Night Work

By Laurie R. King

Night Work is a very average detective story without any big surprises. I had most of the answers half way through the book. In the end it was just a question of finishing the story to get them all confirmed.

This was also my first encounter with American author Laurie R. King, and I was not tempted to read any more of her books.

The story is set around a women's shelter. Two men involved in domestic violence and the abuse of women are found brutally murdered. Detective Kate Martinelli and her partner Al Hawkin are put on the case. It soon leads them to a local vigilante group named Ladies of Perpetual Disgruntlement, known for their series of retaliations against men who abuse women.

Kate also becomes mixed up in the cultural implications involved with the age-old Indian custom of wife-burning when she is asked to investigate the death of a young Indian woman, whose arranged marriage brought her to America. Her death appears to have been an accident but an autopsy soon shows otherwise.