sue grafton a is for alibi first edition

Before he died, it seems, Felix Vodyanov was linked to a passenger ferry that sank in 1994, an even earlier U.S. But the hints of other crimes Tempe’s identification uncovers, particularly crimes against children, spur her on to redouble her efforts despite the new M.E.’s splenetic outbursts.

Heavner isn’t exactly mollified when Tempe, aided by retired police detective Skinny Slidell and a host of experts, puts a name to the dead man. Nettled by several errors in Heavner’s analysis, and even more by her willingness to share the gory details at a press conference, Tempe launches her own investigation, which is not so much off the books as against the books. Showboat Medical Examiner Margot Heavner makes it clear that, breaking with her department’s earlier practice ( The Bone Collection, 2016, etc.), she has no intention of calling in Tempe as a consultant and promptly identifies the faceless body herself as that of a young Asian man. And though the two-part solution is a let-down (Grafton stoops, disappointingly, to yet another Maltese Falcon-ry, with Charlie as Mary Astor), the suspects are a consistently interesting group, many of whom work (grooming dogs, sewing, laying bricks) while they talk-a simple but beguiling added texture.Īgreeable heroine (only her running is a bore), fine dialogue, a great eye for people and places-so we're looking forward to 'B' through 'Z,' especially if Grafton can tighten up her plotting.Īnother sweltering month in Charlotte, another boatload of mysteries past and present for overworked, overstressed forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan.Ī week after the night she chases but fails to catch a mysterious trespasser outside her town house, some unknown party texts Tempe four images of a corpse that looks as if it’s been chewed by wild hogs, because it has been. But Kinsey leaves no suspect un-suspected: she talks to Laurence's first wife to the grown kids from that first marriage to Libby's ex-colleagues, sad parents, and surly old boyfriend to Laurence's former secretary Sharon, now a dealer in Vegas (who's murdered just before Telling All) to sexy Charlie-whom Kinsey is in bed with fairly soon. Was Laurence having an affair with Libby? So it seems. The main new lead: Laurence's death was shortly followed, it turns out, by the similar fatal poisoning of accountant Libby Glass, who did work for Laurence and partner Charlie Scorsoni. A shakily plotted but otherwise terrific start for a new detective series-with Kinsey Millhone, twice-divorced California private eye, as the enormously engaging narrator.įunny but not too cute, tough and liberated but not too loud about it, Kinsey is grand company as she re-investigates an old case: eight years ago womanizing divorce lawyer Laurence Fife was poisoned, second wife Nikki was convicted, but now Nikki is out of jail and wants Kinsey to find the real murderer.

Sue grafton a is for alibi first edition