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P is for Peril (Kinsey Millhone #16)
by
Sue Grafton
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...more
His embittered first wife Fiona is convinced he is still alive. His second wife, Crystal - a former stripper forty years his junior - is...more
Paperback, 370 pages
Published
May 28th 2002
by Ballantine Books
(first published June 4th 2001)
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Family dynamics takes on a big role in this case when Kinsey Milhone is hired to look into the disappearance of Dowan Purcell, a doctor specializing in geriatrics. What is strange is rather than being hired by his current wife Crystal, it is his ex-wife Fiona who calls her up. Kinsey finds herself being drawn into an awkward mix of interviews with many of Dow's relatives and co-workers at the nursing home he managed. The latter is even more bizarre as it becomes clear that the institution is bei...more
P is for Peril is such an unusual book in its own series that the discussion of this novel on the Sue Grafton message board has been turned into a sticky; it is permanently affixed near the top of the topic order so it can easily be found by visitors in search of some kind of explanation.
I hadn't even noticed that the book doesn't include Grafton's now-customary epilogue, which takes the form of Kinsey Milhone typing up a quick summary of the case and ties up some of the loose ends, but I had no...more
I hadn't even noticed that the book doesn't include Grafton's now-customary epilogue, which takes the form of Kinsey Milhone typing up a quick summary of the case and ties up some of the loose ends, but I had no...more
Sue Grafton is to Patricia Cornwell as Danielle Steel is to John Updike. Both the former authors are mystery writers, but only one is truly talented. This is my first experience with Sue Grafton and it will likely be my last. Though her writing is grammatically correct and makes plenty of sense, it is dry and lifeless. The story is vaguely compelling, shot through with occasional snatches of uncouthness.
This is the sixteenth installment in Grafton’s Alphabet Series, which is set to be completed...more
This is the sixteenth installment in Grafton’s Alphabet Series, which is set to be completed...more
The good thing about Reader's Digest versions of books is that they are short. You get the essential story line, but you don't get a lot of the filler. In this case, I'm glad for it. After I read some of the reviews here on Goodreads, I had misgivings for I don't really get into books with a lot of swearing -- and that's how some of the reviewers made it sound. Not a swear word to be found in this version, so pure story. And pure lack of tension and suspense.
The bad thing about RD versions is t...more
The bad thing about RD versions is t...more
“P” was published in 2001, two years after “O” in real time but it is still 1986 in “Kinsey time.” Kinsey still relies on her portable Smith Corona typewriter to deliver her client reports, still uses her one-fact-per-notecard method of analyzing her cases, still makes $50 an hour and still has a weakness for McDonald’s QPs with cheese and fries.
When “P” opens, Kinsey is looking for new office space. She takes on a case of a doctor (Dowan Purcell) who went missing two months earlier, in Septembe...more
When “P” opens, Kinsey is looking for new office space. She takes on a case of a doctor (Dowan Purcell) who went missing two months earlier, in Septembe...more
Genre: Mystery
Blurb: (from Goodreads) 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 dau...more
Blurb: (from Goodreads) 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 dau...more
Since the beginning of the alphabet, private investigator Kinsey Millhone has shown a talent for getting a job that pays little and brings big troubles; “P is for Peril” is no exception. She accepts to trace the whereabouts of Dowan Purcell, M.D., on behalf of his ex-wife, Fiona. Dr. Purcell had disappeared from his home in Santa Teresa where he lives with his second wife, Crystal. In the middle of her lengthy investigation, Kinsey gets involved in the mishandling of funds that occurred in the n...more
P is for Peril should have been called "P is for Potty Mouth" because of all the F words in it. I am so sad about this increase in bad language in this series! I am hoping this was a particularly bad book and is not an indication of how the rest of the alphabet is going to go, but I am concerned. This is the 16th book I've read in this series and I totally love the Kinsey Millhone character. I want to finish the entire series, but I am concerned if the language is going to stay this bad. : (
Sto...more
Sto...more
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I found this to be an anomaly in the series and not a good one. It is two stories in one, the first being the case she works; an elderly man's ex-wife hires Kinsey to find out out what happened to him as he has been missing for several weeks. This investigation is rather dull with the usual dysfunctional family and the one revelation that he was involved with shenanigans at the nursing home he ran. In a completely uncharacteristic way Kinsey suddenly figures out what happened to him.
The second...more
The second...more
I'm really liking this new format. I think Grafton is doing a great job of really bringing the storyline out.
In this novel, Kinsey is hired by an ex-wife, to locate her currently missing ex-husband. One evening, he walks out of the nursing home he manages and just disappears. It's been a couple weeks and Kinsey's not certain she'll be able to do more good than the police have, but decides to take the case. The twists and turns this novel goes through are a lot of fun to follow.
Honestly? This is...more
In this novel, Kinsey is hired by an ex-wife, to locate her currently missing ex-husband. One evening, he walks out of the nursing home he manages and just disappears. It's been a couple weeks and Kinsey's not certain she'll be able to do more good than the police have, but decides to take the case. The twists and turns this novel goes through are a lot of fun to follow.
Honestly? This is...more
P is for puzzled, as I think most fans will be when they reach the end of this book. I have read and enjoyed all the alphabet books, and have really enjoyed Kinsey and her eccentric band of friends and relations. But there was far too little of that in this mystery. The story of the missing physician Dow Purcell was fairly uninvolving. The people in his life were people you cared little about, and the solution, or lack of one, at the conclusion of the book is very puzzling. Although I think I un...more
I have read several books by Sue Grafton, following her protagonist Kinsey Mahone through her investigations of crime in the town of Santa Rosa, CA. In P is for Peril, Kinsey is hired by the ex wife to find the whereabouts of her husband, Dr. Howard Purcell, who disappeared months ago. Complications abound one of which occurs when she rents a new office space from two brothers with a dubious past. In her quest to solve the mystery, Kinsey finds herself caught between the rigid ex wife, who has g...more
I have read all of this series so far (up through "T") and of all the books so far, I found this to be the weakest in storyline. There were too many sub-plots and characters that never got explained. All of the other "Alphabet Series" mysteries have been so engrossing that the books were hard to put down and I was eager to pick them up as soon as I could find a spare minute. But not this one. For some reason, this storyline did not grab me like all of her other stories have. It came across too m...more
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We're up to "P" in the Sue Grafton alphabet mysteries. I loved this one! Very complicated! Kinsey had lots of suspects to investigate, and lots of places around town in which to snoop. She solves one problem, but that leaves another. She solves that one, and then another question is looming on the horizon. It keeps going and going until we finally see all the pieces fall into place at the end. Isn't that the way she always does it? Much better to answer one question at a time, I think, than to r...more
The middle of a (proposed) 26 book series isn't the place to look for innovative fiction, or anything other than more of the same. So I wasn't particularly disappointed to find Kinsey Millhone on much the same form as ever. Nothing fabulous but a reasonable mystery for the most part and pretty much what I expected.
The thing that seemed odd: The only distinguishing factor between these books is their titles - why not have someone actually *in peril* in this one? If there was, it went over my hea
...more
This was my first Sue Grafton novel, and I read it and only because someone gave me the book before delivering it to a community library. I'd been curious about her apparent success and her pattern of following an alphabetical assignment to her titles. I found the story to be unexciting and tediously written. I was tempted to shoot myself after reading pages upon pages of apparel description each time she introduced a character, only to repeat this exercise whenever the same character appeared i...more
Still love Kinsey Milhone...but there were 2 things I didn't like about this one. First, the narrator...I listen to these on my long commute, and I REALLY don't like the new narrator (Judy Kaye). I miss Mary Peiffer. I can get past it, but not happily. Kaye says too many of the lines with inappropriate ironic inflection, which I find really annoying. Second, I hated the ending. I like Grafton's books because she ties everything into a neat bow at the end. All i's dotted, all t's crossed, all que...more
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Out of the first 15 books in this series this is the first one that left me just hanging. This book seemed to miss out on the usual depth of the mystery series which surprised me. Kinsey's main case was drawn out and just lacked any real significance. The other personal case of Kinsey's kind of just popped up and seemed almost like a page filler.
My gripe is the way it ended. Out of all the books there is usually a letter type of epilogue that Kinsey writes to end the book. This time the story j...more
My gripe is the way it ended. Out of all the books there is usually a letter type of epilogue that Kinsey writes to end the book. This time the story j...more
I have missed Kinsey, I had broken away to start/continue with other series and heroes/heroines. I find I most relate to Kinsey, though she's about 10 years younger. She and I feel the same about children and the elderly. She's just fine being single and enjoys a simple life with fairly little social interaction.
Getting back with Kinsey, I see she's still doing just fine. Back in Southern California and back to keeping fit (Um, something we don't share in common. But, I certainly could learn fr...more
Getting back with Kinsey, I see she's still doing just fine. Back in Southern California and back to keeping fit (Um, something we don't share in common. But, I certainly could learn fr...more
"I have already listened to the abridged version, my first Kinsey experience over a year ago. I always prefer unabridged and listened to it again, not remembering that much anyway. With "N" we have a new narrator, no more May Pfifer, who I really liked, and now Judy Kay (I think) who I have had trouble getting used to. Better this book, I guess, which strays from the format of the past also in that there is no "epilogue" wrapping everything up. Two stories intertwine: the search for Dowan Purcel...more
Kinsey Millhone could totally can totally kick your ass. Plus she's the only person to ever rock the turtleneck-blazer look.
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I enjoyed this quite a lot.
The ending didn't follow the usual pattern, and I think its better for it. I did miss the final report though for some strange reason. I suppose I like the neat and tidy ending!
I didn't know who dunnit at all, though it was considered, because there were so many options. I enjoyed all the other side stories and felt the book was more substancial for the weaving in and out.
There's still too much mundane description at times but it's easy enough to scan the paragraphs.On...more
The ending didn't follow the usual pattern, and I think its better for it. I did miss the final report though for some strange reason. I suppose I like the neat and tidy ending!
I didn't know who dunnit at all, though it was considered, because there were so many options. I enjoyed all the other side stories and felt the book was more substancial for the weaving in and out.
There's still too much mundane description at times but it's easy enough to scan the paragraphs.On...more
(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
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
Quick version: go get an Agatha Christie instead.
Characters have few, if any, redeeming qualities and next to no growth. The cast of possible suspects and motives was good, but then the plot failed to use that to really surprise me. It seemed like a tragedy where no one likes life and yet only one person escapes it. The pace is too slow with too much time wasted on describing decor and other trivialities unnecessary for the story. There was also an unnecessary explicit scene that really wasn't n...more
Characters have few, if any, redeeming qualities and next to no growth. The cast of possible suspects and motives was good, but then the plot failed to use that to really surprise me. It seemed like a tragedy where no one likes life and yet only one person escapes it. The pace is too slow with too much time wasted on describing decor and other trivialities unnecessary for the story. There was also an unnecessary explicit scene that really wasn't n...more
In some ways more mature than other cases handled by Kinsey, in others draped with manufactured TV (or made-for-TV movie) drama,
P is for Peril
seems to fight the reader's sense of immersion into what is a somewhat compelling story. Unfortunately, it also feels like it is cobbled together from other cases Kinsey has already handled. It isn't bad writing, but one has to question an author's commitment when she refuses to let her characters learn from experience. Especially since Kinsey thinks sh...more
I especially liked this one! I'm listening to this series on CD in the car. The reader is Judy Kaye. I listened to a few with a different reader who I liked. "O is for Outlaw" is the first one I listened to with Judy Kaye. I wasn't sure I liked what she brought to the character of Kinsey Milhone, but she started to grow on me. I thought she did a great job with the characters in "P".
I like that only a few months have passed in Kinsey's life when the next book comes along. In "P", she's still in...more
I like that only a few months have passed in Kinsey's life when the next book comes along. In "P", she's still in...more
This is definitely not my favorite Kinsey Millhone mystery. The whole story was a little disjointed. Grafton had more than one storyline going and the whole thing came off a little weird. Then, the story ended so abruptly that I was left confused as to what even happened. I am used to Millhone's end of the story wrap up and there was none here. I actually looked to see if the library book had been damaged and pages removed. Overall, I liked it because I like the series and I like the character,...more
I'm very, very glad that I started reading Sue Grafton again. There was something about P that reminded me of my favorites in the series (I, J and K) and has me eager to get caught up. That said, I'm not sure what it is. It could be the way Kinsey's personal troubles mess with her life while she's working on a case, or it might just be her attitude while working -- I'd need to re-read Grafton's earlier books to be sure. Or, it could just be that P is well written and tightly plotted. No matter t...more
Kinsey investigates the disappearance of Physician. Did he skip the country because of potential Medicare fraud, was he kill to collect the insurance by his vengeful ex-wife or the ex-stripper new wife, or did the step daughter do him in so she can runaway with the money she stole from his account. There is a second story line involving brothers who may have gotten away with murder in Texas.
This book has a lot more intrigue than usual. The author keeps you guessing all the way until the end.
P is...more
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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
More about Sue Grafton...
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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