Friday, May 16

Sue Grafton: R is for Ricochet

In this instalment of the alphabet series a seemingly straight forward job of picking up a paroled woman from prison and delivering her home to her family gets complicated. The FBI ask Kinsey Millhone to convince her charge to provide the evidence they need to convict the woman’s former boss and lover of money laundering for a Colombian drug cartel.
But the pressure of the situation, coupled with the discovery that her former best friend is having an affair with the lover she did the time for in the first place, sends the woman backsliding into the world of gambling, alcohol and cons. This ethically compromises Kinsey who already has enough to worry about with the establishing of a new romantic relationship and the advanced sibling rivalry of her landlord/adopted father and his brother.
As always Grafton provides a reliable, entertaining story that doesn’t require too much effort on the part of the reader. The benefit of a series such as this is that a reader has all the comfort of revisiting well known characters in reasonably predictable circumstance without actually rereading the same story leaving space for the occasional surprise.
The unexpected development of this book was the reintroduction of a peripheral character as a love interest for Kinsey. It was nice to see a lighter, flirtier side of the character and I find myself hoping that the relationship works out for them in future stories.
I knew exactly what to expect from this book and I got it. Perfect for times when the reliable and familiar are craved.-Lynn

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