With Child

Kate Martinelli #3

by Laurie R. King

Adrift in mist-shrouded San Francisco mornings and alcohol-fogged nights, homicide detective Kate Martinelli can't escape the void left by her departed lover, who has gone off to rethink their relationship.  But when twelve-year-old Jules Cameron comes to Kate for a professional consultation, Kate's not sure she's that desperate for distraction. Jules is worried about her friend Dio, a homeless boy she met in a park.  Dio has disappeared without a word of farewell, and Jules wants Kate to find him Reluctant as she is, Kate can't say no—and soon she finds herself forming a  friendship with the bright, quirky girl.  But the search for Dio will prove to be much more than both bargained for—and it's only the beginning.  When Jules disappears while taking a trip with Kate, a desperate search begins...and Kate knows all too well the odds of finding the child alive...

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Crime, LGBT, Lesbian, Mystery Thriller, Queer

320 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published February 1, 1996

About the author

Edgar-winning mystery writer Laurie R. King writes series and standalone novels. Her official forum is
THE LRK VIRTUAL BOOK CLUB here on Goodreads--please join us for book-discussing fun.

King's 2018 novel, Island of the Mad, sees Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes travel from London's Bedlam to the glitter of Venice's Lido,where Young Things and the friends of Cole Porter pass Mussolini's Blackshirts in the streets. The Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes series follows a brilliant young woman who becomes the student, then partner, of the great detective. [click here for an excerpt of the first in the series, The Beekeeper's Apprentice] The Stuyvesant and Grey series (Touchstone; The Bones of Paris) takes place in Europe between the Wars. The Kate Martinelli series follows an SFPD detective's cases on a female Rembrandt, a holy fool, and more. [Click for an excerpt of A Grave Talent]

King lives in northern California, which serves as backdrop for some of her books.

Please note that Laurie checks her Goodreads inbox intermittently, so it may take some time to receive a reply. A quicker response may be possible via email to info@laurierking.com.

Reviews

[Jhosy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Without doubt the best book of the series until then.
The mystery, finally, was exciting, as was the investigation.
The author bring more of Kate's personal life to the story, the problem in her relationship, as well as her friendship with lovely Jules.
The ending was a bit short, I wish have read more after the case resolution, but oh well ... This deserves 4.8 stars.

[Christine PNW · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to the audiobook.

I actually gave up on the book initially, about an hour in, because it seemed to going no where. I really want to read the fifth book in the series, though, so I decided to give it another try. The first half or so of the book is really slow, even if Laurie King's writing and characterization is excellent as always. I did persevere, however, and it has a good payoff.

I must say, though, that I figured out what was going on with Jules even before the disappearance that is the central mystery of the book, and it was frustrating that Kate didn't also figure it out.

I already acquired the other two books in the Kate Martinelli series in audiobook format. I am not crazy about the narrator, but she's adequate. I'm really looking forward to book 5, in which Kate Martinelli crosses path with Sherlock Holmes - and likely the Sherlock Holmes of the Mary Russell series, which is a favorite of mine. Between now and that book is Night Work, the 4th book in the Martinelli series. I'll start listening today.

[Po Over · Rating 2 out of 5]

Inspector Al Hawkins is engaged to Jani, an intriguing character to whom we were first introduced in Laurie R. King's scintillating debut, A Grave Talent. In With Child -- King's third installment of the Kate Martinelli series -- Jani's rebellious teenage daughter, Jules, is not taking the transition well. She confides as much to the transient neighborhood youth, Dio. When Dio mysteriously goes missing, Jules engages father-to-be's partner, Kate Martinelli, to investigate. This proves to be quite fortuitous. Following the investigation, Jules abstains from her parent's honeymoon in favor of staying with Kate. Kate -- presently trying to salvage her own relationship with longtime romantic partner Lee -- decides the two should take a road trip to Washington to pay Lee a visit. Finally, at a road stop in Oregon off the I-5, Jules disappears. The mystery has begun.

The local media, already enamored with Kate from her previous hi jinx, presumes Jules to be the next victim of serial killer-at-large, The Strangler. Said Strangler denies the allegation however, so it's up to Kate, Al and Lee to divine what would cause the troubled child to abscond, and Kate believes Dio knows more than he's saying. Does all this sound a bit complicated? It was! Child definitely suffers from a tortured narrative. The first half of the novel has us following Kate's mundane gumshoe detective work to locate Dio. The second half closely resembles King's To Play the Fool -- the second installment in the Kate Martinelli series -- where we suffer through Kate's attempts to crack the mercurial suspect, Brother Erasmus. Only in Child, she's trying to crack the petulant Dio. Once she does, the mystery is wrapped up in short order, albeit with a fun and climactic finish.

Child concluded the Kate Martinelli series for me. I believe there are two more installments, but King's strengths clearly lie in well researched characters and novel plot lines, less so in captivating murder mysteries. Grave worked well because we were treated to the fantastic relationships between Kate, Al, and Lee as they pursued their psychotic suspect. In Child, we are basically robbed of these relationships for a second time, through conscious choice of narrative. The mystery itself is pallid, and we are treated to story that reads more like LGBTQ-lite than it does Mystery. Despite being a disappointment for me, King's characters remain rich and believable, and their respective reactions to the missing child are compelling enough to make you want to read the exciting conclusion.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just gave in and let myself spend the afternoon finishing this book. While I wasn't impressed with every aspect of the writing (sometime the dialogue seemed a little stilted), I ultimately became totally absorbed in the story. I'm impressed with the complexity and depth of the characters and can't wait to read another book in the series. This is the first one I've read -- someone gave me this book a while ago and frankly I was reading it so that I could pass it on or get rid of it -- now I want to read it all over again! And all the others in the series. I don't consider myself much a mystery reader thus far in my life, but I felt a connection to these characters and am eager to read more. It was nice to spend the afternoon taking a break from my life and getting absorbed in theirs.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

King crafts her mysteries so much better than most other authors, even though (or maybe because) the mystery isn't an end in itself - it's a lens through which we see the characters grow and wrestle with themselves. A+ as always.

[Chana · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think I have read this before, it seemed familiar, especially the main characters; Jules the 13 year old girl and Kate the detective.
A lot of this book is actually not a mystery at all, it is more about Kate and her feelings, which is OK but not memorable. Jules is a likeable character, one of the early child techies. btw, the technology in this book is pretty outdated, things have changed a lot in 15 years. Kate doesn't even have a cell phone. But the outdated tech does not spoil the story, this book is light entertainment for a relaxing read.

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

I recently discovered Ms. King and have liked her work..This story was from her Kate Martinelli series. Kate has offered to watch Jules the thirteen year old stepdaughter of her friend and fellow police partner,while the couple are on their honeymoon. Kate decides to take a long car drive with Jules to surprise her friend in Washington. They stop for the night at a motel. The next morning Jules is gone. Kate already frantic finds out from the locals that a serial killer is on the loose..

[WK · Rating 5 out of 5]

Emotions run high in this Martinelli book where Kate is unwelcomingly given hard lessons in self realization by her life-partners behavior. In addition her dogged detective skills have never been more important then when Kate is given the responsibility of child-sitting Al new teenage daughter, and she disappears.

[Rona · Rating 4 out of 5]

The series goes on. Kate and Lee’s relationship is in sad shape — separated. Kate is a bit of a mess. She’s drinking. She’s going butch and reckless. She’s befriended a young teen. She’s working her job in homicide. She’s looking for a runaway friend of the young teen she’s befriended.

Cop stuff ensues.

I like Kate. I just wish she wasn’t so careless with herself.

[Justine Sicard · Rating 4 out of 5]

4,5⭐️

[Harry · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was entertaining and a good read but got better and better as it went along. Realistic with dogged detective work in spite of failure but not overdone.

[Mike Cuthbert · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an odd mystery in that it doesn’t really become a mystery until 2/3 in. Up until then it is a fascinating character study of a wounded San Francisco detective, Kate Martinelli, her partner, Lee and a confused and confusing teen, Jules Cameron. Add in Jules’ friend, Dio, and you have an interesting cast, but nothing much happens to them until Jules begins getting mysterious calls and Kate decides to take Jules on a trip north of San Francisco. The book then shifts into high gear and becomes a thriller with each failed step in finding a missing Jules adding to the tension. Martinelli came out of a case bruised and beaten up but Lee had serious damage to her lower extremities and has left Martinelli to heal, both physically and psychically. In the meantime, once Kate’s romantic partner, Al Hawkin, remains friends and police partner with Kate but falls for a friend of hers, who is Jules’ mother, Jani. She doesn’t figure in the plot for very long except as an about-to-be bride. They prepare for their nuptials as Kate and Jules bond more and more. Kate also bonds with Dio and it’s sort of Kate and Kids against the rest of the world. Except that Dio also disappears. It does seem at times as if Kate will not get out of this one alive, especially when, looking for Dio, her head gets on the wrong side of a pipe that puts her in the hospital for a week and affects her skills for some time afterward. With Lee still trying to learn how to get around on crutches, and separated from Kate, Martinelli’s life pretty much becomes the two kids. Though luck and some degree of persistence, the case is broken open and justice is meted out, but this is not a procedural in which brilliant detective work solves all. It is more an extended character study of the effects of parenting on someone who does not expect to play that role and a subtle exploration of lesbianism. Though low on the intensity scale, this makes for leisurely and distracting summer read.

[Donna Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this title not long after it was first published, but it's the kind of fiction that you don't forget, the kind that will haunt your dreams. There are some very dark moments, and there will be some readers that find it is too much for them. I shared my books, back when I used to pay for them instead of advance-reviewing free copies, with a friend that loved mysteries, but she found this one so disturbing that she wouldn't read this Laurie R. King again.

Then again, there are readers like me that bow in awe of the power behind such prose. The settings are immediate, and the characters are so visceral and so real that to not read it would be to deprive myself. But this may not be the best choice for bedtime.

Highly recommended for those that like thrillers and appreciate powerhouse writing.

[Vickie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I gave this book 5 stars because I could NOT put it down. Halfway through I was completely committed to the plot and stayed up a few hours past my bedtime to finish it. the ending was quite, quite abrupt, which left me a little bit unsatisfied, but I still enjoyed myself up to that point.

I was a bit concerned because I read the first, but not the second, book in this series. Fortunately the jump is not too crazy, and I was able to deduct what had previously occured no problem.

I'm not a fan of the mystery genre, with just a few forays in my youth into P.D. James and Miss Murphy, but I am really liking this series. King has a a way with wry, almost black humor, reminiscent of her Mary Russell series but with the dark edge that a narrator such as Kate, a seasoned homicide detective, would imbue her life with. I was concerned that this book, with the double punch of Kate's frustrations with Lee as well as the very personal aspect of the Big Mystery would mire the novel in a lot of annoying drivel and guilt, a la New Moon from the Twilight series, but King does a good job of keeping the plot bouncy enough to keep Kate and us moving. The story is a bit dated--beeper? What is thaaat?--but I was somehow able to get past the culture shock and enjoyed the book to its fullest. My biggest qualm is that there's only two mroe books left! Gaaah!

[Linda in Idaho · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Laurie R King!

I have been reading King for years - but the Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes series, not the Kate Martinelli books. I started with the first one of the series, A Grave Talent, followed by To Play the Fool and now by this one ... With Child. The main character, Kate Martinelli, is an experienced San Francisco police officer in the mid 1990*s who has just been transferred to Homicide in the first book of the series.

But as with all the Laurie R King books that I have read , these are so richly written that I become enthralled before the third page. We have a complex plot, which is threaded through the book. Wrapped around that are the main characters Kate, her police partner Al, her personal partner, Lee, and all their relationships and then we have yet another character which is the setting itself, San Francisco.

All these threads are neatly and subtlely wrapped together into a strong cord (and chord!) that leaves the reader wanting to know more about the people and places.

I highly recommend this entire series. While each book stands on its own as far as the crime that is the particular plot, you will want to start at the first one and work your way through for the pure pleasure of getting to know the characters and the pure pleasure of reading. If you think I am big fan of Laurie R King, you are right.

[Susan W · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as her others, but a good read.

[Joan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read Laurie King many years ago, but liked them enough to go a second round. I accidentally read them out of order, but I think I am now back in synch. I love her characters and the way she writes.

The following is a reviewers review:

I can't think of any moments in recent mysteries that equal the sheer physical and emotional terror of Kate Martinelli's discovery--about halfway through this third book in Laurie R. King's excellent series, now available in paperback--that the 12-year-old girl she is looking after has disappeared. Kate, a just-out lesbian, is under fire for that and other reasons at the San Francisco Police Department, and the missing girl is the daughter of the woman whom Kate's work partner has just married. Kate's relationship with her life partner, Lee, is in serious trouble, and she has strong feelings about wanting children of her own. The motel from which the girl has vanished is in the middle of a notorious serial killer's terrortory.

Her other Martinelli books are A Grave Talent and To Play the Fool. [close:]

[Joe Slavinsky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Laurie R. King is quickly becoming a favorite author(although I must admit, that I have MANY favorites). I absolutely LOVE her "Mary Russell" series, which is one of the most original ideas, ever. She is also one of 13 authors, of the book, "Naked Came the Phoenix", which I read several years ago, and now follow several of those 13. Anyway, because of the Russell series, I decided to start her "Kate Martinelli" series, of which this book is the third. This series is also very original, in that Kate is a homicide detective in San Francisco, and a lesbian, whose partner, a psychiatrist, gets shot in their home, becoming an invalid. Lots of issues for Kate to deal with, and she herself, keeps getting hurt on the job, to add to her mental frustration. The main storyline of this book could have been a novella, but King aptly embellishes it with tangential characters, and sub-plots, creating an entertaining, thrilling story, that keeps you turning pages, as fast as you can. I'm looking forward to the next one.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Since her lover Lee is off rediscovering her independence by playing lumberjack with her eccentric aunt, San Francisco cop Kate Martinelli is desperate for distraction. Her young friend Jules, a prodigy with some emotional issues, provides just that: a quest to locate her homeless pal, Dio. This sets of a chain reaction of events that goes on for months and puts Kate through the wringer, physically and emotionally. Really excellent characterization, which is necessary because large chunks of the novel are just build-up to the main event and Kate gnashing her teeth in helpless frustration.

[Joy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The third book in King's Kate Martinelli mystery series is a strong one. For Kate, it's also a very personal one, centered around developments in her relationship with Lee and her friendship with Al Hawkin's prickly stepdaughter, Jules. This had all of the excellent character development that I have come to expect from King's novels, and the personal aspect made it especially involving.

The ending did feel a bit like a copout (Jules is safe, Lee is back) but I don't know if I could have accepted a darker ending because I like these characters so much.

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my first Laurie King book, and by far my favorite. Some authors, you just click with their prose, and King is not one of those writers for me. Bits seem oddly phrased, characterizations seem murky... that's a good word for how her writing strikes me: murky. But it's all a matter of personal taste, of course, and I certainly wouldn't consider her a bad writer. Anyhow, none of my King criticisms really apply here. With Child is full of bright, sympathetic characters and memorable scenes.

[Suzanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my third book in the series. At first I did not want to read about a child who possibly went missing. I actually skipped this book to read the next one. It really did not affect the story line. But, what I did miss was the development of the character, what made her tick and why. So, then I went back to read this one. I am amazed how much I get to know Kate as a character, how she begins to open up, almost like a developing friendship. At first tentative steps, trust issues, support system of friends. So enjoy these books.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed With Child, although it didn't really feel like a mystery to me. It's more a novel about Kate Martinelli.

True, Kate spends the first chunk of the book investigating a missing boy, but that isn't the focus of the book. It's really more about Kate's relationship with Jules, as well as Kate's search to figure things out.

Overall, I enjoyed the book, particularly that Jules is found alive at the end. It would have been terribly sad to find her dead, and I'm glad that she was alive, especially after spending so much time getting to know Jules.

[Bill · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice love drama with a mystery to bring it all together.

I like the theme here and how it pulls together. I like the relationship with Lee and Kate, even if its just a hole where the relationship used to be in the beginning. I like Jules.

There are no hot and heavy lesbian scenes in here. If you're the type that avoids that, you're safe to read this book. If you, like me, rather enjoy scenes of any number of people being intimate, in any number of combinations, don't be too disappointed. Sex scenes would not serve the plot well at all.

[Trina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Strange. The abduction mentioned in every summary and blurb I found about the book doesn't actually happened until over halfway through. The whole first half is just character development and build up. Which is great- except I had read those blurbs. I just kept waiting for something I already knew was going to happen. Once it did, I raced through the rest of the book. Altogether, a great book but reading the back cover first ruins it a bit.

[LJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

WITH CHILD - Ex
King, Laurie R. - 3rd in Kate Martinelli series

Kate Martinelli, a San Francisco homicide detective, feels rejected by her partner, Lee. Confused, Kate befriends 12-year-old Jules and agrees to care for her while her parents are away. During a visit to Lee, in an area where a serial killer has been victimizing young girls, Jules disappears.

Very good although the protagonist/author seems preoccupied with the homeless. Still, it was a very good read.

[Jody · Rating 5 out of 5]

The 3rd in the series of Kate Martinelli. This book is much more emotional the the 1st 2. No spoilers in this review, just a really great, can't put it down mystery. With each book her characters grow and you "know" them, not just as 2 dimensional book characters but as friends. Laurie King combines several plots that all come together nicely in the end. I hated to have to end this book, so I rushed out to the library & fortunately they had the next 2 in the series1

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite of the Martinelli series. Kate, lost and alone after her partner Lee deserts her for an island in Washington, befriends her partner's girlfriend's daughter Jules. Their friendship develops around a mystery, and then Jules disappears. The most heart-wrenching of all the Martinelli books and the better for it. My only complaint is there wasn't enough - I wanted a postscript. But that's a great complaint. Highly recommend!!

[Jess · Rating 5 out of 5]

I checked this book out from the library three times before I was in the right mood to read it. But as soon as I started, it grabbed me and I ripped through it at top speed. It goes at a breakneck pace, and the mystery evolves very compellingly. Lots of good character development, too, especially between the main character and her romantic partner. This is the strongest Kate Martinelli novel I've read yet.

[DianeR · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd actually give this book 4.5 stars. King's skill has improved with each Kate Martinelli novel and while I don't care for for Mary Russell series, this character plus the central character of each novel (in this one a young, brilliant teen named Julie) appealed to me immediately. What happens when Julie disappears? Is she the latest victim of a serial killer? Twice the surprise was so shocking that my hand literally flew to my open mouth. I LOVE it when that happens!