PI Kinsey Millhone 32, in a pretty California town, gets her first case. Laurence Fife was a slick divorce lawyer and slippery ladies' man until someone killed him. Released from jail after 8 years, his wife Nikki wants the truth. But the trail is cold, and at the end is a chilling twist - a second eight-year-old murder and a brand new corpse.
By reading this book, it looks like this series could be
everything that I look for in a long series.
First off, we have Kinsey Millhone as the protagonist. It is
a joy to read a book through her POV. She is a badass and she has a good sense
of humor as well. I found myself giggling a few times while reading because of
her thoughts. It gives nice comic relief to the harsh cases that she has to
investigate.
Second, we have the flow of the book. It was really easy to
get into and it flowed together nicely making for a very easy and entertaining
read. I didn’t have to strain my brain to see how the pieces of the book fit
together. It is very straight forward.
That said, it is a mystery series, so there is still some
guesswork on the part of the reader. I was trying to figure out who was guilty
the whole time I was reading. My guess would change every few chapters or so
until the reveal at the end. I can say that I guessed the twist, but I was not
confident in my guess until it was revealed and I enjoyed that it kept me
guessing.
Next, the writing style. Like I mentioned before, it is a
very easy read because it sucks you in and makes you not want to stop reading.
Grafton doesn’t spend time on useless details. She tells you what you need to
know and that’s it. I loved that. I didn’t feel that any point of this novel
dragged on longer than it needed to.
The story in ‘A’ is For Alibi was also just interesting in
general. It wasn’t one of those books where the characters were the only
aspects carrying me to finish the book. The story itself was good.
Now, this is only the first book in the series. But I cannot
wait to finish the rest of them!
5/5 Stars.
Shout out to Beth for the series rec.
Memorable Quotes:
“I had never believed she was guilty myself but I couldn’t
remember what made me so sure. She seemed passionless and I couldn’t imagine
her caring enough about anything to kill.”
“Henry trades bread and other baked goods to a nearby
restaurant for his meals and he has also, of late, become quite crafty about
clipping coupons, declaring that on a good day he can buy $50.00 worth of
groceries for $6.98. Somehow these shopping expeditions seem to net him pairs
of panty hose which he gives to me. I am halfway in love with Henry Pitts.”
