Product Description

It is now nine weeks since Dr Dowan Purcell vanished without trace. The sixty-nine-year-old doctor had said goodnight to his colleagues at the Pacific Meadows nursing home, had climbed into his car and driven away - never to be seen again. His embittered first wife Fiona is convinced he is still alive. His second wife, Crystal - a former stripper forty years his junior - is just as sure he is dead. Enter private investigator Kinsey Malone, hired by Fiona to find out just what has happened to the man they loved. Enter also Tommy Hevener, an attractive flame-haired twenty-something who has set his romantic sights on Kinsey. And Tommy is a man with a very interesting past ...'Grafton is a delight to read, her books being highly literatre, with believable plots and three-dimensionally drawn characters' - "Irish Times".

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #704386 in Books
• Published on: 2001-06-01
• Format: Bargain Price
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 352 pages

Amazon.com Review
When Dowan Purcell, a respected physician who operates a nursing home, disappears, his ex-wife hires Santa Teresa PI Kinsey Millhone to look into it. Fiona Purcell is still seething over Dow's affair and subsequent marriage to Crystal, a former stripper, yet they're still friends, and she seems worried. But when his body is discovered, she's among the suspects. Both of Dow's wives, at least one of his business partners, and perhaps even Crystal's teenage daughter had motives to kill.

While in her most recent adventures (N Is for Noose, O Is for Outlaw) Kinsey has acquired new digs, an extended family, and a few more gray hairs, in this one (which takes place some time in the mid-'80s), she's 36, still living in the remodeled garage that was blown up in an earlier novel. Easier than a facelift, and while Sue Grafton is a solid enough writer to pull it off, dedicated Kinsey fans will miss the more complex and multidimensional character who aged so ruefully and interestingly in the '90s. This isn't Grafton's strongest case; it's hard to care about any of Purcell's women or his associates. More exciting is the secondary plot, which involves a handsome landlord who offers Kinsey the new office space she's been seeking and turns out to be a lot more trouble than she bargained for. Despite its somewhat plodding pace and the echo of a more evolved heroine that rings through its pages, Grafton's many fans will probably shoot P Is for Peril right to the top of the bestseller list. --Jane Adams

From Publishers Weekly
PI Kinsey Millhone's trademark dry sense of humor is largely absent in the first half of the 15th book in this justifiably popular series, though it resurfaces as the suspense finally begins to build in the second half. In the bleak November of 1986, Kinsey looks into the disappearance of Dr. Dowan Purcell, who's been missing for nine weeks. Dr. Purcell is an elderly physician who runs a nursing home that's being investigated for Medicare fraud. His ex-wife, Fiona, hires Kinsey when it seems as though the police have given up on the search. Fiona thinks that he could be simply hiding out somewhere, especially since he's pulled a disappearance stunt twice before. However, Purcell's current wife, Crystal, believes that he may be dead. Kinsey is dubious about finding any new leads after so much time has elapsed. She's also worried about having to move out of the office space she now occupies in the suite owned by her lawyer, and between her interviews with suspects she tries to rent a new office from a pair of brothers whose mysterious background begins to make her suspicious. Grafton's Santa Teresa seems more like Ross Macdonald's town of the same name than ever before, with dysfunctional families everywhere jostling for the private eye's attention. The novel has a hard-edged, wintry ambience, echoed in Fiona Purcell's obsession with angular art deco furniture and architecture. Unfortunately, Grafton's evocation of the noir crime novels and styles of the 1940s, although atmospheric, doesn't make up for a lack of suspense and lackluster characters. (June 4)Forecast: With a 600,000-copy first printing and a national author tour, this Literary Guild Main Selection is sure to shoot well up the bestseller lists.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
In her 15th alphabetical mystery, Grafton deserves an A for maintaining her series's high standard of excellence. This time private investigator Kinsey Milhone is hired by Dr. Fiona Purcell to find her ex-husband, Dowan, a prominent physician who vanished with his passport and $30,000 in cash nine weeks earlier. Wondering what she can do that the Santa Rosa police haven't done already, Kinsey takes the case and quickly discovers that the nursing home Purcell administered is being investigated for Medicare fraud. Was Purcell involved or did the facility's owners have something to do with his disappearance? And what about his second wife, ex-stripper Crystal, who Fiona believes is having an affair with her personal trainer? At the same time, Kinsey's losing streak with men continues as she is pursued romantically by her new office landlord's brother. Unfortunately for Kinsey, her new Mr. Right and his sibling are suspects in the murder of their parents. As usual, Grafton mixes an intriguing plot, well-developed characters, and humor into an entertaining summer read.
- Wilda Williams, "Library Journal"
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Did Kinsey get lost somewhere?
I am an avid Kinsey Millhone fan, and was anxious to get my hands on this lastest installment to the series. However, I found this one very disappointing. The plot was an overly used one with characters that weren't developed or explained thoroughly enough. Throughout the book, I kept waiting to find out why things that had been emphasized were key to the story, but it just never happened.

I thought the subplot with the two brothers had much more potential. Developing that storyline would have been far more interesting.

The old Kinsey just didn't quite come through here. She didn't have that edge that makes her so interesting. I've always enjoyed the way she thinks and operates. This seemed to be just a shadow of her former self.

I was willing to forgive all of this just because I do adore the series, but I was left cold with the ending. Grafton has always been a master at pulling it together in a way that even if she hadn't thoroughly spelled out the way things were, there wasn't any confusion as to what happened. That was not the case here. I read the last 25 pages twice to see if I missed something, but I have more questions than is comfortable for a mystery novel. There was just too much left unsaid and unexplained which I found extremely frustrating.

By far, my least favorite.

Where's the Epilogue?
I've read every one of Sue Grafton's alphabet series. P is for Peril is up to her standards in every way but one - the ending. Each book in the series ends with an epilogue that wraps up the loose ends - each book but this one. When I finished, I looked for the epilogue to clarify the central question: Who did it and why? I then re-read parts of the story looking for additional clues. The problem is, I can come up with a number of different answers to the central question. Did Ms. Grafton want to keep us guessing? Am I missing something? What's up?

P is also for Pair
If P is for Peril, it is also for pair - a pair of wives (current and past), a brotherly duo, several pairs of friends, a pair of daughters, a pair of policemen, a pair of business partners, and a pair of plots (as well as a pair of Saucony trainers). The eternally 30ish Kinsey zips along in her VW in a rainy and cold California November, searching for a missing husband as well as a new office space. While attempting to untangle a myriad of complications, Kinsey finds herself personally indulging in peril. Grafton's writing had me smiling once again - I just ADORE Kinsey and her smart mouth and some of her more anti-social ways. And I covet that tidy apartment, her neighbor Henry and the black dress - but I might skip dinner at Rosie's. Grafton delivers a wonderful flash-back Kinsey tale, a convoluted crime, numerous surprisingly despicable characters, and a taste of California that isn't all sunshine and surf. Set in the 80s, this latest story also illustrates just how much computers and cell phones have changed our lives.