A Grave Talent

New York: St. Martin's Press, 1993. BU5 - An uncorrected advance proof paperback book in very good condition that has some bumped corners, label info adhered on the back, publicist business card stapled on the opposite side of the front, light tanning and shelf wear. An extraordinary first novel, peopled with characters readers will never forget. Although not marked in any way, this copy comes from the personal collection of Otto Penzler, legendary editor and founder of the Mysterious Press, an award-winning icon in the genre. 8.25"x5.5", 310 pages. Satisfaction Guaranteed. Casey Martinelli, newly promoted to Homicide in the San Francisco police department, has been assigned with her new partner, middle-aged Alonzo Hawkin, to the murders of three little girls in the area. Casey has secrets of her own, but she can't let her unfamiliarity with the job, her caution relationship with Hawkin, or her private life take her attention from the case. The killer could strike again at any time and the crimes have the police, the city administration, and the citizens of the Bay Area in crisis. The search closes in on an odd colony of mismatched people living in the wooded hills near the city and on a brilliant painter, a compelling woman with a past of grievous crime and imprisonment, living incognito in the colony. As Casey and Hawkin grow familiar with the woman and with the others of this odd group, and as they learn more about the pasts of the people involved, their own relationship develops trust and even friendship. And what they gradually uncover reveals a pattern of evil so bizarre that the wall-Casey has erected between her work and her carefully guarded private life is demolished, and love in all its forms becomes inextricably mingled with danger and true wickedness. A Grave Talent combines moving portraits of complex and likable human beings with riveting suspense; it is a novel that will bot be easily forgotten. . Paperback. Very Good/No Jacket as Issued. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. Advance Reading Copy (ARC).