“J” Is For Judgment by Sue Grafton

Synopsis:

"J" is for Jaffe: Wendell Jaffe, dead these past five years. Or so it seemed until his former insurance agent spotted him in the bar of a dusty little resort halfway between Cabo San Lucas and La Paz.

Five years ago, when Jaffe's thirty-five-foot Fuji ketch was found drifting off the Baja coast, it seemed a sure thing he'd gone overboard. The note he left behind admitted he was flat broke, his business bankrupt, his real estate gambit nothing but a huge Ponzi scheme about to collapse, with criminal indictment certain to follow. When the authorities soon after descended on his banks and his books, there was nothing left: Jaffe had stripped the lot.

But Jaffe wasn't quite without assets. There was the $500,000 life insurance policy made out to his wife and underwritten by California Fidelity. With no corpse to prove death, however, the insurance company was in no hurry to pay the claim. Dana Jaffe had to wait out the statutory five years until her missing husband could be declared legally dead. Just two months before Wendell Jaffe was sighted in that dusty resort bar, California Fidelity finally paid in full. Now they wanted the truth. And they were willing to hire Kinsey Millhone to dig it up.

As Kinsey pushes deeper into the mystery surrounding Wendell Jaffe's pseudocide, she explores her own past, discovering that in family matters as in crime, sometimes it's better to reserve judgment.

"J" is for judgment: the kind we're quick to make and often quicker to regret.

"J" Is for Judgment: Kinsey Millhone's tenth excursion into the dark places of the heart where duplicity is the governing rule and murder the too-frequent result.

J Is For Judgment takes us on an interesting journey with Kinsey. From traveling to Mexico, pretending to be a hooker, getting shot at, and swimming out to sea, there definitely wasn’t any down time for our favorite Private Investigator.

We also got a little peek into the history of Kinsey’s family and actually met some of her family members. We didn’t think there were any of them. She has always been used to being alone, not suddenly she has a lot of family pretty close by. I hope the next book explores her family a bit more, but I also kind of hope that they don’t become super prominent characters. Kinsey has always worked better on her own, and I think it should stay that way. For now, if anything. Having family nearby adds for an interesting wrinkle in the story, though, and I do think it should be explored.

As for her investigator storyline, this one was a bit different because she wasn’t trying to figure out who was guilty for most of the book, she was just trying to prove that someone was alive. Once she gets further into her investigation, we meet one really interesting but messed up family.

The family in this one certainly made for an interesting plot, but they were almost less “exciting” that characters in some of the other books. By less exciting, I mean they didn’t really do a whole lot.

The way this one ended, it makes me wonder if Renata will show up again in another book or not. I’m not sure there would be much of a need for her to, but I am curious about it.

Overall, another solid Kinsey story. There was a lot of action in this one. I think I want one with her interacting more with the people she knows and loves in the next one – maybe even a romance. You never know what Kinsey is going to get into.

4/5 Stars

Memorable Quotes: “The hard thing about death is that nothing ever changes. The hard thing about life is that nothing stays the same.”

“I pictured myself impales on an ornamental shrub. Not a pretty sight, that one – a hard-assed private eye, punctures by a sticker bush.”

“If I didn’t work on behalf of law enforcement, I’d be in jail, I’m sure.”

“I’ve never once downed a hit of NyQuil without shuddering violently afterward. Nonetheless, I’m aware that I harbor all the incipient characteristics of an over-the-counter cold medicine addict.”

“I perched on a bar stool, munching junk food while I sorted through the mail I’d stolen. It’s hard to give up chronic thievery when my crimes net me such a bonanza of information.”

“Please understand: I don’t have the answers. I’m simply posing the questions. God knows I have questions about my own life to answer yet.”

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‘H’ is For Homicide by Sue Grafton

Synopsis:

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..

This book was. . . different. I didn’t feel like I was reading a Kinsey book because she was undercover for the majority of it. She wasn’t leading her usual bad-ass private investigator life. She was undercover in a life of crime.

It was strange to read, and I didn’t like it. But even though I didn’t like that aspect, I liked the book. The book hooked me and I kept turning the page. I couldn’t put the book down. Because she was around the people she was investigation so much, they became humanized. Usually you can just see them as the bad guy, but there was a human side to them in this book which added more depth.

I was hoping that Kinsey would be able to bust out more of her badass self, but aside from playing her undercover role well, we didn’t get to see it as much.

I am so conflicted on it, but I can say that I did enjoy it. The characters were very well developed and the story was different.

I am excited to read the next book, though. I am hoping it is more of a normal book for her.

4/5 stars

Memorable Quotes: “Life was good. I was female, single, with money in my pocket and enough gas to get home. I had nobody to answer to and no ties to speak of. I was healthy, physically fit, filled with energy.”

“I tried to look like an especially law-abiding citizen instead of the free-lance private investigator with a tendency to fib.”

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The Other Typist by Suzanne Rindell

Synopsis:

Confessions are Rose Baker’s job. A typist for the New York City Police Department, she sits in judgment like a high priestess. Criminals come before her to admit their transgressions, and, with a few strokes of the keys before her, she seals their fate. But while she may hear about shootings, knifings, and crimes of passion, as soon as she leaves the room, she reverts to a dignified and proper lady. Until Odalie joins the typing pool.

As Rose quickly falls under the stylish, coquettish Odalie’s spell, she is lured into a sparkling underworld of speakeasies and jazz. And what starts as simple fascination turns into an obsession from which she may never recover.

This book is so frustrating, yet so intriguing and mysterious. It is hard to keep in mind that this book takes place in the 20’s. The main character, Rose, speaks a lot about femininity and what a woman is supposed to be. It is so wildly different from the culture we live in now.

Part of me wants to smack her at times. Other parts of me just feel bad for her.

Then you think about her fascination with Odalie, and it is all very mysterious. Half way through the book and you still don’t really understand how deep her fascination goes.

It is also hard to figure out whether Rose is into women platonically or whether she is into them in a romantic sense.

This book follows the two of them and then it reaches a peak at the end. All I can say about that is, I am confused.

I was still confused after I read the last line of the book. Yes, it threw a twist at us, but I am not really sure what they twist was.

Maybe I am just being dumb with this one.

I did like the book overall, Rose was a very frustrating character to read about, but it was mysterious and kept me hanging on.

3.5/5 Stars

Memorable Quotes: “A good typist knows her place. She is simply happy, as a woman, to be paid a reasonable income.”

“I am quite skilled at watching people, and I believe this habit has given me something of a true education in the world – perhaps in more ways than one.”

“I wasn’t as sure as Odalie seemed to be about the prospect of my falling in love with what promised to be a group of derelicts posing as intellectuals, but I was becoming increasingly sure I was about to allow myself to be charmed by Odalie herself.”

“There is something darkly thrilling about standing on the balcony of a very tall building and looking over the edge with the silent knowledge that is in one’s own power to jump.”

“You see, doubt is magnificently difficult pest of which to try to rid oneself, and is worse than any other kind of infestation. It can creep in quietly and through the tiniest of cracks, and once inside, it is almost impossible to ever completely remove.” 

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