I've been devouring Sue Grafton's Kinsey Millhone "alphabet" mysteries in order since the beginning of this year, and at this point don't feel the need to recount the plots in detail when banging out these reviews, preferring instead to just check in with a quick plot description and some quick thoughts about a particular installment's quality. Why take up your time with a long review when it's the actual book you rather be reading, right?
Anyway, G Is For Gumshoe features a convoluted family drama plot, rich with gothic trappings (including a horrible storm with lots of lightning!), interlaced with a fast-moving action plot featuring a hitman out to get Kinsey in retaliation for her role in putting a creepy guy behind bars years earlier. Much of the gothic family drama features scenes (including the storm) set decades in the past, as Kinsey speculates how various dark happenings back then are now affecting her present client and her relationship with her mother. The hitman-chasing-Kinsey storyline involves many close calls, as well as an eventual romance when Kinsey and her hired bodyguard fall into each other's arms.
I found the gothic plot a little slow, but that's just me, not due to any perceived weakness in the narrative. Fans of Wuthering Heights-style intrigue will like it just fine. I was much more entertained by the hitman plotline, though some may find it slick and too action heavy. Rounding things out is the usual craziness surrounding Kinsey's cast of regulars, this time centering on Kinsey's friend Vera and a fix-up she arranges for Kinsey.
With a variety of interesting things going on in the book, this was another solid entry in a so-far very solid series. Kinsey and her adventures continue to be smart, entertaining diversions.
G Is For Gumshoe is available on Kindle for $7.99.
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