if they are well written, and these certainly are, hence the three stars. But they still don't excite me, and I don't think I'll try again. No specific complaints - I suspect it's just a matter of taste.

finocchio's review

5.0

The best book in the series! A great job doing a story within the story -- with an audiobook it's even better!

nocto's review

3.0

I've been wanting King to write a new book featuring Kate Martinelli for years. It looks like I read the last one at the end of 2000. I was wondering if she'd given up on the series. Though actually when I saw this book was coming out I felt a bit disappointed that it wasn't a Mary Russell book as I've been enjoying that series too. You can't please me :-)

Anyway, this book turned out to be a bit of both. Mary Russell doesn't feature but King has put her Sherlock Holmes & Conan Doyle knowledge to work as the victim in this mystery is a rather obsessive Holmes fan & collector.

It's nice to meet up with old friends. Pretty good.

nobelpeachprize's review

3.0

1) I didn’t realize this was #5 in a series 😆
2) better than it could have been & I appreciate the ties to the Mary Russell books
3) but LORDDDD please give me Mary Russell over Kate any day 🤦🏻‍♀️ Laurie R King seems to have Doyle level difficulty writing any non sherlock-twin females 🙄

bev_reads_mysteries's review against another edition

4.0

Bev Hankins

This was a very quick read...finished it up early this evening. It is a nicely plotted mystery that manages to bring the atmosphere of Holmes' era to modern day San Francisco. The story revolves around a Holmes fanatic who is killed in what looks to be precisely the manner of a murder in a recently discovered "lost Sherlock Holmes story." Is the story authentic? Was the victim killed because of the manuscript or was it more personal and more ancient reasons? King does an excellent job of pulling off the story within a story and tying all the ends together. I thoroughly enjoyed this one.

But the blurbs on the back of the book are a bit misleading.....