As with the Cornwell novels, I had left Kinsey Millhone and the alphabet series alone for quite some time. How long? Well, my copy of N is for Noose is in hardback, and I think she’s up to S by now. As I perused my unread bookshelves I decided to dive back in to this series where time passes so slowly that it’s still 1986, and see what’s been respectfully submitted for my attention this time.
Nota Lake sheriff Tom Newquist died of an open-and-shut heart attack. He was a sedentary, sixty-five year old smoker, so it’s not that surprising. But his somewhat paranoid and jealous widow wants to know what he was up to during the six weeks leading up to his death – his behaviour was strange, and the notebook he meticulously kept is missing.
It all looks pretty straightforward to Kinsey, but she reckoned without small town loyalties and secrets best left hidden. She should have known better.
And that was the single most annoying thing about this novel – the heavy, heavy larding of had-I-but-known. The first chapter opens (two paragraphs, or approximately 325 words) and closes (one mercifully brief paragraph of only 37 words) with had-I-but-known, and doesn’t end there. The story itself wasn’t bad – nor particularly good. I didn’t really care about any of the characters, but I was in a desultory kind of mood when I read it, so that’s not wholly Grafton’s fault. To be fair I’ll probably give Kinsey one more whirl before deciding to leave the series behind. In the meantime I want to know – to whom are the reports respectfully submitted (a question which didn’t trouble me at all while reading A is for Alibi through to M is for Malice)? – Alex
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