‘D’ Is For Deadbeat by Sue Grafton

Synopsis:

When Alvin Limardo walks into P.I. Kinsey Millhone's office, she smells bad news. He wants Kinsey to deliver $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…

When Limardo's check bounces, Kinsey discovers she's been had big time. Alvin Limardo 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. Now Kinsey is out four hundred dollars and in hot pursuit of Daggett.

When Daggett's corpse shows up floating in the Santa Teresa surf, the cops rule the death an accident. Kinsey thinks it's murder. But seeking justice for a man who everyone seemed to despise is going to be 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…

Wow… and I thought that ‘C’ had a dark tone to it. The ending of ‘D’ Is For Deadbeat is one of the most somber book endings that I have read in a long time.

It made me an even bigger fan of Kinsey Millhone, though. I must say that.

This book also took me back to not being able to guess the twist until it was revealed which was nice to encounter after I had guessed it earlier on in the previous book. I had hoped that wouldn’t continue, and Grafton delivered immediately with the next installment.

I found this to be a really quick read even though it was a touch longer than the previous ones. Something about it just really gripped me and wouldn’t let go.

This is a book that is going to stick with me for a long time.

5/5 stars.

Memorable Quotes: “I’ve never rhapsodized about exercise and Id avoid it if I could, but I notice the older I get, the more my body seems to soften, like butter left out at room temp. I don’t like to watch my ass drop and my thighs spread outward like jodhpurs made of flesh.”

“Sometimes I picture death as a wide stone staircase, filled with a silence procession of those being led away. I see death too often to worry about it, but I miss the departed and I wonder if I’ll be docile when my turn comes.”

“I’m capable of screwing things up by trying to solve all the problems in advance instead of simply taking care of issues as they surface.”

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‘C’ Is For Corpse by Sue Grafton

Synopsis:

How do you go about solving an attempted murder when the victim has lost a good part of his memory? It's one of Kinsey's toughest cases yet, but she never backs down from a challenge. Twenty-three-year-old Bobby Callahan is lucky to be alive after a car forced his Porsche over a bridge and into a canyon. The crash left Bobby with a clouded memory. But he can't shake the feeling it was no random accident and that he's still in danger…

The only clues Kinsey has to go on are a little red address book and the name "Blackman." Bobby can't remember who he gave the address book to for safekeeping. And any chances of Bobby regaining his memory are dashed when he's killed in another automobile accident just three days after he hires Kinsey.

As Kinsey digs deeper into her investigation, she discovers Bobby had a secret worth killing for--and unearthing that secret could send Kinsey to her own early death…

This book was a bit different from the others. It had a much darker feel to it that was laced with sadness. I can only gather that it was because Kinsey knew the victim of the crime she was investigating. This being the case, I didn’t mind the tone change, but it was a bit of a change of pace.

I also figured out the twist a lot earlier in this one compared to the other two. It didn’t take away from the story as I didn’t know how it all fit together, but figuring it out leads to a less exciting reveal at the end.

There wasn’t as much action up until the end of the book either.

So, this book was very different from the past two, but I still enjoyed it and it was really hard to put it down. Kinsey’s personality did get to show through more towards the end and it was refreshing after the dark cloud that was the first half of the book.

‘C’ was a solid installment in the series.

4/5 stars

Memorable Quotes: “His death served to remind me, like a custard pie in the face, that life is sometimes one big savage joke.”

“You don’t come that close to death without paying a penalty. Violent death is like a monster. The closer you get to it, the more damage you sustain . . . if you survive at all.”

“I find it liberating when other people are rude. It makes me feel mild and lazy and mean.”

“Shit, she was quick – shaving years off her age without pausing to count on her fingers or anything. I’m not that good at subtraction so its probably fortunate that I don’t lie about how old I am.”

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One For the Money by Janet Evanovich

Synopsis:

Pestered by her close New Jersey family, Stephanie Plum offers to catch high-school crush Joe Morelli, cop turned bail jumper, for her cousin Vinnie's company. She questions "working girls" to find the missing girlfriend of vicious prizefighter Benito Ramirez while Joe secretly watches her back. Ranger mentors her and supplies vehicles when hers explode.

I will start this by saying that I read this book for the first time over ten years ago. I just had it sitting in my closet and never read past this first one, so I thought it was time I reread it and finish the series.

There are some good things and some bad things.

Stephanie Plum is a funny gal. There were some quotes that had me giggling. Her family is also hilarious especially her grandmother.

Stephanie seems determined enough. . . but she seeks out too much help and seems really helpless at times along the way. Now, this is her first stint as a bounty hunter, and like I said, I haven’t read the rest of the series. I am hoping she becomes more independent or she will be the exact opposite of the female protagonists that I love, i.e. Lindsay Boxer.

That said, this book IS entertaining. I remember liking it when I read it the first time, and I did enjoy it when I read through it again. It took me a little longer than I would have liked to get through it. But, such is life, I suppose.

There was a lot of action for the first novel in a series, so I can only imagine that each subsequent novel will bring the same punch.

We shall see.

3.5/5 stars.

Memorable Quotes: “I wondered if nine in the morning was too early to drink beer. Of course in Moscow it would be four in the afternoon. Good enough.”

“I didn’t feel like a professional. I felt like an idiot. Id criticized foreign governments for using chemical warfare, and here I was buying nerve gas from a woman who waxed off all her pubic hair.”

“I really felt like a jerk, because here was Morelli being nice to me, and what I actually wanted to do was hop on over to Bernie’s to buy a blender and get my free daiquiri mix.”

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