I'm nearly finished with Sue Grafton's N is for Noose. I am to that point of no return where I have to find out how the story ends, so I will be finishing today. I have to say this is one story in the series which has left me a little unsettled. I know these are hardboiled mysteries and bad things happen, and sometimes bad things happen to Kinsey, but for such an innocuous case as the one she is working on now, she has most decidedly rubbed someone the wrong way with the questions she is posing in her latest investigation.
I am not sure I have written about my last few Kinsey reads (It looks like "L" was the last letter I mentioned here), but in this case she is sort of back with on-again off-again love interest Robert Dietz. He is actually off stage for most of the story, but it is through him that she must travel north to take on a new case. The wife of a deceased sheriff is sure something was troubling her husband before a heart attack ended their happy marriage. She wants to know what was bothering him, and when Kinsey opens this can of worms, she gets more than she bargained for.
Remember how I thought I should note her many bumps and bruises with each new mystery--well, occasionally they are more serious than a bruise. Kinsey had two of her fingers dislocated in this story and while that sounds like a minor inconvenience it was a little harrowing to read about an intruder tackling her and roughing up her fingers--first one and then the other. Crack--finger at a very unhealthy and abnormal direction to body. The other chilling bit of the story is the "noose" aspect of the title, which I had not given much thought to. I'm not sure ultimately how it is going to play out, but the descriptions of how a person can hang themselves was a little upsetting. As usual I have dogeared pages where Kinsey's quips have amused me and made me laugh--maybe I will share a few of them this week, too. I should really start a tab for her--is it too late? Seeing as this has become an ongoing project of sorts.
Which leads me to my next topic. What do I do when I finish the alphabet? I am past the halfway mark and I have every intention of finishing the remaining letters next year--sooner rather than later. I really am enjoying reading these books back to back and feeling the continuity of the storyline and development of the characters. Who would be equally as interesting and entertaining to repeat the experience with? Who is your favorite sleuth?
I've been thinking about mystery series that I want to finish or make progress on, or maybe an entirely new one that would be something I can happily keep returning to. I tend to read a mystery and then move on to some other crime novel rather than reading them one after another as I have with the Grafton books. But there is something really appealing and satisfying to know I am making such good progress with a series. I have started a little list as a matter of fact of potential detectives/sleuths I might want to spend time with next.
New to me (more or less--series I have not yet tried or only read the first book):
Louise Penny's Inspector Gamache (Quebec, Canada) -- 15 books (have read first)
Ruth Rendell's Inspector Wexford (Sussex, UK) -- 24 books! (have read first)
Sarah Paretsky's V.I. Warshawski (Chicago, US) -- 20 books (new series for me)
Laura Wilson's DI Ted Stratton (London, UK WWII) -- 5 books (another new series)
Magdalen Nabb's Marshal Guarnaccia (Florence, Italy) -- 14 books (have read first)
Nicola Upson's Josephine Tey (UK) -- 8 books (have read first)
Series I am reading and should finish:
Liza Marklund's Annika Bengtzon (Stockholm, Sweden) -- 11 books (have read first 2)
Maurizio de Giovanni's Commissario Ricciardi -- 9 books (have read the first 2)
Elizabeth George's Inspector Lynley (UK) -- (have read 15 out of 20)
Sara Sheridan's Mirabelle Bevan (Brighton, UK) -- 8 books (have finished 2)
Andrew Taylor's Lydmouth series (UK) -- 8 books (have finished first 3)
Laurie King' Mary Russell (Sussex, UK) -- 16 books (have read 8 so far!)
I am already catching up with Maisie Dobbs (the next book is not due out until 2020, so I will easily catch up as I only have one more after I finish my current read). It's not as if this is a pressing problem, of course, but only an enjoyable quandary to spend my time thinking about. You know how that goes, right?!