Excellent book in the alphabet series. This one was a little disturbing, most likely because I've spent so much time in nursing homes and around the elderly this year. Kinsey's neighbor, Gus, is in his 80's and ends up falling and dislocating his shoulder. The doctor determines that Gus can't go home without care. His long-lost niece hires an LVN and from there, all hell breaks loose.

There's no rampant violence in this book. Just quiet cunning and elder abuse that is more horrific than a psychopath. Solana Rojas is the nurse who has stolen someone's identity and makes a habit of caring for elderly people and stealing from them and disposing of them when she's done. She's crazy, yes. But able to do all her evil deeds right under everyone's nose. Very scary when you think how vunerable the elderly can be, especially when they have no relatives left.

I wonder what Grafton is going to do when she runs out of letters? ( )

OK

Decent, but why does Kinsey Millhone kill most of the bad guys lately? ( )

http://tinyurl.com/lyznbj

Grafton is pulling out all the stops for her final handful of titles in the Alphabet Mystery Series. The middle section of the alphabet was truly the pits-- all of her stories seemed used, with no fresh perspectives. Even though none of her stories make significant commentary on culture or social conventions, other than to point out yet another in a long line of nasty ways that people can dupe you, everything after "C is for Corpse" and before "R is for Ricochet" has even less redeeming value.

Although I'm not quite old enough to be in fear of the situation she sets up in this current novel, even thinking that something like this could happen to me in my dotage makes my skin crawl. As with any mystery, there are occasions while reading that stop you in your tracks, along the line of "oh, c'mon, that was a bit too facile, wasn't it?" But this is precisely where Grafton is getting better-- while she's always been a master of description, she has not been a master of moving the plot along smoothly. I think that's a difficult balance to achieve as a writer. Too much description and things dull. Too little description and you haven't the faintest what the writer is talking about.

I particularly like her last line, and it's only 4 words long. (Have I made it sound enticing enough?) ( )

I am finally caught up with the alphabet mysteries and Kinsey Millhone - this, of course, being the most recent release. This falls right about in the middle as far as quality goes - certainly not amongst the worst of the bunch, but not really a stand-out either.

The subject is elder abuse as Kinsey gets sucked into the life of her curmudgeonly neighbor, Gus, who has a sketchy new private-duty nurse. We also are privy to some routine P.I. cases investigating an unrelated auto-accident, and serving some warrants. So, the subject matter is not too scintillating. Very little of Kinsey's personal life in this one, yet her personality does remain true to form.

But on the plus side, the novel seems tightly written and moves right along - surprisingly entertaining given the hum-drum storyline. Perhaps because I haven't read one of these in awhile - I rather enjoyed it. These mysteries are like comfort food, and you gotta love Kinsey. ( )