Product Description

‘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 . . .’

When Laurence Fife was murdered, few cared. A slick divorce attorney with a reputation for ruthlessness, Fife was also rumoured to be a slippery ladies’ man. Plenty of people in the picturesque Southern California town of Santa Teresa had reason to want him dead. Including, thought the cops, his young and beautiful wife, Nikki. With motive, access and opportunity, Nikki was their number one suspect. The Jury thought so too.

Eight years later and out on parole, Nikki Fife hires Kinsey Millhone to find out who really killed her husband. But the trail has gone cold and there is a chilling twist even Kinsey didn’t expect . . .

‘Skilful and ingenious’ Irish Times

‘I love Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Millhone novels . . . you are never disappointed’ Guardian

‘Will keep you awake until the last page has been turned’ Daily Mail

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7326 in Books
• Published on: 2004-10-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 368 pages

Review
"'Skilful and ingenious' Irish Times; 'I love Sue Grafton's Kinsey Millhone novels... you are never disappointed' Guardian; 'Will keep you awake until the last page has been turned' Daily Mail"

About the Author

Born in 1940, Sue Grafton is the daughter of mystery writer C. W. Grafton, and began her career as a TV script writer. She lives and writes in Montecito, California, and Louisville, Kentucky.

Customer Reviews

A good start to the series
Sue Grafton's Alphabet series has been going for about 25 years now (I think 'T is for Trespass' has just been released) and I had been bought the A-J boxset for Christmas, so thought I'd start at the beginning with 'A is for Alibi'.

The story introduces the lead character, Kinsey Millhone. 32 years old, twice divorced and a private investigator. Kinsey is approached by a woman who has been wrongfully imprisoned for 8 years after being charged as guilty for the murder of her husband, a cheating, divorce lawyer who it seems everybody wanted dead. Kinsey is hired to find the truth behind his murder and also comes across another murder of a young woman who knew the victim and died in exactly the same way.

The plot is very tight, yet easy to follow.Not too many characters to confuse the reader and there's no un-neccessary plot fillers. It is just good, old fashioned crime solving that although can be dark and sinister in places, it still feels like a "comfort read" with enough humour and whitty dialogue to stop it from being very unsettling or disturbing - something that the crime fiction genre has reached it's boundries in recent years, so this is a refreshing change. As a massive fan of other female crime writers such as Patricia Cornwell, Karin Slaughter and PJ Tracy, it was nice to read a thriller that is still quite realistic and very exciting but without the gore. Kinsey's character is instantly likeable and believable . The killer stays a mystery until the last chapter, which in this case wasn't that surprising unfortunately, maybe due to the fact that there was only a handful of people that it could have been.

Overall this is a fantastic start to the long-running series, but could be better (and I bet it will be!) and I really look forward to reading on through the rest of Kinsey's investigations.

It's mindless trash, but I love it
My first Sue Grafton was read almost by accident. K is for Killer was given away free with a magazine last year. I enjoyed it enough to go back to the start of the alphabet and attempt to read the full set.

Ms Grafton apparently decided to write after her second divorce. She wanted to kill her ex-husband but knew she'd get caught, so she wrote it instead, and she did a pretty good job. Her heroine, Kinsey Millhone, is coincidentally twice divorced and is the owner and sole employee of her own PI firm, and for some bizarre reason she lives in a garage.

Essentially its a standard detective novel. You know basically what's going to happen, but the fun is in getting there, and trying to figure our 'who done it' along the way. It's never going to win any literary prizes, but it makes good reading, without requiring too much thought. It's lightweight in both physical and mental terms, perfect for sticking in your bag and reading on the beach. I'd thoroughly recommend it and am now off to find out what B is for...

A Is for Alibi
Looking at a lot of the reviews here, it would seem that many people have done what I've done, i.e. read one of the later books in the alphabet series and then got back to this one, the first to really see how things started.

I would agree with some of the other comments that this isn't the best in the series, but it is good to be introduced to Kinsey for the first time and also some of the other characters we know are going to be popping up throughout the series; Henry Pitts and Rosie being prime examples.

Kinsey Milhone is a 32-year-old Santa Teresa private investigator licensed by the State of California. She is twice divorced, sassy and doesn't mind getting her hands dirty to get the job done. Her latest client is Nikki Fife, a woman recently released from prison after an 8-year stretch for the murder of her husband, the lawyer Laurence Fife. Nikki wants to engage Kinsey to prove her innocence from the charge of her husband's murder, even though she has served her sentence now. Laurence, never one for the quiet life, seems to have picked up a many and varied list of people who potentially might have killed him and Kinsey wastes no time in tracking down his first wife, her children and ex-employees of Laurence, some of with whom he had affairs. She also comes across Laurence's ex-partner the handsome lawyer Charlie Scorsoni, with whom she is more than a little taken.

The quest for the truth takes Kinsey on some crazy back and forth drives to Los Angeles and onto Las Vegas, and ultimately ends with a frantic chase across the beach and some tragic happenings.

The plot is rather complex, or at least I found it so, and it's quite hard to keep track of the different characters. That said, it's never boring and any dedicated reader will whip through the rather short book in a couple of sittings.

It's the Kinsey character that is the most engaging factor in the books. She is crafty and cunning, but also honest and with pretence. She appeals to both men and women and her adventures are great fun to follow.