I almost wish Kinsey Millhone was a real person and I could see what she looks like. See her tiny garage-converted apartment and take a virtual tour of Santa Teresa! I can imagine her jogging along the beach or shooting the breeze with her clients. I like to think if she was a real person we might be friends, but I think I prefer to just observe her. (Though she might make a really interesting dinner party guest!).
Things I have learned about Kinsey so far. She is in her early thirties and twice divorced. I have yet to learn anything about her ex-husbands or why the marriages failed. She doesn't seem to have a special love interest, but she is not averse to a possibly casual relationship. She began her career as a police recruit, but that didn't quite work out and now she is a private investigator. She has an office in the California Fidelity Insurance Company building where she used to work but now only occasionally does jobs for.
She doesn't seem to have any real hobbies. Her job seems to take up most of her time and fill her thoughts. She likes to run, but less for fitness or a drive to be healthy, as she will as often follow up her runs with a Big Mac and fries. Her usual hangout is a bar called Rosie's that sounds a bit of a dive so it doesn't attract tourists which is just fine with her, but Rosie is Hungarian and makes the best meals. Kinsey calls them "devil-may-care cuisine with a Hungarian twist."
I already mentioned her apartment, which is cramped and small but Kinsey likes cramped and small. Her car is a little VW filled to the brim, it sounds, with files and law books. She likes to be able to travel at a moment's notice and keeps a briefcase handy complete with a little automatic pistol. Her landlord is this eighty-year old author of the most intricate crossword puzzles and a baker extraordinaire. He actually was formerly a baker in his working-life and will often trade bread for meals at local restaurants. Kinsey is often a happy recipient of loaves, too. The two often share curious glances as Henry is a not unattractive much older man, but neither would ever dream of acting upon them.
Oh, and yes, she is working on a case in A is for Alibi, which I greatly enjoyed. I'm not sure which I like better, the piecing together of the puzzle or reading about Kinsey, and being inside her head. She has a dry sense of humor and I find that her observations often elicit a very audible guffaw from me. She is so traditional hardboiled in her detecting style and it is a happy experience to read a hardboiled female detective narrating the story. Why did I not pick up these books before now? All the better that I have almost a complete alphabet to make my way through, however, as these are almost like eating candy--you just keep reaching your hand in the bag.
I was almost (though not sure why really) surprised by how nicely complex and layered the mystery Kinsey needed to solve and the way she worked through the problem asking endless questions and traveling to talk to witnesses combing through all the clues with a fine tooth comb. She is methodical in her working style, a bit wisecracking, fairly fearless and not afraid to ask the hard questions. She is a tough cookie and a smart one at that.
In this, her first, case (only first for us, but she has been a PI for a while is the sense you get from the story) she has been asked to investigate the murder of a man by the woman who was accused, charged and sentenced for the crime. She even served her time in jail, biding time until she got out. She hires Kinsey to find the real culprit. Nikki Fife spent eight years for the poisoning death of her husband, a crime she has never admitted to. It sounds fairly straightforward and even while investigating few people are convinced that Nikki is not to blame. But nothing is really as it appears and one death morphs into two and then another during the investigation. The story opens with Kinsey relating how she has just killed someone and how it weighs on her mind. With that in mind she narrates the case and the story ends with her final report on her investigation.
Such a thoroughly satisfying detective novel. I have already read my way well into B and hope to pick up C very soon. I hope to spend a lot of time with Kinsey in the coming months. What I like is with each new chapter and now with the second novel a bit more is revealed or fleshed out in Kinsey's character. And Sue Grafton does such a perfect job of setting the scene and painting the details of Kinsey's world so it all seems so real. So nice to finally meet you Kinsey Millhone.