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Kinsey Millhone
Kinsey Millhone is a fictional character created by the American author Sue Grafton (1940–2017) for her "alphabet mysteries" series of 25 best-selling novels which debuted in 1982. Millhone, a former police officer turned private investigator, also appears in a number of short stories written by Grafton. Grafton's mystery novels featuring Millhone are set in 1980s Santa Teresa (fictional city), Santa Teresa, a fictionalized town based on Santa Barbara, California. Biography The fictional character Kinsey Millhone was born on May 5, 1950. Her unusual first name was the maiden name of her mother, wealthy debutante Rita Cynthia Kinsey, who married Kinsey's father, Randy Millhone, against the wishes of Kinsey's grandmother, Cornelia LaGrand Kinsey ("Grand"), causing a family rift. Kinsey's parents were killed in a car wreck when she was five; Kinsey was trapped in the car with her dead parents for several hours before she was rescued, retaining only the memory of her mother weeping ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
"A" Is For Alibi
''"A" Is for Alibi'' by Sue Grafton, published by Holt McDougal, Holt, Rinehart and Winston in 1982, is the first mystery novel in the author's "Alphabet" series. Featuring sleuth Kinsey Millhone, it is set in the southern California city of Santa Teresa (fictional city), Santa Teresa, the Pen name, ''nom de plume'' for Santa Barbara, California, Santa Barbara. She wrote the book during a divorce and admits about her husband that she "would lie in bed at night thinking of ways to kill him". ''The New York Times'' gave the book a lukewarm review. Plot summary Kinsey Millhone, 32, private detective investigates the death of prominent divorce lawyer Laurence Fife. His murder eight years earlier was blamed on his wife, Nikki Fife. Upon being released from prison, Nikki hires Kinsey to find the real murderer. In the course of the investigation, Kinsey becomes involved with Charlie Scorsoni, the late Mr. Fife's former law partner. She discovers Fife's death has been linked to that of a wo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
"J" Is For Judgment
''"J" Is for Judgment'' is the tenth novel in Sue Grafton's "Alphabet" series of mystery novels and features Kinsey Millhone, a private eye based in Santa Teresa, California. The novel is set in 1984 and features a significant development in Kinsey's personal back-story, as she discovers that she has extensive family living in the Lompoc area. Plot summary Kinsey Millhone's former employer, California Fidelity Insurance, hires her to investigate the alleged reappearance of Ponzi schemer Wendell Jaffe. Jaffe was assumed to have died five years previously when his boat, the ''Captain Stanley Lord'', was found drifting off the Baja coast. He left behind a suicide note, a number of angry investors, and a family: a wife, Dana, along with sons Michael and Brian. With no body to prove death, CFI made Dana wait the full statutory five years to presume death before paying out on Jaffe's half-million insurance claim. She has been making ends meet by working as a wedding planner. Michael, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
"W" Is For Wasted
''"W" Is for Wasted'' is the twenty-third novel in the "Alphabet" series of mystery novels by Sue Grafton. It features Kinsey Millhone, a private detective based in Santa Teresa, California, a fictional version of Santa Barbara, California. The novel finds Kinsey investigating the deaths of a local private investigator and an unidentified homeless man. The novel was published in September 2013 by G.P. Putnam's Sons. Plot summary Kinsey Millhone's colleague Aaron Blumberg informs her that a homeless man has been found dead on the beach with her contact information in his pocket. Kinsey tracks down the dead man's friends, three other homeless people named Felix, Dandy, and Pearl. With some difficulty, Kinsey persuades them to tell her the man's name: R. T. Dace. At the bank, she finds a safe deposit box in Dace's name containing $600,000 and a will leaving it all to her. Kinsey, who never knew Dace in life, travels to Bakersfield to notify Dace's surviving family members: his son ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
"V" Is For Vengeance
''"V" Is for Vengeance'' is the 22nd novel in Sue Grafton's "Alphabet" series of mystery novels and features Kinsey Millhone, a private eye based in Santa Teresa, California, a fictional version of Santa Barbara, California. The novel, set in 1988, was released in the United States in November 2011. Plot summary For the fourth straight novel in the Alphabet Mystery series, the viewpoint alternates between Millhone and other characters, principally Nora Vogelsang and Lorenzo Dante. The opening chapter, however, is told from the perspective of a well-to-do young man, Phillip Lanahan, who borrows money from Dante, misses the payback date, and then loses it playing poker in Las Vegas. Dante and his brother Cappi show up, and Dante agrees to take Phillip's Porsche as satisfaction of the debt. However, after Dante sends Phillip and Cappi up to look at the car, Cappi has thugs throw Phillip off the top of the parking garage to his death. In the main storyline, Millhone witnesses a w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
"U" Is For Undertow
''"U" Is for Undertow'' is the 21st novel in the "Alphabet" series of mystery novels by Sue Grafton. It features Kinsey Millhone, a private eye based in Santa Teresa, California. The novel, set in 1988, finds Kinsey investigating the disappearance of a 4-year-old girl in 1967 and the narrative weaves between both time periods. The novel has reached the top position on several best-seller lists. Plot summary In April 1988, Kinsey Millhone is hired by a young man named Michael Sutton to investigate a memory he has which may shed light on an unsolved kidnapping. Sutton explains that in 1967, a four-year-old girl named Mary Claire Fitzhugh was abducted from his neighborhood. Sutton claims that two days later, on his sixth birthday, he talked to two men burying something in the woods. A police dig at the burial site uncovers only the body of a dog. Michael suggests that, since the men knew they were being watched, they substituted the dog's corpse for the girl's, but Michael's sister ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
"T" Is For Trespass
''"T" Is for Trespass'' is the 20th novel in Sue Grafton's "Alphabet" series of mystery novels and features Kinsey Millhone, a private eye based in the fictional Santa Teresa, California. Plot summary Kinsey's cantankerous neighbor Gus is badly injured in a fall and hires Solana Rojas, a private nurse, to help him while he recuperates. Kinsey becomes suspicious when Gus becomes isolated and withdrawn. She finds out that Solana is a con artist who engages in identity theft. What Kinsey does not know is that Solana is a dangerous sociopath with an accomplice and a history of clients who died under her care. Kinsey works with other neighbors and friends to rescue Gus and expose the con-artist without rousing her suspicions. At the same time, Kinsey investigates a case of possible insurance fraud involving a student who drove into another car. The female passenger in the other car had extensive injuries and she and her husband are suing the student and the insurance company. Ki ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
"S" Is For Silence
''"S" Is for Silence'' is the 19th novel in Sue Grafton's "Alphabet" series of mystery novels and features Kinsey Millhone, a private eye based in Santa Teresa, California. In a departure from the series format, this novel is set in alternating chapters both in the "past" of 1953 and the "present" of 1987. Shortly after publication, this novel topped ''The New York Times'' best-seller list for hardcover fiction. Plot summary In 1953, Violet Sullivan vanishes after going out for a Fourth of July party in the small town of Serena Station, California. The exact reason for her disappearance is unknown, but rumors abound that she ran off with a lover or was murdered by her jealous husband. 34 years later, Kinsey Millhone is hired by her daughter Daisy to help seek closure and try to find some explanation for Violet's disappearance. After interviewing close acquaintances, as suggested by Daisy, Kinsey's biggest clue comes from Winston, who worked at the dealership where Violet bought ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
"R" Is For Ricochet
''"R" Is for Ricochet'' is the 18th novel in Sue Grafton's "Alphabet" series of mystery novels and features Kinsey Millhone Kinsey Millhone is a fictional character created by the American author Sue Grafton (1940–2017) for her "alphabet mysteries" series of 25 best-selling novels which debuted in 1982. Millhone, a former police officer turned private investigator, a ..., a private eye based in Santa Teresa, California. The daughter of Nord Lafferty will be brought home from prison by Kinsey Millhone, who also offers to help her adjust to life outside of prison. Seems straightforward enough, but Reba Lafferty has several difficulties. Meanwhile, Kinsey's landlord Henry, unmarried for all his life, is considering a female companion. Kinsey has a lover, too. Plot summary Kinsey Millhone agrees to escort Reba, the daughter of Nord Lafferty, out of prison to the Lafferty mansion and watch over Reba until she is settled into her life out of prison. Reba was serving a sentence for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
"Q" Is For Quarry
''"Q" Is for Quarry'' is the 17th novel in Sue Grafton's "Alphabet" series of mystery novels and features Kinsey Millhone, a private eye based in Santa Teresa, California. Plot summary While moving into her new office, Kinsey Millhone receives a visit from Lt. Con Dolan of the Santa Teresa Sheriff’s Department. Dolan comes bearing bad news: retired STSD Detective Stacey Oliphant is dying of cancer. Oliphant is haunted by a cold case from 1969, a murder investigation wherein he and Dolan discovered the body of a teenage Jane Doe in a quarry outside Lompoc. Dolan suggests the three of them work together to solve the case in order to give Oliphant some peace of mind in his final days. After Kinsey pursues a couple of false leads, Dolan and Oliphant suggest focusing their investigation on a career criminal named Frankie Miracle, who was arrested in Lompoc within days of the Doe murder for killing his girlfriend. They have always believed Miracle killed Doe, but were never able to p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
"P" Is For Peril
''"P" Is for Peril'' is the 16th novel in the "Alphabet" series of mystery novels by Sue Grafton. The novel focuses on the disappearance of Dr. Dowan Purcell, a nursing home administrator and doctor at Pacific Meadows Nursing Home, and features Kinsey Millhone, a private eye based in Santa Teresa, California. The novel is set in 1986. Plot summary Kinsey Millhone is hired by Fiona, the first wife of Dr. Dowan Purcell, to move along the stalled investigation by police of his disappearance. He disappeared nine weeks earlier, on September 12, 1986. The first wife is more concerned than present wife Crystal. Fiona, embittered by the breakdown of her marriage, is convinced that Dow has engineered his own disappearance, as she alleges Crystal is having an affair and admits that Dow has gone missing a couple of times before. In support of this, his passport and thirty thousand dollars seem to be missing. In contrast, Crystal, a former stripper Dow met on a trip to Las Vegas, is convince ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
"O" Is For Outlaw
''"O" Is for Outlaw'' is the 15th novel in Sue Grafton's "Alphabet" series of mystery novels and features Kinsey Millhone, a private eye based in Santa Teresa, California. The novel's plot has its roots in the Vietnam War, and features information about Kinsey's previously unnamed first husband, Mickey, and their brief marriage 14 years before. There is no interaction between them in the story because Mickey is in a coma throughout the novel's action. Plot summary Kinsey's curiosity is roused when she receives a call from a man who has bought some of her possessions at an auction of defaulted storage locker items. She recognizes the box as stuff which she left in the possession of her former husband, Michael Magruder – whom she met and married during her time on the Santa Teresa Police Force at the age of 21. She walked out after eight months in 1972. Mickey had asked her to give him a false alibi when he was accused of violence against a recently returned Vietnam veteran Ben ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
"N" Is For Noose
''"N" Is for Noose'' is the 14th novel in Sue Grafton's "Alphabet" series of mystery novels and features Kinsey Millhone, a private eye based in Santa Teresa, California, although much of this novel's action takes place elsewhere in California. The novel was a ''New York Times'' best-seller. Plot summary The story takes place mainly in the small-town mountain community of Nota Lake, California, where Kinsey has inherited a client named Selma Newquist from her periodic boyfriend Robert Dietz. Selma's brief is vague: she fears her husband Tom, a sheriff's officer who died of a heart attack a few weeks before, had something on his mind at the time of his death; and she wants Kinsey to find out what it was. With very little to go on, Kinsey finds the residents of the insular community are not forthcoming. She finds Tom was held in high respect, while reactions to Selma range from tolerance for Tom's sake to downright dislike. Tom's colleagues in the sheriff's department, including T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |