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It’s no secret that I’m a fan of girl sleuths (like Janet
Evanovich’s Stephanie
Plum). So when a friend recommended Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Millhone mysteries, I ran
right out and picked one up. I started at the beginning—with A is for Alibi. I
tore through it and reached for the next one, B is for Burglar.
In
B, Kinsey is hired to find Elaine Boldt, a wealthy widow who left her home in
California, headed for her condo in Boca Raton, and hasn’t been seen since. The case
seems easy enough—until Kinsey realizes that there may be a connection between Elaine’s
disappearance and the murder of her neighbor—which took place just a couple of days
before Elaine’s sudden departure.
Grafton’s Kinsey Millhone mysteries are
a fun, speedy read. You’ll fly through it in a matter of days—and you’ll have fun
sleuthing along with Kinsey. While the plot may have a few holes here and there, the
mystery itself is great—not so obscure that you’ll never come up with the solution on
your own, but not so brainless that you’ll figure everything out in the first chapter,
either. Grafton does a great job of handing your clues gradually, making it fun to “play
along.”
And Kinsey is a lovable character, too. There’s nothing fake or
glamorous about her. Instead, she’s plain and simple and down-to-earth. She lives in a
tiny apartment and eats at a Hungarian greasy spoon down the street. She stays in cheap
hotels and flies red-eyes when she’s on the road. She works hard, and she’s not always
even-tempered. And I like her. She’s not quite as quirky as Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie
Plum (or the rest of her characters), but I like her anyway.
…And I look
forward to reading C.
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