Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Kinsey Millhone
When I first read a Kinsey Millhone novel in Sue Grafton's alphabet series, I made the mistake of not going back to "A" Is for Alibi & reading the series in sequence when she didn't have a new book out. Not only would I have kept track of which ones I'd read, I'd also remember plots better. They all take place in the 1980's, story following close upon story, into newest book, "U" Is for Undertow. I was more than halfway through "O" Is for Outlaw before I was certain I'd already read it.
Private investigator Millhone lives very modestly in rented cottage behind a house, owns only one all-occasion dress. She usually wears jeans & a black turtleneck. Sometimes she earns a fat fee, but routine work is her bread & butter. She runs three miles every morning, goes though phases with gym workouts, loves fast food burgers & fries, & eats just about whatever gut-wrenching Polish dish gets served up as the daily special by the owner of Rosie's, the bar up the street. Her only close friend is her landlord, Henry - & old man & former baker who feeds her good home-cooked meals & gives her sound but usually unheeded advice.
I don't read police procedurals or novels about serial killers (except Tim Dorsey's series featuring lunatic Floridian dispenser of deserved justice, Serge A. Storms). I began a J.A.. Konrath novel last night promising humor. In the first few chapters it felt like a procedural, introduced two serial killers, ten Chicago cops were slaughtered, & the protagonist's mom & fiance were taken hostage with intent to torture & kill them. I closed it.
"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." Thomas Jefferson
Private investigator Millhone lives very modestly in rented cottage behind a house, owns only one all-occasion dress. She usually wears jeans & a black turtleneck. Sometimes she earns a fat fee, but routine work is her bread & butter. She runs three miles every morning, goes though phases with gym workouts, loves fast food burgers & fries, & eats just about whatever gut-wrenching Polish dish gets served up as the daily special by the owner of Rosie's, the bar up the street. Her only close friend is her landlord, Henry - & old man & former baker who feeds her good home-cooked meals & gives her sound but usually unheeded advice.
I don't read police procedurals or novels about serial killers (except Tim Dorsey's series featuring lunatic Floridian dispenser of deserved justice, Serge A. Storms). I began a J.A.. Konrath novel last night promising humor. In the first few chapters it felt like a procedural, introduced two serial killers, ten Chicago cops were slaughtered, & the protagonist's mom & fiance were taken hostage with intent to torture & kill them. I closed it.
Labels: what I'm reading
