Category Archives: Lilypad Reviews

An umbrella parent for all the lilypad reviews.

E is for Evidence by Sue Grafton (1988) – BR00131 (2019) – 🐸🐸🐸🐸🐸

The PolyBlog
February 20 2019

Plot or Premise

Kinsey is asked to look into an insurance claim for a fire, everything looks fine, but then there are some shenanigans with the paperwork that makes it look like she’s whitewashing an arson. Plus $5K suddenly shows up in her account.

What I Liked

Kinsey is on the warpath, and it’s flat out awesome. She is kicking ass and taking names, and she loves her new client — herself. The frame-up is really complex and gets more intricate with lots of players involved as it goes along. And then things really explode.

What I Didn’t Like

Kinsey’s ex-husband shows up, and some of the interactions with him make almost no sense with the final ending.

The Bottom Line

An explosive case with an awesome client: herself.

D is for Deadbeat by Sue Grafton (1987) – BR00130 (2019) – 🐸🐸🐸⚪⚪

The PolyBlog
February 19 2019

Plot or Premise

Kinsey is hired to deliver a cashier’s cheque to a 15-year-old, but the client stiffs her on the fee so she hunts for him before delivering it.

What I Liked

There isn’t a lot of mystery early on, just a few simple unanswered questions until a body drops. Now suddenly there’s a murder to solve. The initial premise of the lying client sounded a bit familiar to one of her other novels, but not quite the same, which was good. And while Jonah features in the story, the rest of the ancillary characters are non-existent, leaving the story to run along at a decent pace.

What I Didn’t Like

I never really felt much sympathy or empathy for the murder victim, so it’s hard to get too excited about the case. Overall, most of the characters and the outcomes are all negative, so the whole storyline is rather a downer.

The Bottom Line

An okay but very depressing case.

C is for Corpse by Sue Grafton (1986) – BR00129 (2019) – 🐸🐸🐸⚪⚪

The PolyBlog
February 17 2019

Plot or Premise

Kinsey meets an accident victim in physical rehab, and he wants her to find out who ran him off the road and why.

What I Liked

Kinsey gets to know Bobby in the early stages of the case, and the mystery of the case is intriguing. It takes a while for the pinball to hit enough buzzers to do anything, particularly as his only real evidence is that he remembers knowing “something” and that he was in danger, but not what it was or from whom. The further developments of Kinsey’s character and her sense of justice are awesome.

What I Didn’t Like

One of the sub-characters, his step-sister, is a caricature and a wasted distraction. Equally, another sub-story with someone trying to take advantage of Henry is both obvious and boring.

The Bottom Line

A decent story but not a home run

A is for Alibi by Sue Grafton (1982) – BR00127 (2019) – 🐸🐸🐸🐸⚪

The PolyBlog
February 13 2019

Plot or Premise

Nikki Fife served 8 years for a murder she claims she didn’t commit. Now she wants Kinsey to clear her name.

What I Liked

The character of Kinsey Millhone, and her introduction on page 1 (“My name is Kinsey Millhone”) is the same general format that appears in all the books. Just the facts. But she talks about having killed someone and that it weighs on her mind. Cue the flashback. And the book has all the classic elements that show up in almost all the books…her apartment near Henry, Rosie’s, multiple cases at once, index cards to keep track of details, Deitz, Dolan, etc. This is a classic whodunnit with lots of twists and turns and misinformation from suspects, sometimes intentional, sometimes not.

What I Didn’t Like

There is a bit too much relationship-angst in this outing, albeit briefly.

The Bottom Line

Like meeting an old friend.

American Ninja (1985) – MR00003 (2019) – 🐸🐸🐸⚪⚪

The PolyBlog
February 1 2019

Plot

An American soldier with special skills gets posted to an island base where someone keeps hijacking military convoys. When his convoy gets hit, he’s cooperating right up until someone hits the Colonel’s daughter, and then he intervenes. When the hijackers send Ninjas after him, it becomes even more obvious though that his skills are way more than just simple techniques. His memory of his childhood is mostly gone from an explosion on an island, but he has obviously had training.

What I Liked

Some of the basic fight scenes are fine, particularly between Joe and the Black Star Ninja. And the opening sequence is really well done. There’s a scene where they shoot arrows at him, and he uses the handle on a shovel to deflect their trajectory…highly iconic and when I first saw it as a kid, I was hooked.

What I Didn’t Like

I rewatched it recently, and it just doesn’t hold up. As I said, some of the basic fight scenes are good, but the fight scenes with guns seem more like a Stephen J. Cannell TV show where a million bullets are fired but nothing ever hits its target. In addition, some of the stunt work is either done at low speed, shows that it isn’t the actor doing the stunt (particularly a motorcycle jump), or in one case, requires a helicopter to hover in place for about 5 seconds for the stunt man to get ready to jump on the front.

The Bottom Line

A basic action movie from the ’80s but it doesn’t hold up.