"A" is for Alibi by Sue Grafton, a review

The book: Overly drawn out, but an interesting read nonetheless

The author: Worth reading again

Review:

For perhaps the first time ever, I picked up this book with the sole intent of reading a new series by starting at the beginning. This Rinehart Suspense novel introduces Kinsey Millhone, a female private investigator, which was an interesting concept as far as I was concerned. PI's, in my experience, are written as cold, aloof, unfeeling individuals who are typically male. The only way Kinsey appears to stray from that stereotype is by having a second X-chromosome.

This story takes place eight years after a murder of a very unlikeable philanderer. Kinsey is hired by the person jailed for committing the crime, the dead man's wife, who professes her innocence even after all this time. She wants to find out who really killed the man she was unfortunate enough to call her husband. Kinsey has to wind her way through strange family ties, odd employees and co-workers, and ultimately determine who of that set is trustworthy. I had trouble keeping up with the web that was spun, and felt that things were intentionally being overly drawn out. By the time I read about Whodunnit, I had to flip back to a few parts of the book to see if it made logical sense. I suppose they made enough sense, although I was starting to wonder if Sue Grafton was getting paid by the word.

I did enjoy several aspects of the book. Kinsey was a rather foul-mouthed, incredibly sarcastic, psychologically messed-up individual, and that actually endeared her to me. Perhaps I can somehow relate to her need to push others away and not wanting to feel close to anyone else. I did want her to be the victim of a drive-by Zolofting, but thought that she might not quite be herself if such an event transpired. I found it interesting that the book opens with her discussing how she had to kill someone in her line of work and how weird that makes her feel, while at the same time talking about how nice she is and how she has oodles of friends. I did not see her character as the type to get close enough to anyone to actually make friends. I suppose I shall have to read the next book in the series to see where she goes from here.

All in all, this was a decent suspense novel, as far as I was concerned. It did not freak me out unnecessarily, and I was able to sleep after finishing the book. I shall continue on to the next book in the series and hope that Kinsey's persona continues to grow on me with time.

Other books I have read in this series: