Tag Archives: Millhone

H is for Homicide by Sue Grafton (1991) – BR00134 (2019) – 🐸🐸🐸🐸⚪

The PolyBlog
February 23 2019

Plot or Premise

Kinsey has her hands full with a dead claims adjuster, a scam artist on the run from a dangerous ex, and an efficiency expert at the insurance company.

What I Liked

Kinsey goes undercover with the scam artist and her ex, with support from Dolan, and she really throws herself into the role. She shows up as the scam artist’s friend, and hangs out while the relationship with the crazy ex deteriorates even further.

What I Didn’t Like

The crazy ex is indeed crazy, but the ridiculous explanation for a lot of his behaviour is that he has Tourette’s. Not exactly a deep plot device nor very accurate portrayal.

The Bottom Line

H should be for huckster.

G is for Gumshoe by Sue Grafton (1990) – BR00133 (2019) – 🐸🐸🐸🐸⚪

The PolyBlog
February 22 2019

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.

F is for Fugitive by Sue Grafton (1989) – BR00132 (2019) – 🐸🐸🐸⚪⚪

The PolyBlog
February 21 2019

Plot or Premise

A dying father hires Kinsey to look into a 17-year-old murder case when his fugitive son is arrested after being on the lam since the original case.

What I Liked

The story is far from linear, and Kinsey has to do her normal knocking and stumbling around to find the answer in a small town world. She is also staying at a motel that a bunch of the characters live in, so it has a bit of a cozy feel at times.

What I Didn’t Like

There’s a strange sub-story that crops up twice, refuted at the end, and left unanswered as to the original lies. Equally, there are a few too many nutjobs running around, as well as just too many people in general.

The Bottom Line

There are a few plot elements running loose.

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.