"B" is for Burglar: A Kinsey Millhone Mystery

Sue Grafton

Apr 2010 · Kinsey Millhone Alphabet Mysteries Book 2 · Sold by Holt Paperbacks

About this ebook

B is for Burglar, from Sue Grafton's #1 New York Times bestselling Kinsey Millhone Alphabet mystery series

Beverly Danziger looked like an expensive, carefully wrapped package from a good but conservative shop. Only her compulsive chatter hinted at the nervousness beneath her cool surface. It was a nervousness out of all proportion to the problem she placed before Kinsey Millhone. There was an absent sister. A will to be settled--a matter of only a few thousand dollars. Mrs. Danziger did not look as if she needed a few thousand dollars. And she didn't seem like someone longing for a family reunion.

Still, business was slow, and even a private investigator has bills to pay. Millhone took the job. It looked routine.

Elaine Boldt's wrappings were a good deal flashier than her sister's, but they signaled the same thing: The lady had money. A rich widow in her early forties, she owned a condo in Boca Raton and another in Santa Teresa. According to the manager of the California building, she was last seen draped in her $12,000 lynx coat heading for Boca Raton. According to the manager of the Florida building, she never got there. But someone else had and she was camping out illegally in Mrs. Boldt's apartment. The job was beginning to seem a bit less routine.

It turned tricky when Beverly Danziger ordered Millhone to drop the case and it took on an ominous quality when Aubrey Danziger surfaced, making all kinds of wild accusations about his wife. But it only became sinister when Millhone learned that just days before Elaine Boldt went missing, her next-door neighbor and bridge partner had been murdered and the killer was still at large.

A house destroyed by arson. A brutally murdered a woman. A missing lynx coat. An apartment burgled of valueless papers, another ransacked in a melée of mindless destruction. And more murder. As Millhone digs deeper into the case, she finds herself in a nightmarish hall of mirrors in which reality is distorted by illusion and nothing--except danger--is quite what it seems.

"A" Is for Alibi
"B" Is for Burglar
"C" Is for Corpse
"D" Is for Deadbeat
"E" Is for Evidence
"F" Is for Fugitive
"G" Is for Gumshoe
"H" Is for Homicide
"I" Is for Innocent
"J" Is for Judgment
"K" Is for Killer
"L" is for Lawless
"M" Is for Malice
"N" Is for Noose
"O" Is for Outlaw
"P" Is for Peril
"Q" Is for Quarry
"R" Is for Ricochet
"S" Is for Silence
"T" Is for Trespass
"U" Is for Undertow
"V" Is for Vengeance
"W" Is for Wasted
"X"

Ratings and reviews

BOTTOM-LINE: Stealing someone's identity is one thing, living their life is another . PLOT OR PREMISE: A sister hires Kinsey to find her estranged sister who seems to have gone missing . WHAT I LIKED: The plot is interesting, as it starts to shape up as quite the mystery. The missing sister, Elaine, supposedly flew to Florida but someone else is staying in her condo there. Everybody has opinions, but no facts as to her whereabouts. And there's a link to a burglary / homicide that occurred before she disappeared. Stolen identities, missing cats, firecracker old ladies, multiple clients and Jonah too? . WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE: A good portion of the novel is kind of muddy, with Kinsey blundering along, showing no real signs of any insight or deduction, just plodding along, with the mystery having to go at her pace too. None of the "drama" from the secondary characters tends to add any real intensity to the story, and many of the people just come off as lame. . DISCLOSURE: I received no compensation, not even a free copy, in exchange for this review. I am not personal friends with the author, nor do I follow her on social media.

I'm not entirely sure what happened with 'B' is for Burglar, but I found it very hard to get into the story. The characters were still there, quirky and interesting as ever, and Grafton's narrative descriptions still struck me as unique and engrossing, but I just couldn't find myself caring about the plot. It wasn't a murder mystery I could sit around guessing at, thereby provoking my interest as the pieces were revealed. Instead, the ending came from left field and accusations that were previously made are never wrapped-up. There's a rather important side character who is glossed over at the end, leaving me wondering what happened? Why? HOW?! The book was good for a quick read on a rainy day, but it didn't blow my mind. Grafton has a gift for metaphors, they stand out without seeming like melodrama. She can describe something in a few sentences that would take less skilled writers many paragraphs. All in all, I will continue to read this series. I hope 'C' has a more engaging storyline.

Over the years I have listened or read most of Ms Grafton's book. I enjoy the no-nonsense way that Kinsey Milhoune pursues her life and her cases. It's interesting to read about crime-solving before everyone had cell phones and hackers were as much a part of the detective's arsonal as good old gumshoe hard work.

About the author

#1 New York Times bestselling author Sue Grafton (1940-2017) entered the mystery field in 1982 with the publication of 'A' Is for Alibi, which introduced female hard-boiled private investigator, Kinsey Millhone, operating out of the fictional town of Santa Teresa, (aka Santa Barbara) California, and launched the bestselling Kinsey Millhone Alphabet Mysteries. In addition to her books, she’d published several Kinsey Millhone short stories, and with her husband, Steven Humphrey, wrote numerous movies for television, including “A Killer in the Family” (starring Robert Mitchum), “Love on the Run” (starring Alec Baldwin and Stephanie Zimbalist) and two Agatha Christie adaptations, “Sparkling Cyanide” and “Caribbean Mystery,” which starred Helen Hayes. Grafton is published in 28 countries and in 26 languages.