Tag Archives: detective

O is for Outlaw by Sue Grafton (1999) – BR00140 (2019) – 🐸🐸🐸🐸⚪

The PolyBlog
March 10 2019

Plot or Premise

Kinsey gets a blast from the past from her ex-husband, Mickey Magruder.

What I Liked

Kinsey finds out that when she walked out of their marriage thinking he was guilty of murder/manslaughter, he actually had an alibi that he didn’t reveal. He was never convicted, and in the years since, they’ve had no contact. It’s interesting to see her work through a sense of guilt and a desire to know the real truth. Before she finds him, someone shoots him on the street and he’s in a coma. Soon she’s wearing his leather jacket and hunting down his shooter. The story is solid but does jump around quite a bit to get to the final bit.

What I Didn’t Like

The solution is a bit “out there” for pieces tying together, and like a couple of the previous books, feels a little unfair to the reader. Not as bad as previous, however.

The Bottom Line

Pretty good story, could have been a contender.

M is for Malice by Sue Grafton (1996) – BR00139 (2019) – 🐸🐸🐸🐸⚪

The PolyBlog
March 8 2019

Plot or Premise

Kinsey is hired by her cousin Tasha, the lawyer, to track down the long-lost fourth son of a recently deceased construction company owner so they can file the will for probate.

What I Liked

Kinsey does a quick short-cut on finding the missing heir, and sets in motion a series of interactions with the rest of the family that results in death. Add in an old fraud, the return of Dietz to her life, and some emerging feelings for the prodigal son, and it is a full novel.

What I Didn’t Like

A couple of the final pieces to the puzzle are completely hidden until the last chapter, and it’s not even Kinsey who finds them. I didn’t feel it was playing fair with the reader, holding back some key elements until the end that no one had a chance to see being uncovered so much as like working on a puzzle for several days only to have someone spoil the ending by just telling you the solution.

The Bottom Line

Great novel, good characters, let-down for the ending.

L is for Lawless by Sue Grafton (1995) – BR00138 (2019) – 🐸🐸🐸⚪⚪

The PolyBlog
March 7 2019

Plot or Premise

Henry asks Kinsey to help some neighbours file a benefits claim for a deceased veteran…seems simple enough.

What I Liked

Kinsey tries to help out, and gets sucked into the mystery…was the vet really a vet? Who keeps breaking into his old apartment? Why was he so paranoid in life? Why is she helping people she doesn’t really like? It’s fun watching her incrementally get sucked in more and more, so natural. And then she’s off to Dallas, following a man and woman who robbed the apartment.

What I Didn’t Like

The story reads more like a treasure hunt than a mystery or a case. It’s not terrible, but it’s not really a mystery, and most of the main characters lie every time they open their mouth, with none of the stories being particularly interesting.

The Bottom Line

Okay story, not much of a case or mystery.

K is for Killer by Sue Grafton (1994) – BR00137 (2019) – 🐸⚪⚪⚪⚪

The PolyBlog
March 3 2019

Plot or Premise

A mother attending a support group for grief-stricken parents in Kinsey’s building hires her to look into the death of her daughter who died at home with no known cause of death.

What I Liked

Cheney is involved as the original investigating officer, and it’s fun to see a bit of a dance between them. There’s lots of different characters running around, and lots of possible plots. It’s definitely not a quick case for her.

What I Didn’t Like

There is a giant plot hole in the case, namely a messed up timeline for a recording device, as well as a ton of interesting elements that go NOWHERE. Their purpose in the story is so obvious, they fall into the story very bluntly.

The Bottom Line

The worst of the series so far.

J is for Judgment by Sue Grafton (1993) – BR00136 (2019) – 🐸🐸🐸⚪⚪

The PolyBlog
March 2 2019

Plot or Premise

Kinsey’s old insurance partners hire her to find a guy who faked his suicide five years before to get out from under a Ponzi scheme indictment.

What I Liked

Kinsey heads off to Mexico to find the guy, spots him, comes back, and starts inserting herself over ten days into the life of his ex-family, all of whom thought he was dead. Add in a current girlfriend, an ex-cop, and an old business partner, and there are lots of things happening at the same time. And just for fun, Kinsey finds out she has family up around Lompoc.

What I Didn’t Like

There is an almost ridiculous story about one of the sub-characters — he’s introduced initially as a buffoon, and then later as an almost master-criminal, and in neither instance is he either. While Kinsey’s new family interactions are a bit of a distraction, the real challenge is with the banal ugliness of the ex-suicider’s family interactions, particularly a young pregnant girl with a baby.

The Bottom Line

Is it fraud? Is it murder? Is it suicide?