Guest book review by Penny Waugh
I have read and loved the Kinsey Milhone series
since A for Alibi came out in 1982, so I must say I pounced on this one and
thoroughly enjoyed the Kinsey short stories and the glimpses into Sue Grafton's
own life that the second half of the book give us.
However, and this is a big however, if you are
unfamiliar with the series this is not the place to start. Kinsey has grown
over the years, and these short stories, set mainly in the 80s when she is
supposed to be about 32 years old, are quite slight though very good for
showing her methods of investigation and the intuition with which she reaches
her conclusions. There is little here of the detail of her life which is one of
the joys of the series books and though the stories are generally good they
are, by definition, brief. The last story, written at the request of a clothing
company, is a good yarn and she certainly gives them her best in product
placement!
The second half of the book is, thinly
disguised, the story of Sue Grafton's early life which must have been painful
to write and is moving and painful to read. The child of two alcoholics she was
forced, practically, to bring herself up, though her father did inspire a love
of books and reading in her. She was
born in the same year as I was and so I read these stories of her life up to
the age of 20 with great interest, but so, I believe, would others with any
interest in the author. She is unsparing of herself or indeed her family and
the whole section rings true.
This is a first publication in the UK, though
the stories have been previously published in the USA.
I would give this book four stars. It is slight but in the context of the
Kinsey Milhone series it is most interesting. However, don't expect to get the
most out of it if you are unfamiliar with the series, which I would recommend
unreservedly.
Reviewed by Penny Waugh - guest reviewer - thanks very much to Penny for reading and reviewing this book for The Little Reader Library
Published by Mantle
