LRK on: Kate Martinelli
http://www.laurierking.com/etcetera/kate-martinellis-world/lrk-on-kate-martin...
Laurie King on her character Kate Martinelli
In 1993, when A Grave Talent was published, it was easy to imagine a lesbian cop in the closet. In 2006, in the world of The Art of Detection, that same cop would have to be provided with deep neuroses to explain why she remained behind the closet door. Part of the pleasure of the Martinelli series, I think, lies in this arc of social and personal freedom: The rainbow family life depicted in The Art of Detection would have seemed a romanticized idyll in 1993; on 2006, gay men with adopted daughters and lesbians on the school board are just daily life in the City by the Bay.
Similarly, in 1993, there was no woman homicide detective in the SFPD. In 2006, there are two.