Plot or Premise

Kinsey has new office digs with Lonnie the lawyer, and her new case is to help him with a wrongful death case against a guy who skated on a charge of murdering his wife through a peephole in the door.

What I Liked

There are lots of little clues that suggest what is really going on, and Kinsey is following in the footsteps of one of her old PI pals, Morley, who died of a heart attack. Or did he? There’s a sub-crime or two, and Kinsey gets her hands dirty mucking in people’s lives to get to the truth.

What I Didn’t Like

There is a series of interactions with a couple of people who should go out of their way to tell Kinsey to take a hike, and yet they calm down and continue to help her after she explains she’s just trying to help.

The Bottom Line

A decent mystery, not awesome character development for the sub-characters.

Plot or Premise

Happy 33rd Birthday to Kinsey! Her apartment is ready, she gets hired to go check on someone’s mom, and she’s on a hit list.

What I Liked

As always, Grafton adds some local colour wherever Kinsey goes — Kinsey gets to a small trailer area, and the directions are to go on down to a corner where there’s a Rusted-Out Chevy and take the road next to it called, you guessed it, Rusted-Out Chevy Road. It is such a perfect example to set a mood for the place. More importantly though, Dietz is in the story, hired to protect her  from the cheap hitman chasing her. And the book is rounded out by a cold case of a woman with signs of Alzheimer’s who is trying to hide a secret.

What I Didn’t Like

Dietz is so hard-core professional with the security side, it feels almost like the Plum series where Ranger is awesome and Plum is a cupcake. It reduces Kinsey at times to passive acceptance and direction, and it doesn’t fit well with most of her character.

The Bottom Line

Decent book, worth celebrating her birthday.

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.