O is for Outlaw – Sue Grafton

Back to form in this next “letter of the alphabet” tale from Sue Grafton concerning Californian private investigator, Kinsey Millhone. Grafton manages subtly to introduce us to Kinsey’s first husband, and by so doing allows her heroine to tells us more about her earlier life, and its police force context. Very subtly done, in contrast to earlier attempts to provide such insights via the long lost relatives route.

The only bit of the book I didn’t like was Sue Grafton’s note at the start, telling us when the various episodes detailed in the alphabet books take place – essentially placing all of the books to date in the 1980s – and thereby justifying the absence of mobile phones and the internet. Surely Sue Grafton could have provided us with plot-based pointers on this front, rather than this school-ma’am-ish elucidation.

Buy it: Amazon link