A very (very) long time ago I read the first Kinsey Millhone mystery by Sue Grafton, A is for Alibi. It was so long ago that now, as I reread it, I have not a tiniest sense of having ever come across the story before. Which makes me wonder if I did indeed read it, but in any case it was weeded from my book collection (also) a very long time ago. I somehow just wrote Sue Grafton off, but I tend to do that to US authors--a bad habit I hope to break myself of. I always feel like books set in other places, places I am unfamiliar with, are of more interest. Why read about places I hear about in the news every day, places I might have visited or would at least be familiar to me even if I haven't traveled there.
But a good story is a good story and I should never disregard a setting even if I think I already know it. A character or place is not more interesting (necessarily) just by virtue of being separated by geography or language (but I will still reach for those books because I am all for expanding my horizons). So, Kinsey and I are getting acquainted once again and I find there is much to like about her and to learn and appreciate and be entertained by.
I like Kinsey. She is really the consummate PI, or what I imagine a PI to be like. She sounds like one and even lives like one. Or what I imagine they would be like, what they are like in other novels I have read. I like the way Sue Grafton writes. It is accessible and engaging and (relatively quick going), but I mostly like her descriptive passages. She gives you a lot of detail but in a way that is not overwhelming but simply paints a picture in your mind as you collect facts. And Kinsey is direct and no nonsense. She tells it like it is and has a wry sense of humor that comes through at just the right moments. She is smart but smart in a street sense sort of way perhaps, or just life experience maybe.
I am halfway through A and enjoying all the little bits that Sue Grafton, Or Kinsey, throws at you. I like how she lives in Santa Teresa, in southern California and the little apartment she has, because she likes cramped spaces. I like how she travels light. But better that I share some of the descriptions as she tells the story, because she does it so much better than I can.
"My name is Kinsey Millhone. I'm a private investigator, licensed by the state of California. I'm thirty-two years old, twice divorced, no kids. The day before yesterday I killed someone and the fact weighs heavily on my mind. I'm a nice person and I have a lot of friends. My apartment is small but I like living in a cramped space. I've lived in trailers most of my life, but lately they've been getting too elaborate for my taste, so now I live in one room, a 'bachelorette.' I don't have pets. I don't have houseplants. I spend a lot of time on the road and I don't like leaving things behind."
*******
"Santa Teresa is a Southern California town of eighty thousand, artfully arranged between the Sierra Madres and the Pacific Ocean--a haven for the abject rich. The public buildings look like Old Spanish missions, the private homes look like magazine illustrations, the palm trees are trimmed of unsightly brown fronds, and the marina is as perfect as a picture postcard with the blue-gray hills forming a backdrop and white boats bobbing in the sunlight."
She is equally as good at describing people and sussing out their personalities and character flaws. This is different from a cozy mystery in its presentation, but the piecing of a puzzle is still there. In this case a woman just released from prison from killing her husband has hired Kinsey to find out who really killed him, as she has always denied any involvement with his death. So Kinsey must go back and pick apart the facts and talk to all who knew him. I like watching her work and being in her mind as she compiles details. I've already go B is for Burgler and I am going to keep going and see how far through the alphabet I can get. I am trying to catch up with Buried in Print as she has been making her way through the books as well. It's good to have a reading partner to keep the momentum going (if I can get at leas as far as E!).
On a side note, I am on a mystery binge at the moment and need a little help. I am looking for a readalike for Barbara Vine's A Fatal Inversion. I read it years ago and it is a favorite novel by her. I might just reread it, but I know it is a trope that is often used by other authors so I would like to find a new spin on the story:
"When the new owners of Wyvis Hall, a rural estate in Suffolk, set out to bury their pet dog on the grounds, they stumbled upon a ghastly relic: the bones of a woman and small child in a shallow grave. The gruesome find makes stunning headlines, especially so for the previous occupants.
A decade before, nineteen-year-old Adam Verne-Smith inherited the property and spent one debauched summer there with runaways, drifters, and his two best friends—none of whom have spoken since that fatal season. Adam is now a doting father and husband. His old buddy Rufus is a respectable doctor. And there’s Shiva, whose dreams of upward mobility drifted away. Unhinged by the discovery, they reunite, each with a protest of innocence. As the past slowly emerges, their regrets, desperation, and bitter incriminations get the best of them—and so will their secrets."
Any suggestions are most welcome--setting does not matter (or whether the book is new or old) as long as it has a similar feel to it.