D is for Deadbeat

When Alvin Limardo walks into P.I. Kinsey Millhone's office, she smells bad news. He wants Kinsey to deliver a cashier's check for $25,000. The recipient: a fifteen-year-old boy. It's a simple matter. So simple that Kinsey wonders why he doesn't deliver the money himself. She's almost certain something is off. But with rent due, Kinsey accepts Limardo's retainer against her better judgment…
Limardo pays her with another check as the retainer. It bounces and Kinsey discovers she's been had. She learns that he is really John Daggett—an ex-con with a drinking problem, two wives to boot, and a slew of people who would like to see him dead. Kinsey is out $400 and she's now in hot pursuit of Daggett.
When Daggett's corpse shows up floating show more in the Santa Teresa surf, the cops rule it an accident. Kinsey thinks it's murder. But seeking justice for a man who everyone seemed to despise is a lot tougher than she bargained for—and what awaits her at the end of the road is much more disturbing than she could've ever imagined. show less

I love Kinsey Millhone. But she's not everyone's cup of tea. I started reading the Alphabet series a few years ago - I think at the time it was up to O is for Outlaw. The idea of a mystery series each title beginning with a new letter amused me. I don't know why. I don't think it's particularly original. At least - I've seen a few others since. At the time though it was new to me and it just struck me as perfect. I flew through the series. Kinsey is riveting. She's brash and harsh and charming. She's fierce and flawed. She gets scared. She holds her own. She pushes herself to run often and tackles cases without judgement and with an open mind. Rosie and Henry are brilliant and I love the little family she builds around her.

But Kinsey show more Millhone isn't Jack Reacher - her speed is more Tracy Crosswhite. [book:My Sister's Grave|22341263] Her cases aren't full of action and high speed chases - they're slowly nitpicking away until something clicks into place. She writes down all her thoughts and places her facts and ideas on 3x5 index cards - which she often shuffles and rearranges to help her solve her case. And I love it. Kinsey Millhone is great - but she's not for everyone.

For some reason I've seen reviewers compare this to Stephanie Plum - I don't know why - this is absolutely NOTHING like that. Stephanie Plum is a very different character and an extremely different type of book. That's more fluff. Kinsey Millhone is more procedural mysteries. And this series isn't current - it was first published in the 80's - there's not really technology. Messages were relayed by calling the landlines. Paper files were still the main form of storage. Not everyone will enjoy reading this. But if you like your mysteries to be more like procedurals with a determined and fierce character - Kinsey Millhone is for you.


Wow. I did not see it coming. The ending. Poor Kinsey. Poor Tony. Everyone suffered in this one. In many ways it was horrible. The final lines are going to haunt me for a long while.

Maybe he felt he owed Tony that last sacrifice. I’ll never know, but it makes more sense to me that way. Some debts of the human soul are so enormous only life itself is sufficient forfeit.

Grafton, Sue. D is for Deadbeat: A Kinsey Millhone Novel 4 . Pan Macmillan UK. Kindle Edition.



5 stars. show less

I think I'm changing my middle initial to B for blindsided. For the second time this year, a novel took me off guard. D is for Deadbeat did just that and I'd even venture to say this book in the ABC series has been the best so far.
It starts off with an ex-con wanting a cashier's check for $25,000 delivered to a 15 year old boy. Before Kinsey can deliver the check, the deadbeat is murdered and the suspects are numerous. Could the deadbeat's sins of the past have played into it or maybe some under the table drug deals in prison has some revenge minded criminals seeking their cash back? Hmm. Definitely worth the time to read this one and find out.

I did not enjoy this book of the Kinsey Milhone series. If writers start out asking "what if ...", this what if didn't work. I never reached a point that I cared about any of the characters. Kinsey took a walk on the seamy side and the story never left seamy. The only reason I didn't put the book down, leaving it unfinished was because I was curious if I was right about the killer. I was wrong. Oh. That's who. OK. Bad ending. Not sad, because you'd have to care about the character to have any emotional reaction. My reaction was, good, book's done. Hope the next one returns to the quality of the first 3.

This series, along with the In Death series, are my go-to "in between" books when I need a short break from meatier stuff but still a reliably good read. That said, this fourth entry was heavier and darker than I remember the first three being, and I was unexpectedly moved by parts of it. There was also more of Kinsey's wonderfully dry humor and observations on the foibles of humanity. A very good read all around.

Sue Grafton is a crime fiction writer with one series to her name: the alphabet murders, starring female PI Kinsey Milhone. After reaching ‘G is for gumshoe’ she was able to give up her day job writing screenplays. So far she has written 22 books in the series (up to ‘V is for vengeance’) and she has stated that the final book will be called ‘Z is for zero’. Although this is a writer one of my friends had previously recommended, I always felt the titles were actually rather off-putting and it took the author becoming a book group read for me to finally open this book, which had sat on my shelf for many years. Could it be better than the rather dull title suggested?

The premise

Alvin Limardo hires Kinsey Milhone to deliver a show more cheque to a young boy. The job seems like easy money, but when Kinsey’s pay check bounces she sets out to find Limardo and discovers that he’s really a drunk called John Daggett who was fresh out of prison – and he’s now dead. Although the police think his death was accidental, Kinsey’s not so sure: it seems unlikely that a man with so many enemies would die by accident…

My thoughts

I didn’t find the premise of this crime story particularly interesting and the reading experience lived up to that lack of expectation. It doesn’t help that Daggett is such an unpleasant character: even Kinsey wonders what she’s doing bothering to investigate his fate. It isn’t clear that a crime has been committed until over half way through the story (and even then it could still be an accident), which meant that I struggled to care about the investigation – which is meant to be the focus of any decent crime novel in my opinion.

So what is the focus here? Kinsey Milhone. Writing in the first person, Grafton quickly introduces readers to Kinsey on the first page of the first chapter. We learn that she’s a PI, that she’s writing after the events of the story she’s about to tell, and a bit about her character. Obviously, when a series has already run to 22 books and you’re about to read the fourth, it’s obvious that nothing too terrible can befall your protagonist. When they tell you that this case started because they didn’t want to gain a reputation for letting clients have freebies, and this is the major element of the case they prioritise, it appears that nothing even a little bit bad can happen to them. While Kinsey is a perfectly likeable and sympathetic protagonist – she just wants to make her money and get on with her life – I wanted a protagonist I could fear for to make the narrative more gripping. No matter how unsavoury the characters this PI spoke to were, I never had any sense that she might find herself in danger and, for me, this meant that the book was very easy to put down and not pick up for a while – it wasn’t gripping.

However, it was a quite pleasant, gentle read. I thought the choice of first person narration worked well as Kinsey is quite personable and her voice often lends events a faintly comic perspective. In some ways, this book reminded me of Janet Evanovich’s number crime series starring comically inept Stephanie Plum – except that Kinsey knows what she’s doing. Her contacts at the police station are helpful and she gradually puts the pieces of the case together using research and the conviction that her interviewees know more than they’re letting on. Although there are no stunning twists or startling discoveries, there are sufficient plot developments to keep the plotline developing; whether there’s enough to keep readers really engaged is another question. The evidence is rather thin and takes a lot of chasing. Ultimately, it is hard to see how Kinsey can really make a case of what she’s found.

The ending is in keeping with the characters and settings established in the rest of the book. In this world, life is generally rather harsh and unfair. Some readers may find the ending a little sad as it really reinforces this idea. There is a full explanation of events offered which should please readers who like everything to be wrapped up neatly. There is a very short epilogue so the ending could feel a little abrupt, but in fact it felt like a natural finishing point to the story; there was nothing further a reader needed to know or see.

I read this as a standalone book rather than reading it as part of a series and felt that it worked well. There is a very brief introduction to Kinsey on the first page and there are a couple of other characters who are clearly series regulars, but I did not feel that I needed more back-story. The story keeps within its boundaries and there are no big inducements to read the next in the series. I like this approach because I feel it means the author is trusting that their story telling abilities will bring the reader back, rather than relying on a big hook. Regular readers will probably find the developments in Kinsey’s love life interesting. Personally, I was not really interested in these developments but found that this was not a problem as they did not get a lot of ‘screen time’ in the story.

Interestingly, Grafton originally tried her hand at novel writing but had limited success. After that she spent 15 years writing screenplays for television films. I definitely think this experience has influenced her writing style: she describes scenes in just the right amount of detail so that they are conveyed vividly to the reader but ensuring that the reader does not become bogged down in irrelevant descriptive detail. This was a feature of her writing I really enjoyed and I could imagine this book being adapted successfully for TV. However, don’t expect it on your screens anytime soon: after 15 years involved in the industry, Grafton is not interested in turning her books into films and has apparently barred her children from doing so after she has died.

Conclusions

I found this an easy, pleasant read despite the darkness of the characters’ lives. Kinsey’s narration is mildly enjoyable, as is Grafton’s descriptive style. While the plot is a little thin and the crime could not be described as gripping there is sufficient interest to reach the end of the storyline which fits well with what has gone before. There are several suitable twists and turns as the plot develops and the reader is able to solve the crime with Kinsey: there are no extra revelations at the end that mean the reader could never have solved the mystery. Personally, I found this an unmemorable read and I won’t be seeking out another book in the series anytime soon. However, it was a mildly satisfying read and if I came across one, in a holiday cottage for instance, I would be happy to curl up with it.

The story was first published in 1986 but it didn’t feel particularly dated. My copy is quite old so it has an RRP of £4.99, which feels like quite good value for 229 pages written in small font. Newer copies have an RRP of between £7-9 which feels a little too pricey for something so simple. This isn’t a book I would reread for the pleasure of the writing or to look at how it all fit together; if I reread it at all it would be in years to come when I’ve forgotten the plot completely. For that reason, unless you’re a keen fan of this series, I would recommend purchasing or borrowing a second hand copy, which is available cheaply from the usual places. show less

This was another good mystery in the series. I've been reading these mysteries as a break from other series. One of the things I like about them is they are a product of their time. The 1980s -- research required legwork, cell phones weren't connecting us to the world, and desktop computers were expensive and rare. So it made sense to hire a private investigator to do the research and legwork.

There's one thing to remember about this series -- they aren't "cozy mysteries." There aren't a lot of warm, fuzzy characters. There are a good number of scumbags. The scumbags and unpleasant people abound in this book. Another thing to keep in mind is the author usually plays fair with the reader for the denouement. The bad guy isn't Sally's third show more cousin twice removed who happened to be in town that night and neither Kinsey nor the readers had prior knowledge of the person's existence.

So the upshot is that I thoroughly enjoyed the book, was surprised by the reveal, and am ordering the next book in the series. What more do you want? If you like PI mysteries, you can dive right in at any point, although these do mention past events. I think you'll like the books if you like series mysteries that aren't "cozy." show less