But she did find herself bringing him into the conversation when she was once confronted by a male reader who told her that he was bothered by the age difference between Holmes and his acolyte. I find that distracting because it has so little to do with the story,'' she says. The direction of Kate Martinelli's sexual orientation, in fact, seems to have owed more to character dynamics than sexuality. With a novel that had to reflect the reality of police practice and feature two detectives working together, King didn't want to have sexual issues cluttering the relationship between Martinelli and her partner, Al Hawkin. It is also difficult to write a male-female friendship that is just a friendship.
Partners have to be close.
Device or no device, the portrayal of Martinelli's lesbianism seems to have worked with gay audiences. But Hollywood, the author reports, remains unimpressed. The San Francisco Police Department, meanwhile, remains Martinelli devotees. Moreover life has followed art, in matters of gender if not sexuality. The department, which had no female homicide detective on staff when A Grave Talent came out, now has one.