H is For Homicide by Sue Grafton

28^th June 2023.

Over 30 years ago, I started reading Sue Grafton’s brilliant Alphabet series. This time around the books are still as fresh and brilliant, driven by Kinsey Millhone’s determination and her irreverent humour and sometimes acerbic observations.

In her eighth outing, she’s looking into an insurance scam that starts out with Bibianna Diaz, who appears to be a small fish in a large pond. Kinsey catches up with her one evening, only to end up involved in a shooting that lands them both in jail. Then the police approach Kinsey to go undercover and stick with Bibianna, who’s involved with the mastermind running the insurance scam, and more.

It’s a departure from Kinsey’s usual cases as she tries to stay out of trouble, always anxious that her cover will be blown. It adds a residual tension and threat to the story, which finds Kinsey at her feisty best, pushing her luck as she improvises her way towards the truth.

The characters are particularly well drawn, the atmosphere tense, and the pace ticks along nicely like an unexploded bomb before the climax and a neat twist at the end.

Like the previous books in the series, this is original, enthralling and works fine on its own, but you’ll miss so much if you don’t start at the beginning.

Description

It was one of those occasions when I suddenly realised how happy I was. I was female, single, with money in my pocket . . . I had nobody to answer to and no ties to speak of. As usual I’d forgotten how surges of goodwill merely presage bad news.

After a three-week-long investigation, Kinsey couldn’t wait to get home.

What she needed most was a few quiet days by herself – but two things happened to change all her plans. First she ran into a murder case. Then Kinsey met Bibianna Diaz, and before the night was over they were sharing a prison cell . . .