"G" is for Gumshoe: A Kinsey Millhone Mystery

Sue Grafton

May 1990 · Kinsey Millhone Alphabet Mysteries Book 7 · Sold by Holt Paperbacks

About this ebook

For #1 New York Times bestselling author Sue Grafton's PI Kinsey Millhone, danger comes with the job—but she never expects to find herself at the top of a hit man's list...

G IS FOR GAME...

When Irene Gersh asks PI Kinsey Millhone to locate her elderly mother Agnes, whom she hasn't heard from in six months, it's not exactly the kind of case Kinsey jumps for. But a girl's gotta pay her bills, and this should be easy money—or so she thinks. Kinsey finds Agnes in a hospital. Aside from her occasional memory lapses, the octogenarian seems fine. And frightened.

G IS FOR GUN...

Kinsey doesn't know what to make of Agnes's vague fears and bizarre ramblings, but she's got her own worries. It seems Tyrone Patty, a criminal she helped put behind bars, is looking to make a hit. First, Kinsey's car is run off the road, and then days later, she's almost gunned down, setting in motion a harrowing cat and mouse game...

G IS FOR GUMSHOE

So Kinsey decides to hire a bodyguard. With PI Robert Dietz watching her 24/7, Kinsey is feeling on edge...especially with their growing sexual tension. Then, Agnes dies of an apparent homicide, Kinsey realizes the old lady wasn't so senile after all—and maybe she was trying to tell her something? Now Kinsey's determined to learn the truth...even if it kills her.

"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: Decent book, worth celebrating her birthday. . PLOT OR PREMISE: Happy 33rd Birthday to Kinsey! Her apartment is ready, she gets hired to go check on someone's mom, and she's on a hit list. . WHAT I LIKED: As always, Grafton adds some local colour wherever Kinsey goes -- Kinsey gets to a small trailer area, and the directions are to go on down to a corner where there's a Rusted-Out Chevy and take the road next to it called, you guessed it, Rusted-Out Chevy Road. It is such a perfect example to set a mood for the place. More importantly though, Dietz is in the story, hired to protect her from the cheap hitman chasing her. And the book is rounded out by a cold case of a woman with signs of Alzheimer's who is trying to hide a secret. . WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE: Dietz is so hard-core professional with the security side, it feels almost like the Plum series where Ranger is awesome and Plum is a cupcake. It reduces Kinsey at times to passive acceptance and direction, and it doesn't fit well with most of her character. . 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.

An enjoyable read, but it all summed up and came to the conclusion too fast this time. Felt like she had a deadline and hurried to finish it, or had to edit out a bunch of pages to make it the length the publisher wanted. Still a good story.

I know I'm late working my way through these, but they keep getting better as I go.

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.