Kinsey and Me

by Sue Grafton

Overview

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the acclaimed Alphabet series comes a collection of stories that “combines glimpses of her series detective, Kinsey Millhone, with a revealing self-portrait” (Publishers Weekly).

In 1982, Sue Grafton introduced Kinsey Millhone and created an iconic female detective. Here, in a story collection divided into two parts, Sue Grafton provides a glimpse of her own early life in the guise of the character Kit Blue, and enriches our understanding of Kinsey Millhone, one of the spunkiest, smartest, and most entertaining private investigators in all of mystery fiction.

“Terrific...The Kinsey stories and the Kit stories together open a window into Grafton's soul.”—USA Today

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780425267790
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	12/03/2013
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	196,485
Product dimensions:	4.20(w) x 7.40(h) x 0.80(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

#1 New York Times bestselling author Sue Grafton first introduced Kinsey Millhone in the Alphabet Series in 1982. Soon after, both writer and heroine became icons and international bestsellers. Ms. Grafton was a writer who consistently broke the bonds of genre while never writing the same book twice. Named a Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America, her awards and honors included the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Private Eye Writers of America, the Ross Macdonald Literary Award, the Cartier Diamond Dagger Award from Britain's Crime Writers' Association, the Lifetime Achievement Award from Malice Domestic, a Lifetime Achievement Award from Bouchercon, three Shamus Awards, and three Anthony Awards—including the first two ever awarded. She passed away in December 2017.

Hometown:

Montecito, California and Louisville, Kentucky

Date of Birth:

April 24, 1940

Place of Birth:

Louisville, Kentucky

Education:

B.A. in English, University of Louisville, 1961

Website:

http://www.suegrafton.com/

Editorial Reviews

Praise for Kinsey and Me

“Nine crisply plotted Millhone tales, each with a clever hook...[and] moving and surprising insights into the woman behind the bestsellers.”—Publishers Weekly

“Sparkling stories...brutally honest, emotionally powerful...a revelatory triumph.”—Richmond Times-Dispatch

“There are gems inside that fans of Grafton’s ‘alphabet series’ of Kinsey Millhone detective capers are sure to enjoy.”—Fort Worth Star-Telegram

More Praise for Sue Grafton and the Alphabet Series

“I’m going to miss Kinsey Millhone. Ever since the first of Sue Grafton’s Alphabet mysteries, A Is For Alibi, came out in 1982, Kinsey has been a good friend and the very model of an independent woman, a gutsy Californian P.I. rocking a traditional man’s job...it’s Kinsey herself who keeps this series so warm and welcoming. She’s smart, she’s resourceful, and she’s tough enough to be sensitive on the right occasions.”—New York Times Book Review

“The consistent quality and skillful innovations in this alphabet series justify all the praise these books have received over the past 35 years.”—Wall Street Journal

“A superb storyteller.”—Publishers Weekly

“Grafton’s endless resourcefulness in varying her pitches in this landmark series, graced by her trademark self-deprecating humor, is one of the seven wonders of the genre.”—Kirkus Reviews

“Grafton is a writer of many strengths—crisp characterizations, deft plotting, and eloquent dialogue among them—and she has kept her long-running alphabet mystery series fresh and each new release more welcome than the last.”—Louisville Courier-Journal

“[Grafton’s] ability to give equal weight to the story of the detective and the detective story sets her apart in the world of crime fiction.”—Richmond Times-Dispatch

From the Publisher

The voice of a young and frisky Kinsey rings out in the nine early stories…that make up the better part of this collection…it's a pleasure just to be in Kinsey's company as she refreshes the formula conventions with her snappy wit and candid opinions.

The New York Times Book Review - Marilyn Stasio

This short story collection from Grafton (V Is for Vengeance) combines glimpses of her series detective, Kinsey Milhone, with a revealing self-portrait, separating the two with a thoughtful essay on the evolution of the private eye. The volume opens with nine crisply plotted Milhone tales, each with a clever hook: a woman’s book club that does more than read about alibis, a twist on the classic “poison that leaves no trace.” The second, shorter section contains 13 pieces written after the death of the author’s mother. Featuring “a younger version” of Grafton called Kit Blue and a moody, atmospheric style, they searingly evoke the author’s alcoholic parents as she struggles to make peace with her troubled childhood. These provide moving and surprising insights into the woman behind the bestsellers. Though the two sections of the book feel strikingly different, fans will admire Grafton’s impressive output and feisty fictional detective all the more knowing the challenging beginnings from which both grew. Agent: Molly Friedrich, the Friedrich Agency. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

The collected short cases of Kinsey Millhone, plus a substantial bonus that wasn't included when the stories were originally published in a limited edition in 1991. The two qualities that distinguish Grafton (V is for Vengeance, 2011, etc.) from her competitors are amply on display here. Her Santa Teresa shamus is beyond question the most likable of all private eyes, and she never writes the same story twice--except when she recycles an ancient trick for telling the difference between an inveterate liar and his truth-telling brother in "The Lying Game." "Full Circle" is a routine account of how Kinsey tracked down the man who shot the driver who was cutting Kinsey off on the freeway. But "Non Sung Smoke" works surprising variations on its fatal drug scam, and "Long Gone" and "A Little Missionary Work" cap their tales of embezzlement and kidnapping with nifty final twists. "Falling Off the Roof" and "A Poison That Leaves No Trace" work impressively different changes on the clients who suspect their loved ones were murdered. The seriocomic "Between the Sheets" is a fast-paced search for the corpse that vanished from the bed of his lover's daughter. And the best of these tales, "The Parker Shotgun," combines the ingenuity of Agatha Christie and the compassion of Ross MacDonald. The bonus is a cycle of 13 slight but piercingly sensitive vignettes about Kit Blue, an autobiographical figure Grafton used to explore her conflicted feelings about her alcoholic parents in the years before Kinsey came on the scene to tilt her world toward felony and set it reassuringly in order. Though the collection is less revealing about Kinsey than her novels are, it offers a rare sustained glimpse inside Grafton--and a fine way to pass the time until W is for Whatever.

Kirkus Reviews