It continues to be fun catching up with the early entries in Sue Grafton's "Alphabet" mystery series. E Is For Evidence is no exception. Stick around past the initial phases of a seemingly routine insurance investigation, which private investigator and series protagonist Kinsey Millhone occasionally performs in return for office space for her P.I. business, and things soon get cracking.
Before you can shake a stick, someone is framing Kinsey for insurance fraud, making it look like she took a bribe to cover up an arson finding in the days following a big warehouse fire. The guy who allegedly gave the bribe to Kinsey also says he's innocent, and hires Kinsey to find out who engineered the dual frame and why. Don't worry, it's all pretty easy to follow, though there are the usual array of crazy family members, and other eccentric types, who Kinsey has to travel between to get some answers.
Adding edge and drama to this particular series entry are a couple of big surprises, one involving the near death of Kinsey in a quite bombastic manner in the story's earlier going (I'll say no more) and the other concerning someone from Kinsey's past who 1) appears out of nowhere on her doorstep and 2) eventually presents (involuntarily, via Kinsey's snooping) some surprising and previously unknown sides of his personality to the amazed Ms. Millhone.
All that turns a pretty good mystery to begin with into one that has particular resonance when all is said and done. In E Is For Evidence, Kinsey takes some sizable physical and emotional lumps in her quest for the truth, lumps that will likely affect her down the road despite the strong front she puts up during the course of the story.
E Is For Evidence is available on Kindle for $7.99.
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