O Is for Outlaw

Grafton, Sue

ISBN 10: 0739312197 ISBN 13: 9780739312193

Publisher: Random House, 2004

Synopsis

Once Mickey Magruder was a cop with a wild streak. And Kinsey Millhone was a younger cop who adored and married him. Then Mickey was implicated in a fatal beating, and Kinsey walked out. Now, fourteen years later, she comes face-to-face with those tragic years and Mickey's harrowing downward spiral after he lost the job he loved--and the marriage he loved a little less.

Mickey lies dying in an L.A. hospital. Trying to find out how Mickey got there, Kinsey uncovers evidence that he was innocent of the beating charge. But as she searches through the lives that swirled around Mickey's--lives gone wrong and lives gone well--Kinsey must also search the blind spots of her own life, including one that hides a killer.

About this title

Review

Wise-cracking, staunchly independent and chronically curious, Grafton's gritty gumshoe, Kinsey Millhone is back. This time, the alphabet series star will take on the toughest case to date: her past. What begins as a random phone call from a "storage space scavenger" (buys the contents of defaulted storage units), leads Kinsey to a box of old papers and personal effects that her ex, Micky Magruder, left behind. Inside, she finds a 15-year-old unsent letter from a bartender that, among other things, reveals her former hubby was having affair. And she left him because he asked her to lie when he was charged with murder. Although he wasn't convicted, the letter reopens the past and the possibility of foul play--which proves to be a deadly temptation for Ms. Millhone.

Die-hard fans will especially enjoy Kinsey's self- disclosure--something she's infamous for not doing--about her childhood, the fate of her parents and the randy details of her first marriage. She also reveals a very vulnerable and interesting side to her character when her obsessive-compulsive fact-finding is mixed with matters of the heart. A fast, fun read O is for Outlaw is packed with Grafton's clear, colourful imagery and signature metaphors: "Our recollection of the past is not simply distorted by our faulty perception of events remembered, but skewed by those forgotten. The memory is like orbiting twin stars, one visible, one dark, the trajectory of what's evident forever affected by the gravity of what's concealed." --Rebekah Warren

Review

Grafton's fans will be thrilled with this knockout Kinsey Millhone mystery . . . One of the very best entries in a long-lived and much-loved series. (Publishers Weekly)

About this edition

• Publisher: Random House
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0739312197
• ISBN 13: 9780739312193
• Binding: Audio Cassette