Joanie, your post got me to thinking....I've never read a Kinsey Millhone mystery by Sue Grafton! So...in between work and family visiting last weekend, I took care of that little issue and read 'A is for Alibi' the first in the celebrated Kinsey Millhone series. It was a very compelling book...I read it straight through. Different from some of the other girl gun-toter mysteries that I've read, in particular Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum. (Is there an adult female in this country who has not read at least one of the Plum mysteries? If so, wow! What rock are you living under?)
Stephanie: Has a family. In fact, we love her family! From her father with his avoidance issues, to her closet-drunk mom to her crazy grandmother, we can see the forces that shaped Stephanie into the woman that she is today! Her family could possibly be the AnumberOne reason her books are so popular! Stephenie even has a relationship with Rex, her pet hamster.
Kinsey: No family and only one reference to history...her parents were killed when she was 5 years old, so one assumes she barely remembers them. She was raised by an aunt. No siblings and apparently, no cousins although there's always that option for later books. But...Kinsey is a loner. Not even a pet!
Stephanie: Not averse to sleeping with men who turn her on but she knows them first. Joe she pretty much knew since the cradle...or was that kindergarten? (Loved the choo-choo-train game! laughed so much...) She doesn't know the mysterious Ranger as well in the first book, so she waits to get to know him better. Man of few words...that Ranger.
Kinsey: This really strained the bounds of credulity. Not only does Kinsey not know Charles, but he's a suspect in a murder investigation! The heat didn't seem all that hot and there weren't chapters of learning of the conflict Kinsey went through to make the decision to sleep with Charles. In any event, he did buy her a meal so I guess she 'owed him'.
Stephanie: An average gal who sort of fell into the bounty hunter role but is afraid to carry a gun. That gun spends more time in the cookie jar than in her purse and who knows where the bullets are?
Kinsey: An ex-policewoman--got to be a story there that hope is discussed further in future books--who makes a point to bring the gun wherever she goes and isn't afraid to use it--judiciously.
Given all that, I really enjoyed 'A' is for Alibi. I was able to partially solve the whodunit very early on and I felt good about that. I will be reading the rest of the series!
Thanks Jo....for inspiring me to add another author to my must-read list!
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It's been so many years snice I read A is For Alibi that I have no idea who Charles is! LOL! You do get more back story on Kinsey's life as the books go on.
ReplyDeleteI've only just started reading the Stephanie Plum series. For some odd reason I had #10 and thought perhaps I should read 1 thru 9 first.
I recently read Eat Cake by Jeanne Ray and My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult. Wonderful books!
I just love the buy 1, get 1 for half price at Borders! That's why I have over 30 books on my shelf to-be-read!
Joanie, I never read Eat Cake by Jeanne Ray. Isn't she that gal who started out working in a grocery store and ended up with a syndicated cooking show? I have read My Sister's Keeper by Picoult...last year sometime. It was an interesting concept but the trailers were much more sensationalistic than the actual story. Of course, I hated the ending but Picoult apologized for the ending in the afterword. She writes for young adults and the afterword challenged the reader (or at least, that's how I read it) to make a better ending for that audience. Given that, I had to admit, it would be tough to end it any other way.
ReplyDeleteAnyway...all this and I haven't touched on Plum! Books One thru Three...the absolute BEST! You want to giggle so hard that you fall off the chair? That's books 2 and 3. Maureen said that she thought Seven was the funniest. But I'm thinking that must be a generational thing. Anyway...Ten wasn't her best. Spooky is very funny...all those monkeys with the tin hats and antennae!
hahahaha
btw, I did have about 10,000 books here but I think I've managed to whittle that down to about 8,000.
Nope. Eat Cake is about a woman who loves to bake and she solves all her troubles (and her family's troubles)by making and eating cake. I don't want to say too much in case you decide to get it and read it. It's funny and touching. In the back of the book are all the recipes for all the cakes she bakes in the book!
ReplyDeleteI'm just starting a new book, Three Junes by Julia Glass. It was one that I started to read more than 6 years ago, but Sue Grafton had a new one coming out and I abandoned Three Junes for this new one. Now I'm going to read it in full this time! I just finished Nights of Rain and Stars by Maeve Binchy. It was wonderful!
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