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K is for Killer (Kinsey Millhone #11)

3.91 of 5 stars 3.91 · rating details · 16,362 ratings · 225 reviews

When Kinsey Millhone answers her office door late one night, she lets in more darkness than she realizes. Janice Kepler is a grieving mother who can't let the death of her beautiful daughter Lorna alone. The police agree that Lorna was murdered, but a suspect was never apprehended and the trail is now ten months cold. Kinsey pieces together Lorna's young life: a dull day j...more

Paperback, 292 pages

Published June 23rd 1997 by Ballantine Books (first published 1994)

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Nov 18, 2008 Jennifer rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2001, mystery, sue-grafton

The 11th book with Kinsey Millhone. This one has a lot of classic crime detective elements to it.

A mother comes to Kinsey's office and begs her to take the case of her dead daughter. Dead daughter had a secret life where she was a prostitute. Kinsey has to submerge herself in the night life of said prostitute in order to find out what happened.

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Apr 27, 2013 Pat rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: adult, mystery, series, series-r-us, suspense-thriller

Janice Keppler can't believe her daughter Lorna met such an end and can't rest without getting to the bottom of what caused Lorna's death. Kinsey's heart goes out to Janice and soon she is off to end one mothers suffering. The series itself is rather by the numbers with no real surprises to the format. This entry however starts with a film noirish quality in how the case comes to Kinsey. It seems as if this is going to be a great twisty read but it seems there is where we parted ways and it actu...more

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Mar 02, 2012 Jenn rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, gift, mystery, novel, read-2012

Maybe it's pointless to jump into reviewing this series midway through, but K is the first book in Grafton's alphabet so far that's seemed much different than the others. I've thoroughly enjoyed the highly devourable mysteries A-I; J is for Judgment left a sour taste in my mouth only insomuch as it trespassed into non-mystery territory at the end, when (spoiler!) protagonist detective Kinsey Millhone discovers, basically out of nowhere, that she has family living not too far away. Her reaction t...more Maybe it's pointless to jump into reviewing this series midway through, but K is the first book in Grafton's alphabet so far that's seemed much different than the others. I've thoroughly enjoyed the highly devourable mysteries A-I; J is for Judgment left a sour taste in my mouth only insomuch as it trespassed into non-mystery territory at the end, when (spoiler!) protagonist detective Kinsey Millhone discovers, basically out of nowhere, that she has family living not too far away. Her reaction to finding this out is pretty childish and initially in-character, but the open hostility and sustained unreasonableness of the character in the last 40 or 50 pages of the book made me hope for redemption -- or at least further development -- in K.

K seems promising in its plot, at first. A bright but stand-offish young woman, Lorna Kepler, is found dead in her tiny cottage. Ten months later, her distraught mother asks Kinsey to look into her death -- in part because someone has just mailed Mom a videotape in which the bright, favored daughter appears in a porn film.

The book slowly sinks, though, into tropes and bizarre complications. Lorna's lifestyle -- it turns out she worked part-time for the city's water treatment plant and part-time as a high-dollar sex worker -- is criticized soundly by nearly every character in the book, save one, her best friend (and fellow hooker), Danielle. Thus the book quickly divides into two groups: the fat, jealous women who speak about Lorna's life with disgust, and the thin pretty friend who's a hooker. Oh, and the men, all of whom seem to have wanted her. Kinsey's search for a possible killer leads her to San Francisco to check up on the porn film director and fellow actor. (The actor is one of the only friendly characters in the book, in part because he's one of the only surprising characters). There's really no point to this trip beyond, I can only guess, some kind of editorial advice that "maybe throw in some sex" was handed over.

The only fun in the book comes from some banter between Kinsey and a new-to-readers male cop, Cheney Phillips, who spends the first half of the book being strangely seductive and professional. At about the 3/4 mark on the book, he becomes a jerk (and magically gains a girlfriend), in order to slow the progression of the mystery and to force Kinsey into a moral dilemma.

By the end, three more people have died. All three die after Kinsey has received the clue that reveals who Lorna's real killer is; none of the three is confirmed to have been killed by the same person. In fact, the book varies completely from form at the end: not only are crimes left unsolved, but Kinsey doesn't even mention her final accounting with the family of the deceased (one of whom is implicated in an illegal act not long before the resolution). The epilogue deals with the (absent) consequences for the questionable moral decision Kinsey's made. I'd like to hope that might be dealt with in L, but this book leaves me no hope.

Why? Because J's issues didn't make the cut here. Though the family drama is mentioned, it's only mentioned once, in dialogue. Unfortunately, there does seem to be some form of bitter hangover happening for either the character or the author. The childish, bitter, unreasonable Kinsey of the J finale shows up from the beginning of K. Where the descriptions in earlier books have often found clever ways to categorize new acquaintances, this book seems rife with uncreative and insulting descriptions. An initial meeting with the sister of the deceased leads Kinsey to cunningly observe that, "From the size of her butt, she'd eaten many boxed cakes." That's neither creative nor funny. It's just mean. Her observations of nearly every other woman in the book are similarly critical and hateful. The men, on the other hand, come off nicely -- they're mostly broad-shouldered, sturdily dressed, friendly in their smiles, light in their eyes. (One exception: a stereotypical pimp, whose physical dimensions are basically repeated in a stereotypical john later on). Add to this the fact that the author, for some reason, spends time not only reminding the reader of how many calories Kinsey's daily run burns but also finding the only good quality in any of the women seen to be the bare, flat midriffs of Danielle and an actress named Cherie, and you end up with a book that feels like it's simmering with the repressed bitchy hunger of a character (or writer?) who really, really needs a piece of cake and a day out with some decent girlfriends.

So, even though I received H-M for Valentine's Day, it may be a while before I can lift L is for Lawless.(less)

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Feb 17, 2012 Susan rated it 5 of 5 stars

Once again, I find myself rating Grafton’s books higher when I’m able to continue reading without big breaks for something else on my never-ending to-do list. Really think this probably has more to do with me than with Grafton’s prose, her plot lines or Kinsey herself. However, several critics said “K” is Grafton’s best alphabet mystery yet (The Wall Street Journal, People, Entertainment Weekly.

It’s February 1985 and Kinsey is back working for a personal client. This time it’s a mom who just can...more

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Feb 27, 2013 Francie rated it 4 of 5 stars

I've been slowly making my way through Sue Grafton's alphabet mysteries, which I initially read as I cared for my infant daughter through middle of the night feedings almost three decades ago. Since I don't remember anything other than how much I enjoyed Kinsey Millhone, I've returned to this series to reacquaint myself with the delightful and determined PI and follow her through to the end of the alphabet. "K is for Killer" is a deeper, darker book than its predecessors. As Kinsey wrestles with...more

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Dec 03, 2010 Rosabelle Purnama rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: books-i-borrow, mystery-thriller

This is my first Sue Grafton book that I read. Her book starts with the alphabet A, but I wasn't able to get my hands on the first book, so I started with this one, to get a feel of whether I like her books or not.

The story is about a private detective, Kinsey Milhone. In this book, Kinsey was approached by a mother whose daughter was found dead and would like to hire a private investigator to find her daughter's murderer.

The book started out okay. I quite enjoy it actually. It's kind of diffe...more

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Nov 21, 2012 Karen rated it 3 of 5 stars

Good but not as good as some of the others.

Kinsey is hired to investigate the possible murder of the prostitute who died 10 months ago. Kinsey enters the seedy dark side of her home town and she is able to find the evidence she needs to solve the long cold case.

I am reading the series in order. I recommend the series; I recommend you read them in order, not because the story line depends on the previous books but that the main character changes. Kinsey is much more likable now than she is in the...more

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Mar 04, 2013 Kelly rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery-thriller

This is the best book yet in the alphabet series. I've been reading them in order and honestly close to giving up on the series after I and J.

Kinsey Millhone, who is normally an early-rising, 3 mile jogging, hamburger-eating private eye switches to join the nightlife. And maybe that's why I liked this book -- I can surely relate to that more. Every time I read about Kinsey jogging 3 miles, I feel guilty because I don't jog 3 miles. Yeah, I compare myself to a fictional detective. Kinsey was mor...more

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Dec 13, 2011 Dolly rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Mystery fans

Shelves: 2011, mystery, other-usa, money

I've read many of Sue Grafton's Kinsey Millhone series and since her latest edition, V is for Vengeance is just being released, I figured I'd go ahead and read the few volumes I have yet to read. I suppose that it's bad that I've read the series completely out of order, but for some reason, it hasn't dampened my enjoyment of the stories.

This was an engaging story and a fast read. There were a lot of characters and the connections between them started to confuse me toward the end, but overall, it...more

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Feb 06, 2013 Kaykay Obi rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is my first Sue Grafton read, an interesting one. I liked the story, however, I wasn’t much drawn into the book. Somehow it lacked the kind of suspense I expected from a detective book. The pacing wasn’t too fast; it felt more like the recounting of an event, like reading a diary rather than a story. If anything disappointed me in the book, it was the end. Maybe I expected too much, maybe I expected action, but I wasn’t satisfied by the end. Questions were left unanswered. Like the reason f...more

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May 22, 2012 Mike Mcnamara rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: alphabet-mysteries

I'm addicted to these books lately, having read a couple when I worked as a summer librarian years ago and picked up E is for Evidence at a used book sale a few years back, and starting again at G once I got my Kindle. Though they're "easy readers" and I've been mainly reading them as my "airplane"/"relaxation" fiction , there's something about Grafton's style that puts her more than a cut above other popular genre authors. I can't quite nail what it is, but if I could, maybe I'd be the successf...more I'm addicted to these books lately, having read a couple when I worked as a summer librarian years ago and picked up E is for Evidence at a used book sale a few years back, and starting again at G once I got my Kindle. Though they're "easy readers" and I've been mainly reading them as my "airplane"/"relaxation" fiction , there's something about Grafton's style that puts her more than a cut above other popular genre authors. I can't quite nail what it is, but if I could, maybe I'd be the successful published authors.

Because of this addiction, you should consider this graded on a curve -- almost all of them start out with a 3 to begin with and if I enjoy them without major complaints, they go to 5. And like Roger Ebert and other critics I enjoy, I tend to rate books within their own type.

Short, summary review, no spoiler take:
Though formulaic, all of Grafton's Alphabet Mysteries have a hook. In this one, 6 AM jogger Kinsey becomes a night owl while solving the cold case of possibly murdered wild girl Lorna Kepler. Night time Kinsey is a bit darker than her daytime version, in a way that doesn't really become noticeable until the end. Though there have been complaints that it seems rushed or somehow unexplained, the ending worked very well for me - especially given the 1st person (possibly even slightly unreliable) narrator all the Kinsey Millhone novels have.

Major Spoilers Below - there's no point in reading the book if you read beyond this point:
(view spoiler)[
Despite them being formulaic, each of the Kinsey Millhone stories so far is unique. What makes this one special is that it strips much of the formula away. Kinsey is tasked with solving the cold case murder of Lorna Kepler, a murdered wild child who was working as a high class escort and one time porn actress for her grieving mother (after she receives the unreleased tape in the mail anonymously from her not-so-grieving other daughters); the police aren't sure it was even a homicide and their investigations turned up nothing (thanks, in so small part, because Lorna's body sat decomposing in her cabin for weeks before she was discovered) , the mom's in denial, the father indifferent, at best, hostile at worst, to re-opening the case, and the sisters, as mentioned, are jealous that the victim is still Mom's favorite from the grave. The $200,000 in Lorna's account seems like a good motive, but the family, though imperfect, never seems like a real suspect (even though I've watched enough Law and Order:SVU to suspect the dad of having molested her), and the sister's biggest crimes are stealing money from their already dead sister.

But, as usual, I've gotten off track, what I was trying to say -- what makes this entry in the series special is that in order to better understand the night own tendencies of the murdered lady of the evening, Kinsey turns from being a 6:00 AM jogger to a night owl herself. The characters and situations she comes across along the way: Lorna's crippled friend - the overnight jazz DJ with the protective dog, Danielle - the teenage hooker Lorna was mentoring, the porn producer in San Francisco and her well-hung co-star who ends up being a transsexual(revealed in one of the novel's best scenes - never played for shock or laughs - which sad to say is pretty fucking impressive for a book published in 1994 -- and taking place in 1985 or so), the night nurse wife with the well connected old father who also employed Lorna as a house sitter (and discovered the body) -- each of them is well illustrated for the amount of time a book this short allows us to spend with them, especially given the fact that the story is told, like all of the Alphabet mysteries, in first person. Perhaps wisely, Grafton has removed, for the most part, all of the secondary regular characters that populate Kinsey's role: beloved landlord Henry is visiting his family in Michigan for the entirety of the novel along with his pest of a brother, who has, of late, been engaged to other regular barkeep Rosie. By keeping Kinsey isolated, she becomes even more like Lorna, and the parallels are easy to draw, without beating us over the head with it. A thread that was started in the last novel -- Kinsey having relatives she did not know existed -- is mentioned but really wouldn't have had a place in this story, so Grafton wisely didn't try to shoehorn them in.
This change in tone and character which is created from Kinsey's change in lifestyle is most shocking at the end, when Kinsey, in a somewhat-but-not-entirely out-of-character action, takes an action which seems to lead the death of the murderer -- Lorna's employer at her day job at the water treatment plant, Roger Bonney, who has stumbled across blackmail material -- his former father-in-law, a higher-up on the water reclamation board, was one of Lorna's clients, and Roger hoped to use it to get the old man to change his vote on a development deal which would make him and another man some money. When the blackmailing wouldn't work, he and his partner thought to electrocute the old man (which they ended up doing) but had to kill Lorna to secure her silence. Kinsey's evidence is all circumstantial, but after the death of Danielle (also at Roger's hands), frustrated and angry, she lets the Mafia-type (a mobster who was scheduled to marry Lorna the day of her death), who has asked Kinsey to keep him appraised of her findings, know of Roger's guilt, which causes him to "disappear." This happens rushed at the end, and while I understand while others might not like it, it seems realistic (enough) given that Kinsey is telling the story and isn't going to dwell on her own guilt -- though it does put the beginning of the story -- in which she talks about legal definitions of homicide - in a new light.

All and all, I enjoyed the tale and the solution. The tie in to the water reclamation project seemed... not obvious, but something that would be explored when it came up at all (and especially when so much time was spent with it.) There should be a word for that in mysteries... almost like an anti-McGuffin. On the flipside, I was very impressed the description of the man who was tailing Kinsey for Lorna's mafia fiancee -- as, like many such clues in Grafton's books, it slides in in a way so that it doesn't seem too important, but you still remember it when its true importance is revealed.

So I give this one 5 stars when reviewing -- though like I said before -- all of these series so far probably start out with 3 to begin with, so consider it a graded curve. (hide spoiler)](less)

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Sep 18, 2011 Marilyn rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"When Kinsey Millhone answers her office door late one night, she lets in more darkness than she realizes. Janice Kepler is a grieving mother who can't let the death of her beautiful daughter Lorna alone. The police agree that Lorna was murdered but a suspect was never apprehended; the trail is now ten months cold. Kinsey pices together Lorna's young life: a dull day job at a local water treatment plant spiced by sidelines in prostitution and pornography. She tangles with Lorna's friends: a loca...more

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Dec 16, 2011 B-zee rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

Kisah detektif yang menarik, diambil dari sudut pandang detektif swasta wanita. Se'cuek' apapun, wanita tetaplah wanita, yang membuat buku ini agak sedikit sentimental. Penggambaran emosi dan detailnya cukup bagus dan menarik.

Ini buku kedua dari serial Kinsey Milhone yang saya baca, yang pertama sudah dalam bentuk terjemahan, jadi 'sense'nya agak berbeda. Bahasanya tidak terlalu rumit, beberapa kata-kata 'asing' yang tidak biasa bisa dicari. Alurnya sederhana, pola pikirnya jelas, dan gambaran v...more

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Feb 03, 2011 Angela rated it 4 of 5 stars

Janice Kepler has been grieving the loss of her youngest daughter for a while when she decides to hire Kinsey to look into Laura's death. A tape sent to Janice reveals an underside of Laura's life, one which Janice is unwilling to accept. From Laura's father, to her sisters, to her landlord and friends, there are many different stories and theories. It's up to Kinsey to find out what really happened. In the process, she travels to San Francisco, befriends unlikely people, and sees another side o...more

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Apr 16, 2013 Beth Peninger rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book, continuing private investigator Kinsey Millhone's cases, was actually better than the last couple I have read. I actually liked this one and whether that is due to the dull non-fiction I was also reading or not I have no idea. But I did like this particular book.
Kinsey's on a case that is 10 months cold but intriguing to her. And of course Kinsey will be able to do what the police couldn't - solve it. Lorna, a mid-20's woman, lived a double life and ended up face down in her remote c...more

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May 02, 2013 Randee rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: whodunits

Another home run for Sue Grafton. I loved this book but I almost hate to gush over it because that feels like it would go against the atmosphere of the book.

Kinsey has been asked to by a mother to investigate the death of her daughter on which the police have not been able to make much headway. From there Kinsey gets sucked into the life of the night people in Santa Teresa. She meets hookers, night djs, nurses that work the night shift and waitresses that work at night. Her own life gets turned...more

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Mar 10, 2013 JOE rated it 5 of 5 stars

• K is for Killer • 1994 • 11th in series • Winter:`2/?? • PLOT: Lorna Kepler beautiful & willful ... a loner who never resists flirting w/ danger … it killed her. Her death raised tough questions ... cops suspect homicide, find neither motive nor suspect ... even means were mysterious: Lorna's body so badly decomposed when discovered not certain ... maybe died of natural causes … case shifts to back burner, goes unsolved … but, Lorna's mom kept it alive, consumed by certainty somebody got a...more

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Feb 12, 2013 Melissa rated it 3 of 5 stars

A mother wants Kinsey to investigate the death of her adult daughter, which happened nine months earlier. The farther Kinsey delves into the investigation the darker the details become. She finds out the murdered girl has a sordid past and as always, things are not as simple as they seem.

Kinsey is in a bit of a funk in this book. She is sleeping during the day, working all night. Henry, her landlord and friend, is out of town and Kinsey can’t seem to shake her blues.

BOTTOM LINE: A good additio...more

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Dec 31, 2008 Antof9 rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2006-read, mysterious, forgettable

Lame review from BookCrossing: (Feb 2006)finished tonight. journal later.

Update 3/13: In keeping with BlueAmazon's theory of the letter in the title matching the main character, this one is about Lorna Kepler.

Sadly, in the scheme of the whole alphabet, I wasn't that excited about this one. The surviving family members annoyed me and did nothing to generate sympathy. I didn't like the limousine thing, and it just all seemed a little far-fetched.

My favorite character? Danielle the hooker. I was al...more

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Jan 28, 2013 Tanisha Peck rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery

K of for Killer kept my interest, but wasn't what I've come to expect. I didn't feel any sort of excitement. It was very steady throughout, but I wanted a "wow" factor. This one will go in my good category for this series, right in the middle. Not bad, but not my favorite.

Pros: I really liked the characters, especially Danielle. Kinsey finally got a decent haircut. The murderer wasn't even on my suspect list, so was a surprise. I thought either J.D. or Berlyn did it.

Cons: Grafton killed off Dani...more

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Nov 13, 2012 Debra Kaitschuck rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jun 04, 2011 Anne Toronto1 rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: suspense

(one review for series) ***** for the first book because I like the series enough to last till about R, now want more to find new authors, and finish another year. The rest get 3-4* because I cannot remember my favorites. I like strong, brave females who make choices and deal with consequences successfully. I like mysteries. I like funny eccentric, her odd sandwich and cute old landlord choices. Southern California feels warm and dry on a long cold Canadian winter. She always seems to go alone i...more

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Mar 07, 2010 Patty rated it 5 of 5 stars

These "alphabet novels" are nothing short of perfect mystery. Grafton's cleverly crafted characters will stay with you long after you are finished reading the books. Kinsey Milhone, her landord/best friend, Henry and all the others seem so much like real people it is hard to imagine a world without them. I was on the edge of my seat with all the twists and turns, never forseeing what was coming next. I felt that each novel, as Grafton advanced through the alphabet, improved in every way. I would...more

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Dec 09, 2012 Timothy McNeil rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery

Though (in 2012) I think Grafton soft pedals the pornography and prostitution, and one element of the book only makes logical sense if there is another bad guy involved, I thought K is for Killer brought back some of the strengths of Kinsey Millhone. The investigation didn't sputter and stall and leave the reader wondering how the pieces would even matter, and only three bits seemed to have been left unresolved (where was the notation of the final bill sent and the reaction of Janice to the new...more

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Sep 16, 2010 Lisa rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: audio

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Sep 10, 2012 Larry Bassett rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery

I continue on my search for feminist women crime solvers. This is my first alphabet book. It was published in 1994. If you count the letters you will find that this is book #11 in the Kinsey Millhone series. I guess the letter titles give the series visibility and therefore help sales. To me, it seems hokey like the titles with the numbers for another female detective series. But here I am reading K so hokey didn’t keep me away. I read one of the number series and swore it off. So hokey does not...more I continue on my search for feminist women crime solvers. This is my first alphabet book. It was published in 1994. If you count the letters you will find that this is book #11 in the Kinsey Millhone series. I guess the letter titles give the series visibility and therefore help sales. To me, it seems hokey like the titles with the numbers for another female detective series. But here I am reading K so hokey didn’t keep me away. I read one of the number series and swore it off. So hokey does not guarantee loyal readership. There is much competition in the woman P.I. mystery genre.

So far I have only one feminist private eye, V.I. Warshawski. If you have a nomination, let me know. I’d be glad to try her out.

Non-sexist language is one way to identify feminism in your reading. For example, Grafton includes the phrasing “The small front counter wasn’t currently manned, but I managed to lean over, peering into the records department around the corner to the right.” It would be easy to replace the use of “manned” with "staffed." You convey the same meaning without the sexism.

In another small example of word usage, Grafton uses the word underwear. Do you call men’s underwear panties? No. So why do some people call women’s underwear panties? Sounds sexier than underwear? It’s just sexist language. Panties, begone! Good choice of words, Ms. Grafton.

This is predominantly a mystery made of dialogue rather than action. What action there is finds itself crowded into the end of the book when dead bodies multiply and there is a shocking conclusion. The remaining mystery after the last page is the purpose and identity of the “man on the bike.” I would note parenthetically that this is not a person on a bike but a man. Why am I not surprised?

I’d been waiting to see . . . the man on the bike, with his taillight and pumping feet. He was beginning to represent some capricious force at work, elfin and evil, some figment of my imagination dancing along ahead of me like the answer to a riddle. Wherever I went, he’d eventually appear, always headed somewhere in a hurry, never quite arriving at his destination.

I can only guess that this gender specific bicyclist appears in each Kinsey Millhone mystery. I can’t wait to find out if I am right. Otherwise there seems no purpose in the periodic appearance of the bicyclist. (See? You don’t have to use a s/he pronoun.)

The very best scene in the book happens when Ms. Millhone travels to San Francisco to follow a clue and meets up with a fascinating transvestite. She watches him literally change from his female to his male persona. It seemed so out of character for the book, but maybe I am underrating the daring of the author. It was a pleasant surprise. To what purpose I am not sure.

My conclusion about the protagonist being a feminist? If being a strong, independent woman meets that definition, there would be no doubt that Ms. Millhone would qualify. But I think Kinsey Millhone is more like the character of a man in the body of a woman. This is not feminism. But it is not likely that creating an example of feminism was the goal of Sue Grafton. At least it seems that it must not have been. If it was, she failed to make her point clearly. Maybe Kinsey has “come a long ways, baby” in the years since 1994. I will see what happens seven years later (2001) when I read the other alphabet book I have on my shelf, P Is for Peril .

I am giving this book three stars. I will read one more eventually. If I am going to read beyond these two, I will have to find at least four stars worth of entertainment the next time.
(less)

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Mar 25, 2011 Carol rated it 4 of 5 stars

Have read the whole series up to now. My mother and I have read them together, and we both have enjoyed them very much. I really like Kinsey Millhone. I was quite a bit older when I got married for the first time, so I can appreciate her "singleness." I liked my "singleness" too. I realize that the character has been married a couple times, but she is good at picking up her pieces and moving on. I like the new characters she introduces, and I especially like Henry and Rosie. They are great.

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Apr 05, 2012 Lara Tambellini rated it 3 of 5 stars

This was a little different than the last few books. We get a glimpse of a dark side to Kinsey. It wasn't my favorite but it wasn't bad.

When Kinsey Millhone answers her office door late one night, she lets in more darkness than she realizes. Janice Kepler is a grieving mother who can't let the death of her beautiful daughter Lorna alone. The police agree that Lorna was murdered, but a suspect was never apprehended and the trail is now ten months cold. Kinsey pieces together Lorna's young life: a...more

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Nov 11, 2012 Judy rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: mystery readers

Shelves: my-2012-books, female-author

"K" was a fun mystery, maybe the only one so far that left me feeling like I needed another chapter at the end. It did not detract from the story at all, but there were so many characters, suspects, and unknowns in this book, and I wanted to see a few more pieces of info, that's all. A really good read, and Kinsey definitely got involved with some characters in this tale of the nighttime world.

**SPOILER ALERT** I had wondered whether something might happen between Kinsey and Cheney.....

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Oct 08, 2012 Michelle Brandstetter rated it 3 of 5 stars

Maybe its because I've bounced around the alphabet and may have started toward the end when Sue Grafton has honed her skills as a writer, but K is for Killer was much better than H is for Homocide, although there were a few voids where the story could use some smoothing out. Great mystery and a fair amount of twists and turns to lead you astray. There is a lot of detail for the physical scenes, but not in the transitions. Keep trying!

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About Sue Grafton

Connect with Sue herself on Facebook! www.facebook.com/suegrafton

Received the Shamus Award, "The Eye" (Lifetime achievement award) in 2003.

Family History:

Father: C.W. Grafton, born 1909, third son of Presbyterian Missionaries, born and raised in China, educated Presbyterian College, Clinton, South Carolina; practicing attorney in Louisville, Kentucky with a 40-year specialty in municipal bonds. Au...more

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Books by Sue Grafton

J is for Judgment (Kinsey Millhone, #10)

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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/380975.K_is_for_Killer?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1315138307l/380975.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/380975.K_is_for_Killer?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]K is for Killer by Sue Grafton[/url]

K is for Killer (Kinsey Millhone #11)

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