X: The number ten. An unknown quantity. A mistake. A cross. A kiss… I had read quite a few of the alphabet books when they were first published, and I think I got to about the letter J or so when I drifted away from the series. I remember enjoying them at the time, but my reading interests shifted onto different things. I was saddened to hear of Sue Grafton’s recent passing, so I decided to pick up one of her more recent efforts for […]
C is for Corpse
I have always wanted to read in order Sue Grafton’s alphabet series. I started this fall with A is for Alibi, followed by B, and then things got busy and the series fell off my radar. When I heard about Sue Grafton’s death, (seriously, fuck cancer) and the alphabet now ending with Y, I was inspired to pick it back up again. Which is how two days into the new year it became my first cannonball read. The lead character, Kinsey Millhone, a tough, smart, […]
I wish the alphabet had more letters.
This is the second-to-last Kinsey Millhone book that we’ll probably ever get, and that makes me sad. Eleven years ago, when I was home with an infant and a toddler and living next door to a tiny library, I picked up a ratty paperback copy of A is for Alibi on a whim. And I became obsessed. I read every single one of Sue Grafton’s “alphabet mysteries” that featured this weird, cranky PI named Kinsey Millhone. And I loved them. I loved Kinsey’s bizarre little […]
What am I going to do when Sue Grafton gets to Z?
One rainy afternoon, about 9 years ago, I went to the local library. I had a toddler and an infant, and the library was right next door to our apartment, so we used to drop by a lot. And I would wander around and pick up random books that looked interesting for me to read while I was up with a cranky baby all night. One of the books I got on that rainy day was a dog-eared paperback called A is for Alibi. And […]
Killing Kinsey
These novels are solid time-fillers. Nothing earth-shattering, nothing (too) offensive. I’m a wee bit tired of the fat-shaming and woman-judging. It sucks me right out of the enjoyment of the mystery, but a few pages later I can forget it ever happened. G is for Gumshoe Kinsey turns 33 years old, her apartment is under loving re-construction. This mystery takes place out of town for the most part, in the Mojave Desert. She is hired by another Santa Teresa resident to locate her missing mother. […]
Kinsey Keeps Going
D is for Deadbeat starts out with a load of bullshit. We’re told from the beginning that ‘Alvin Lomardo’ is lying to Kinsey and she’s buying it. She even takes a check from him, which of course bounces three days later (ah, the days of checks). This leads Kinsey to LA in search of ‘Alvin’, where we find his very young wife with a shiner and no furniture because he sold everything right before he split. His name is not Alvin, and he’s probably back […]