O is for Outlaw: 15 (Kinsey Millhone Alphabet Mysteries) - Hardcover

Grafton, Sue

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0805059555 ISBN 13: 9780805059557

Publisher: Henry Holt & Company, 1999

Synopsis

"Grafton keeps pulling out surprises- and pulling us in." --Entertainment Weekly on "O" is for Outlaw

Through fourteen books, fans have been fed short rations when it comes to Kinsey Millhone's past: a morsel here, a dollop there. We know of the aunt who raised her, the second husband who left her, the long-lost family up the California coast. But husband number one remained a blip on the screen until now.

The call comes on a Monday morning from a guy who scavenges defaulted storage units at auction. Last week he bought a stack. They had stuff in them--Kinsey stuff. For thirty bucks, he'll sell her the lot. Kinsey's never been one for personal possessions, but curiosity wins out and she hands over a twenty (she may be curious but she loves a bargain). What she finds amid childhood memorabilia is an old undelivered letter.

It will force her to reexamine her beliefs about the breakup of that first marriage, about the honor of that first husband, about an old unsolved murder. It will put her life in the gravest peril."O" Is for Outlaw: Kinsey's fifteenth adventure into the dark side of human nature.

"A" Is for Alibi
"B" Is for Burglar
"C" Is for Corpse
"D" Is for Deadbeat
"E" Is for Evidence
"F" Is for Fugitive
"G" Is for Gumshoe
"H" Is for Homicide
"I" Is for Innocent
"J" Is for Judgment
"K" Is for Killer
"L" is for Lawless
"M" Is for Malice
"N" Is for Noose
"O" Is for Outlaw
"P" Is for Peril
"Q" Is for Quarry
"R" Is for Ricochet
"S" Is for Silence
"T" Is for Trespass
"U" Is for Undertow
"V" Is for Vengeance
"W" Is for Wasted
"X"

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 an 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." This review refers to the hardcover edition of this title.

--Rebekah Warren

Review

"Grafton keeps pulling out surprises- and pulling us in." --Entertainment Weekly

About this edition

• Publisher: Henry Holt & Company
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0805059555
• ISBN 13: 9780805059557
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 336