Lesbian Fiction: Night Work by Laurie R. King
Night Work is the fourth of the Kate Martinelli mysteries. There is only one more book in the series, so I'll probably finish it off, but if there were more books, I would probably give up now.
The primary mystery in Night Work is a series (one, then two, then three) of murders. Each of the three victims were men who committed violence against women, and each of them were tasered, handcuffed, and strangled, with a piece of candy left in their pockets. The fourth man survives the attack. One suspicion is that the Ladies of Perpetual Disgruntlement, who have been carrying out mildly violent and meanly humorous tasering, tying up, and note-leaving on men who treat women badly, are also committing the murders. The other thread is Roz Hall's causes. We met Roz in To Play the Fool. She's a lesbian minister who takes on all sorts of causes and has the political knowledge to make things happen her way. Roz's cause in this book is the death of Pramilla Mehta, a girl who was brought to the US from India to marry a man nearly twice her age. Roz is convinced it was an example of bride burning and asks Kate to look into it. The third victim of the serial killer is the girl's husband.
Roz is this book's special person who is amazing and charismatic and fascinating to Kate. This is what's going to keep me from reading any more than one more of King's books. It's incredibly annoying. Kate is interesting enough to carry a book on her own, and I wish King would just let her.
The additional annoyance Roz brings to this book is a lot of speeches and scenes of people talking, one of which made me actually say, "What is the point of this?" out loud. Roz's speeches encompass India (in a way that made me cringe with the racism/cultural incompetency of it all), violence against women, and feminine rage as represented by varying ancient goddesses whose characteristics were absorbed by the Hebrew/Christian God. It made the book feel like a series of lectures with a mystery around it.
On the bright side, it is possible to figure out who committed which crimes well before Kate finds out, which means it's not horribly structured as a mystery. It is also compelling enough for me to have stayed up past my bedtime finishing it.
The primary mystery in Night Work is a series (one, then two, then three) of murders. Each of the three victims were men who committed violence against women, and each of them were tasered, handcuffed, and strangled, with a piece of candy left in their pockets. The fourth man survives the attack. One suspicion is that the Ladies of Perpetual Disgruntlement, who have been carrying out mildly violent and meanly humorous tasering, tying up, and note-leaving on men who treat women badly, are also committing the murders. The other thread is Roz Hall's causes. We met Roz in To Play the Fool. She's a lesbian minister who takes on all sorts of causes and has the political knowledge to make things happen her way. Roz's cause in this book is the death of Pramilla Mehta, a girl who was brought to the US from India to marry a man nearly twice her age. Roz is convinced it was an example of bride burning and asks Kate to look into it. The third victim of the serial killer is the girl's husband.
Roz is this book's special person who is amazing and charismatic and fascinating to Kate. This is what's going to keep me from reading any more than one more of King's books. It's incredibly annoying. Kate is interesting enough to carry a book on her own, and I wish King would just let her.
The additional annoyance Roz brings to this book is a lot of speeches and scenes of people talking, one of which made me actually say, "What is the point of this?" out loud. Roz's speeches encompass India (in a way that made me cringe with the racism/cultural incompetency of it all), violence against women, and feminine rage as represented by varying ancient goddesses whose characteristics were absorbed by the Hebrew/Christian God. It made the book feel like a series of lectures with a mystery around it.
On the bright side, it is possible to figure out who committed which crimes well before Kate finds out, which means it's not horribly structured as a mystery. It is also compelling enough for me to have stayed up past my bedtime finishing it.