Night Work by Laurie R. King. I think this is her latest in
the Martinelli series. I bought it new (sound trumpets),
really liked it and will be going to the library for more.
Detective Kate Martinelli and her partner are looking for a
killer, maybe a serial killer, who has it in for abusive men
who have escaped legal punishment. There is a tie-in with the
Hindu goddess Kali and another with bride-burning--could
it/has it happened in California? It is well paced and as
usual I didn't figure out who did it. Each chapter epigraph
is a verse from a poem by May Sarton about Kali. I could
hardly put the book down.
Just finished Cons, Scams and Grifts by Joe Gores, possibly
his most recent
(2001). My first by him, but definitely not the last. It was
so gripping, I read it in about three days. This one is in
the DKA series. Several subplots swirl around: classic car
repossession, Gypsy murderess, stolen valuable. The Gypsy
angle--where most of the cons, scams and grifts come in--is
very interesting and appears to be well researched. The
American Gypsy culture is described in a lot of detail. The
storming of a remote secure facility was tense, the murder
subplot was intriguing and the cons were great (since they're
happening to someone else). By the end of the book, ten or so
agency employees involved have become familiar, despite the
fairly large cast of characters.
I also read Adios Muchachos by Daniel Chavarrí¡® He's
Uruguayan, but he set the story in Havana, I guess because
the big motivation for Alicia, the main character, is getting
rich and getting away. There's no murder, but there is an
unfortunate accident, and a few other crimes along the way,
black humour and lots of steamy sex. Alicia's a prostitute,
one who turns down money and even refuses gifts--until the
man really insists. Then she'll take an air conditioner,
freezer, fancy food (which her mother cooks up) and so on.
She also very much enjoys her work. Not your typical
hooker.
(Kind of a male fantasy, hooker, it would seem.) The story is
fairly amusing and quite original. The translation (by Carlos
Lopez, giving credit where credit is due) is good: nice and
colloquial.
Karin
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