U Is for Undertow (Kinsey Millhone Mystery) - Hardcover

Grafton, Sue

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 039915597X ISBN 13: 9780399155970

Publisher: Marian Wood, 2009

Synopsis

Sue Grafton takes the mystery genre to new heights with this twisting, complex #1 New York Times bestseller that draws private investigator Kinsey Millhone into a case shrouded in the sins of the past.

Looking solemn, Michael Sutton arrives in Kinsey Millhone's office with a story to tell. When he was six, he says, he wandered into the woods and saw two men digging a hole. They claimed they were pirates, looking for buried treasure. Now, all these years later, the long-forgotten events have come back to him--and he has pieced them together with news reports from the time, becoming convinced that he witnesses the burial of a kidnapped child.

Kinsey has nearly nothing to go on. Sutton doesn't even know where he was that day--and, she soon discovers, he has a history of what might generously be called an active imagination. Despite her doubts, Kinsey sets out to track down the so-called burial site. And what's found there pulls her into a hidden current of deceit stretching back more than twenty years...

About this title

Review:

"As this master of suspense continues to demonstrate in superb mystery after mystery, there are more ugly twists in the human heart than there are letters in the alphabet."
-"Entertainment Weekly"

"It's as if Grafton purposely begins with a standard situation-and then gleefully sets about breaking every cardinal rule of the mystery novel."
-"Los Angeles Times Book Review"

?As this master of suspense continues to demonstrate in superb mystery after mystery, there are more ugly twists in the human heart than there are letters in the alphabet.?
?"Entertainment Weekly"

?It's as if Grafton purposely begins with a standard situation?and then gleefully sets about breaking every cardinal rule of the mystery novel.?
?"Los Angeles Times Book Review"
"Expect to be spellbound."

"Has this reliable series lost its addictive appeal? Not at all."

"Makes me wish there were more than 26 letters at her disposal."

"Expect to be spellbound."

"Has this reliable series lost its addictive appeal? Not at all."

"Makes me wish there were more than 26 letters at her disposal."

"Expect to be spellbound."

"Has this reliable series lost its addictive appeal? Not at all."

"Makes me wish there were more than 26 letters at her disposal."

Praise for U is for Undertow

"Has this reliable series lost its addictive appeal? Not at all."--Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times Book Review

"Arresting prose...[a] brilliantly inventive novel."--Richmond Times-Dispatch

"Makes me wish there were more than twenty-six letters at her disposal."--Maureen Corrian, NPR.org

"Her most structurally complex, psychologically potent book to date."--Los Angeles Times

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

Book Description:

In 1960s Santa Teresa, California, a child is kidnapped and never returned . . . When the case is reopened after twenty years, a man - Michael Sutton - contacts private detective Kinsey Millhone for help. He claims to have recalled a strange and disturbing memory which just might provide the key to the mystery. He may have stumbled across the kidnappers burying Mary Claire Fitzhugh s body . . . But Michael s account is indistinct he was only six years old at the time of the kidnapping; and even members of his family try to discredit his evidence. But Kinsey is certain there is something vital within Michael s recollections. And even when what is eventually unearthed isn t what anyone expected, she can t quite let go of the case. As Kinsey gradually brings to light the stories of the protagonists involved in the tragedy, from Country Club parents to their free-living, hippy children, the truth finally begins to emerge. And while stepping back into the past, Kinsey discovers more about her own history too . . .

About this edition

• Publisher: Marian Wood
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 039915597X
• ISBN 13: 9780399155970
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 400