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Fiction. Suspense. Thriller. HTML:2 cassettes / 3 hours Read by Judy Kaye Once again, Kinsey Millhone, America's favorite female P.I., embroils herself in a complex and entertaining Alphabet Murder Mystery. When Wendell Jaffe, mastermind of a real-estate scam, disappeared at sea, nobody was found. Now, five years later, he's declared legally dead and California Fidelity has to pay up on his life insurance policy . . . to the tune of half a million dollars. Soon after, the tune slides off-key when Jaffe is spotted in Mexico - and Fidelity hires Kinsey Millhone to sort things out. Oddly enough, Kinsey's investigation of the con man's past triggers a surprising inquiry into her own family history,. And, as the two stories intertwine, our favorite P.I. finds herself facing dangerous consequences.… (more)
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Random Subplot: Kinsey finds she still has family in the area after all,
The books are getting thicker and this leads to more complicated plots and a better read. The only book (so far) which deliberately leaves loose ends to the story.
This was my first Sue Grafton. It wasn’t bad although I didn’t realize that Kinsey Millhone is a serial sleuth. She was interesting in a detached sort of way. She went about her craft with a ‘this is what it takes’ attitude, even if she didn’t
I normally don’t start with ‘serial mysteries’ in the middle because I think I’ve lost continuity if I do that. I noticed that this writer didn’t fill in the details of the past that she may have gone over in previous books. I’m reading a Marcus Didius Falco mystery again and that writer is doing just that. It makes me, the serial reader feel somewhat exasperated having to listen to all that again.
I liked the ending when Kinsey figures out that it was Jaffe’s girlfriend Renata who actually did kill him. When Renata throws herself naked into the pacific and begins to swim out, Kinsey follows but only so far. Afterwards, Kinsey ruminates about the case and thinks that Renata may have done this before. No one witnessed her dead husband’s death in Spain and there are no records that his body ever was shipped here. She could make herself disappear and no one would be the wiser.
My favorite part of this one was finding out that Kinsey has a few long-lost relatives. The prickly P.I.’s parents died in a car wreck when she was only 5-years-old. She was raised by her aunt who has since passed away and she always thought she had no living relatives. I’m interested to see how this plays out in future books. She can be such a loner, I think the thought of having a big family is intimidating to her.
Other reviews, mainly negative, mention that there is an excessive amount of detail and that is probably true but it doesn't change my enjoyment of the book. I find her turn-by-turn driving descriptions a little tedious at times but never enough to make me want to put the book down.
If you've just getting to know Kinsey, start with A is for Alibi. If you're already a fan, you'll enjoy this one.
Overall, I am looking forward to the next book in the series as they are always a fun way to escape from reality. I am also curious to see if the new characters introduced in this story will reappear and be built upon in future stories.
Is it fraud? Is it murder? Is it suicide?
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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.
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WHAT I LIKED:
Kinsey heads off to Mexico to find the guy, spots him, comes back, and
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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.
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DISCLOSURE:
I received no compensation, not even a free copy, in exchange for this review. I am not personal friends with the author, nor do I follow her on social media.
The
The one big moment this book gave us and it gave it to us big time was the information on Kinsey’s family. It is hard to review this portion of the book without spoiling it for readers who have not read the series. I will just say that if the book had spent more time on that I would have probably rated it higher. What a revelation and an added aspect to her personality.