She's a rich, smooth writer who's developed a cast of characters that's worth the time investment to read her thick books. I bought this novel, Justice Hall, last year at the Five Colleges Book Sale and saved it for a time when I needed a worthy enabler for my reading addiction.
As with any writer whose work I enjoy, I was open to reading anything by Laurie King so I chose a book in another series, one with a contemporary setting, only to find that the "coziness" I adore in her Sherlock Holmes work was not repeated in her other series.
In other words, too violent for me.
I realize that as I mature, I've become far less willing—in fact, not willing at all—to read works that are violent. Personally, I think violence is a writerly copout. It's easy to insert into a plot. In contemporary American fiction, especially, I believe it gets used as a substitute for character.
Over the years, I've tried reading thrillers by some of the popular authors just to see if I was missing anything. And inevitably, I was bored by page 50 and put them aside.
I know that many readers "pooh, pooh" over the choice of "cozy" mysteries, aka books without overt violence. But give me a well-written cozy mystery any day—like Laurie King's Justice Hall—one with characters that stand up on the page, and I am your devoted reader.
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