Now that I have gotten to know Kinsey Millhone, what would I do without her? She tops my list of characters I wish were real and those I would love to sit next to a dinner party. Oh, to be a fly on the wall in her world! Rarely does a book elicit an actual, auditory, guffaw out of me, and in public no less. But Kinsey does. And the thing is, she is just so completely serious about it all. I mean this is one very no-nonsense down to earth woman. She has a great sense of humor and is often quite self-deprecatory with the things she says and does. But you know she is someone you can totally count on. I know I often go on about her and share her wisecracks, but they are so good, I wonder what I will do when I get from her to letter Y?
I am reading J is for Judgement at the moment. She was sent down to Mexico on a claim--a life insurance policy was paid out upon the death of a California Fidelity (the company she occasionally does side jobs for) client, but as it turns out the man who was meant to be dead is sunning it up in Mexico and was spotted by one of CF's agents when he was on vacation. Oops. Now that is not supposed to happen, so Kinsey went down to try and confirm the dead man's (though still alive) identity.
I could share the scene were she hops from her balcony to another to get to the balcony--and room, of the man in question. And when he comes back she retraces her steps (or leaps) but surprise! The man in the middle room is not only in his room but on his balcony. The things she does to get out of a tight situation. No, I think I need to share the outfit she came up with back in California when she had to dress up for a party (for her investigation). Now, if you know Kinsey, you know she has little real fashion sense. She is a jeans, turtleneck, tennis shoes kind of woman. "I" have not so much fashion sense to be honest, but even I was floored by this. And it made me laugh aloud! Going through a bag of a friend's cast-off (and given to Kinsey) clothes . . .
"I went back to one of the long skirts, a black washable silk. I think she intended for me to hem the length, but I simply rolled it up at the waist, a little doughnut effect. She's also given me a tunic top in a color she called taupe (a blend of gray and old cigar butts), with a long white vest that went over both. She'd told me I could dress up the outfit with accessories. Big duh. Life I really had some kind of clue how to make that work. I searched my drawers for jewelry to no avail and finally decided to wear the long crocheted runner my aunt had made for the dresser top. I gave it a little flap to get all the woofies out and then looped it around my neck with the ends hanging down the front. Looked good to me, kind of devil-may-care, like Isadora Duncan or Amelia Earhart."
Even just typing this again makes me smile. She seriously cracks me up! My attention has been stretched in too many places this last month or so, but I need to get back to Kinsey and finish this so I can get to "K". I want to finish the alphabet this year. But then again, maybe I don't. When I get to "Y", what will I do? Go back to "A"? Surely there can't be another female PI quite like Kinsey, right?