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"E" is for Evidence (The Kinsey Millhone Alphabet Mysteries)
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Product Description
It all begins with a $5,000 deposit made into Kinsey’s bank account. Problem is she’s not the one who deposited the money. But when she’s accused of being on the take in an industrial arson case, Kinsey realizes someone is framing her…
Now Kinsey’s working for herself. But with new evidence—and corpses—surfacing around her, she’s going to have to act quickly to clear her name before she loses her career, her reputation—and quite possibly her life…
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #56913 in Books
- Published on: 2005-11-29
- Released on: 2005-11-29
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Binding: Mass Market Paperback
- 320 pages
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
While private detective and former cop Kinsey Millhone ("D" Is for Deadbeat) is investigating a possible case of industrial arson involving a company owned by the family of a former schoolmate, someone tries to make it look as if she's on the take. A mysterious $5000 appears in her bank account. She sets out to clear herself, while two or possibly more cases of murder occur, including one by bombing. A Christmas spent alone and the reappearance of her second ex-husband, Daniel, who had deserted her, add to Kinsey's depression. Grafton has an accurate, wicked eye for California lifestyle and wise-cracking Kinsey is an appealing, nonhackneyed female detective. Particularly illuminating are the descriptions of document searches, which make up much of real detective work today. This fifth entry in the series, however, is not quite up to the standards of its predecessors because the motivation for the crimes seems weak. That caveat notwithstanding, readers will be glad that further letters of the alphabet await Grafton's imagination.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review
—San Francisco Chronicle
“Millhone is an engaging detective-for-hire…P.I. Kinsey Millhone and her creator…are arguably the best of [the] distaff invaders of the hitherto sacrosanct turf of gumshoes.”
—The Buffalo News
“Once a fan reads one of Grafton’s alphabetically titled detective novels, he or she will not rest until all the others are found.”—Los Angeles Herald Examiner
“Millhone is a refreshingly strong and resourceful female private eye.”—Library Journal
“Tough but compassionate…There is no one better than Kinsey Millhone.”—Best Sellers
“A woman we feel we know, a tough cookie with a soft center, a gregarious loner.”—Newsweek
“Lord, how I like this Kinsey Millhone…The best detective fiction I have read in years.”—The New York Times Book Review
“Smart, tough, and thorough…Kinsey Millhone is a pleasure.”—The Bloomsbury Review
“Kinsey is one of the most persuasive of the new female operatives…She’s refreshingly free of gender clichés. Grafton, who is a very witty writer, has also given her sleuth a nice sense of humor—and a set of Wonder Woman sheets to prove it.”—Boston Herald
“What grandpa used to call a class act.”—Stanley Ellin
“Smart, sexual, likable and a very modern operator.”—Dorothy Salisbury Davis
“Kinsey’s got brains and a sense of humor.”—Kirkus Reviews
From the Publisher
"Lord, how I like this Kinsey Millhone... The best detective fiction I have read in years." -- Vince Patrick, The New York Times Book Review.
"Exceptionally entertaining... An offbeat sense of humor and a feisty sense of justice."--San Francisco Chronicle.
A New York Times Notable Book of the Year.
Customer Reviews
The Creme' de la Creme' of Grafton's libretto!
As a Kinsey Millhone fan, I must say that the "E" installment of the series, is the richest and most suspenseful, (with "K" is for Killer, being right behind it). The book begins almost slowly, but picks up at a frightening (literally) pace. The middle of this novel is one of the most surprising I have found in a Grafton novel to date. We are allowed to glimpse into Kinsey's past marraige to Daniel and find the reason out behind his abandonment of her. I read through these books the day i receive them. All I can say, is that when Grafton hits Z, She had better pick up with 1, 2, 3 etc. because we all would miss Kinsey too much!! Bravo!
Classic mystery of twists and turns to keep you guessing
I didn't read Kinsey Milhone in order of the alphabet - I started at about M and went backwards and forwards as I bought the books. I have been gradually piecing her life together as I go and E is for Evidence was the last one I've turned up (P isn't due out for another couple of weeks) and my goodness this is good - I think it must go to the top of the pile as the best of her books so far. The mystery is complex, Kinsey's personal life so intertwined with the mystery that it is hard to pick your way between the two, and it is written in classic Grafton style without pathos and self-pity.
After having finished I was thinking over the themes which underlie this book, Kinsey's aloneness, her fear of betrayal, her past betrayals and lack of family - they are all cast into stark reality with the coming of Christmas and New Year - a time when family is the most important. Yet the telling of the story left me without feeling sorry for Kinsey (I tend to be the sort of person who cries at television ads) because Grafton produces such a strong, sympathetic and real character in Kinsey. It is hard to feel sorry for her as she rejects sympathy - even from her readers. I think it shows Grafton's incredible skill as a writer.
As a story this book just knocked my socks off - it has layers like you wouldn't believe, and kept me guessing until almost the very last page as to what was going on and what was going to happen. Kinsey Millhone is given a file to check out an insurance claim on what seems to be a straightforward fire at a company Wood/Warren. The Wood family are old friends of Kinsey's from way back and all seems in order when she checks things out. Unfortunately she has been set up - the fire was arson, a factor which doesn't come to light until after she has investigated the fire - papers were left out of the original claim file which would have pointed in that direction. Now she is on suspension and being investigated herself for corruption. All around she is looking for answers and people aren't telling her the truth. She is forced to ask favours from people she has never much liked - and it isn't helped that her beautiful and dissolute ex-husband Daniel has turned up on her doorstep to complicate things. All this is set against the worst possible Christmas and New Year on record.
An excellent read for any fan of female hard-boiled PIs.
"E is for Evidence" is a good example of the fine writing Sue Grafton has been doing since her Kinsey Millhone series debuted in 1982. Any fan of Sara Paretsky's V.I. Warshawski, Karen Kijewski's Kat Colorado, Marcia Muller's Sharon McCone, or Virginia Lanier's Bloodhound series will definitely enjoy this wonderful series. The main character is Kinsey Millhone, a private investigator, twice-divorced, 32 years old, former cop, who resides in Santa Teresa, CA (thinly veiled Santa Barbara). She is an independent woman with Wonder Woman sheets.
In "E is for Evidence," Kinsey Millhone faces one of her toughest cases yet. She is being framed for insurance fraud and arson at a time when her support network is unavailable due to the Christmas holidays. On her own, she must discover who is behind the frame-up and clear her name. She discovers that this tangled web has roots that go back more than twenty years. A run-in with former husband Daniel Wade only complicates the situation. The shocking ending will leave the reader hungry for more.
A must read for any mystery fan!
